Singing in a Baptist church Friday afternoon, Aretha Franklin brought a crowd of hundreds to its feet at a dedication ceremony to rename a street outside after her father, the late Rev. C.L. Franklin.
After performing on stage at New Bethel Baptist Church, she strode up the aisle, continuing to wail as a couple of worshippers shook a tambourine.
“I love Aretha from my heart,” gushed Kim Harton, 64, of Detroit, after the ceremony. “God made her the Queen of America. She’s beautiful.”
“Her father was a King, her mother was a Queen. And now, she’s the Queen.”
Harton joined others to celebrate the renaming of a part of Linwood after C.L. Franklin, who grew the church and was known for his preaching, singing and civil rights advocacy. A street sign reading “Rev. Dr. C.L. Franklin Blvd” now sits above the sign “Linwood St” on the west side of the church.
Born in Mississippi, Clarence Franklin was part of the wave of African-Americans who flocked to Detroit and other cities in the north in search of a better life and jobs. He helped fight for the rights of blacks in Detroit and out of his gospel vision came Aretha Franklin, one of his daughters and the legendary singer called the Queen of Soul.
To read more of this story, visit http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/06/24/aretha-franklin-sings-detroit-street-renamed-her-dad-rev-cl/86358544/
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