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| - Stephen Franklin was born in Mississippi to Doctor Louis Franklin and Martha May Franklin in 1955. He lived a relatively well privileged life for a young black member of a segregated community. His parents were leaders of the community in the poor small town and were often the only doctor that the African American population was allowed to see in a wide radius. Their patients consisted of the African population of nearly six towns. While making them an important member of society it also made the family a target. In 1962, when Stephen was six years old, members of the Ku Klux Klan came calling. Three of the white supremacists arrived at the ransacked House of Dr. Franklin, one of their party had been shot when burning a cross on the house of a neighboring black man who been accused of consorting with a white woman. Not having time to get the man to a white doctor they settled on the Franklins who took him in and began the process of taking the bullet out and mending the man’s wound. Shortly after the procedure an angry mob of the local African American population gathered , with knowledge of the Klan members inside, outside hurling rocks at the house and angry demanding that the men come out to answer for their crimes. Louis Franklin came out and calmed the population. The Crisis was averted. Several days later the Franklin Resident was visited once more by members of the Klan. This time however instead of searching for sanctuary for their injured they sought blood. The men threw bricks through the window of the house and set torches on it. The family running from the fire was met by the lynching mob. The young Stephen ran back into the burning home and was left by the Klansmen to burn alive. The young boy survived however, hiding in a part of the basement that was well protected and hidden. The next morning he was found amongst the ruins of the home. Without parents and no knowledge of any other family members he was remanded to the care of a State Orphanage. In the dirty and dank and underfunded facility for the black orphans Stephen found his own personal hell. Luckily Stephen only spent three years in that particular orphanage. The State of Mississippi lacking the funding to provide to all the orphanages began to close them. Being an orphanage for blacks as opposed to whites the orphanage was closed and it seemed that Stephen would be on the streets. Other States hearing of the massive closings began accepting transfers of orphans to their own state facilities. Stephen was transferred to a facility in the State of Massachusetts just outside of Boston. Spending only three months in the Orphanage he was soon adopted by the Feldman family. The Feldmans, hearing of the plight of the orphans, had rushed to adopt one of the poor children. Once in their home Stephen was raised alongside the Feldmans own son Jared. The two grew to be close as any brothers. While with the Feldmans he was allowed to go to private schools and received the best education possible. Soon it was time for the teenager to attend university. He was accepted into U-Mass for Pre-Med while his adopted brother was in their Law Program. While Jared Graduated and took his place in the Feldman Law Firm Stephen continued his Education with money given to him by the Feldmans. He earned multiple degrees in the subject of Biology and physics and eventually took up a teaching position at Empire State University, considered to have the most advanced BioLab in the world.
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