Queen was civil rights icon
‘Represented ... the excellence of black culture and music’
Boston’s black community remembered Aretha Franklin yesterday as a big voice who became a big presence far beyond the stages and recording studios where she performed.
“She wasn’t what you’d call a ceremonial figure. She was there when we needed her,” Darnell L. Williams, head of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, told the Herald yesterday.
Franklin, often called the Queen of Soul, died yesterday morning from cancer at age 76.
The 66-year-old Williams remembers listening to Franklin’s powerful voice over and over as a teenager in the 1960s, when the singer attained massive popularity, with hits including “Respect,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and “Chain of Fools.”
“We would wear those grooves out,” Williams said of the vinyl records.
Franklin was frequently involved in the civil rights movement, speaking out and contributing money. And just as important, Williams said, was the image Franklin put forth through her success as a black woman.
“What she represented was the excellence of black culture and music,” Williams said.
Franklin recorded 42 studio albums since 1956. She released 131 singles, with 88 reaching the Billboard charts — the most by any female artist.
“We have lost another legend from the civil rights era,” said Bernice A. King, the daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “From the time she was a teenager, Ms. Franklin has been singing freedom songs in support of my father and others in the struggle for civil rights. As a daughter of the movement, she not only used her voice to entertain but to uplift and inspire generations through songs that have become anthems such as ‘Respect’ and ‘Bridge over Troubled Water.’ ”
University of Massachusetts Boston American studies professor Lynnell Thomas said she uses Franklin’s iconic “Respect” in a class she teaches about the 1960s. Thomas has the students first listen to Otis Redding’s original version of the song and then listen to Franklin’s version, where the Queen of Soul tweaked the wording by swapping the gender roles.
“Students are able to hear the way it’s transformed into a feminist anthem,” Thomas said. “It’s about her independence. She says in the song she makes her own money — and she wants her respect.”
“The song still is meaningful for women and for black people,” Thomas said. “So many groups continue to battle for respect.”