Angela Davis: Aretha Franklin “Will Forever Animate Our Collective Sense of Desire for Change”

Aretha Franklin became the voice of the civil rights movement in 1967, when her cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect” became an international sensation. Franklin was a steadfast supporter of the civil rights movement throughout her long and remarkable career. She sang at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral after his assassination in 1968. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Franklin anonymously helped fund the movement for decades. He said, “When Dr. King was alive, several times she helped us make payroll. … Aretha has always been a very socially conscious artist, an inspiration, not just an entertainer.” For more, we speak with Angela Davis, author, professor and activist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. We also speak with Farah Jasmine Griffin, professor of English and comparative literature and AfricanAmerican studies at Columbia University, and Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke professor of African & African American studies at Duke University.

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