Crowd gathers at Aretha Franklin birthplace for vigil
They came to remember, to honor and to say a little prayer for her. They did all three. “On the day that Aretha died, my worship pastor came to me and said, ‘What can we do to honor God and remember Aretha on Sunday?’” said Dr. Eli Morris, senior associate pastor of Hope Church. “And so as everyone walked into our sanctuary on that Sunday, they were listening to ‘I’ll Say a Little Prayer For You.’”
To underscore the point, students from the Stax Music Academy then offered their own rendition of the song, which Franklin took to the Pop and R&B Top 10 charts in 1968.
It was all part of a late-afternoon vigil Aug. 31 in front of the South Memphis home where Franklin was born in 1942. Organizers put the event together as a local way to pay respect to the Queen of Soul of the day she was laid to rest in Detroit.
Morris joined Walter Rayburn, pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, in offering prayers and brief remarks before the Stax Music Academy singers played three of Franklin’s most popular songs: “Say a Little Prayer,” “Amazing Grace” and “Soulsville.”
Rayburn expressed thanks for the life and legacy of both Franklin and her father, C.L. Franklin, who was pastor of new Salem from 1942-44.
Also on hand was Gebre Waddell, CEO of Memphis-based Soundways and president of the Memphis chapter of the Grammys. Waddell, who started a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for restoration of the Franklin birthplace at 406 Lucy Ave., said the house is a symbol of what is possible and compared it to Graceland in his call to make Franklin’s house another Memphis musical landmark.
“Only time stands between us and the moments that Aretha Franklin was playing in this yard as a child,” Waddell said. “The home is symbol that the American Dream is real, but it’s falling apart. Did Aretha want this place preserved? The answer is yes.
“I was told that when Priscilla Presley was starting down the path of establishing Graceland, all her financial advisers told her it wasn’t going to work out. But we see it has become a real symbol and real power in this city. We have to dream and we have to believe.”
Efforts to preserve the dilapidated house to honor Franklin and the Memphis music legacy have been in the spotlight since Franklin’s death. An environmental court judge recently gave receiver Jeffrey Higgs of the South Memphis Renewal Community Corp. and other stakeholders until Oct. 16 to come up with a plan.
The primary focus Aug. 31, however, was on remembering Franklin. Morris, in his prayer, noted how the life that began on the unassuming South Memphis street touched the world.
“We come to you in prayer, God,” Morris said before the crowd of onlookers crammed onto the small front yard and narrow street, “remembering out sister and your child, Aretha Louise Franklin, who began her historic and significant journey right here in this home.
“We thank you for her contribution to our lives and to the lives of millions of people around the world — people who today, of all days, remember her as she is laid to rest.”