In memoriam: Franklin Odo
It is with profound sadness that ASAM remembers Franklin Odo, an extraordinary author, scholar, activist, and historian, who passed away on Sept 28, 2022. Franklin Odo received his PhD from Princeton University in 1961 and was an early activist in Asian American Studies. He taught at the University of Hawaii for several decades before he became founding director of the Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Center and Chief of the Asian Division, Library of Congress. Odo served as the President of the Association for Asian American Studies, and held visiting professorships at Hunter College, Columbia University and Princeton University. He led the "Asian American Pacific Islander Theme Study" for the National Park Service before returning to teaching at Amherst College.
ASAM was fortunate to host him in Spring 2015 as a Visiting Professor when he taught "Asian Americans and Public History/Memory." Franklin was not only a brilliant scholar and activist, but he was also generous with his time and expertise, and always full of wit and good humor. His legacy lives on through his scholarship and in our wonderful memories of his time at Penn.