Warrior Award recognizes a lifetime’s work
Lynch School Professor Anderson J. Franklin received the Warrior Award at the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education in Southampton, Bermuda, in October. The award recognizes Franklin’s career-long commitment to studying and working to diminish challenges that influence the educational experiences of black men and boys.
Franklin, a faculty member in the Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology Department who has held the Lynch School’s Honorable David S. Nelson Professional Chair since 2007, has contributed to improving outcomes for black men and boys through his research, teaching, and community organizing. A prominent scholar of the psychological well-being and educational development of people of African American descent, Franklin focuses on the impact of negative stereotypes and narratives on black males, and the effects of counseling and psychotherapy in African American communities.
Franklin coined and defined the term “invisibility syndrome,” which he describes as “a struggle with inner feelings and beliefs that personal talents, abilities, and character are not acknowledged or valued by others, nor by the larger society, because of racial prejudice.” In 2008, he founded the Nelson Chair Roundtable, which brings community program leaders from around the world together at Boston College, to discuss ways to collaborate to improve neighborhoods.
In addition to accepting the Warrior Award, Franklin gave a keynote address at the fifth annual international colloquium, “Educational Transitions and Life Trajectories: Bridging Pathways to Success for Black Males,” which drew educators, researchers, policy makers, funders, and students from around the world. His presentation, “Invisibility Syndrome in the Psycho-educational Development of African American Males,” focused on what he sees as the media’s role in creating a false, negative narrative about African American manhood. Franklin also shared examples of community organizations and individuals who are working to change that narrative.
—John Shakespear
The 10th annual Nelson Chair Roundtable on “Shared Leadership, Shared Outcomes” takes place March 22–23, 2017. E-mail nelsonchair@bc.edu for more information.