Sidney Franklin

Sidney Franklin was an American bullfighter, notable for being one of only two Americans to receive the alternativa, the ceremony marking a novice bullfighter's transition to full matador, in Madrid. He was born in Brooklyn and was lauded by Ernest Hemingway in his book Death in the Afternoon. Franklin received his alternativa in 1945 but was not "confirmed" in Seville, unlike his contemporary John Fulton. Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, involving a matador fighting and often killing a bull in an arena. While controversial for its perceived barbarity, it is also defended as an art form and a cultural tradition.12