Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul

I can't say much about this day as it comes to all of us. She meant so much to millions upon millions of people. To the black folks and black women, a historic figure and equally for all women. For me personally there's always that selfish aspect to it, another person whose art played such a prominent role in my life gone for good reminding me of my own mortality. But, as they always say, you can't destroy a legacy, she also sang opera as well.

Aretha Franklin also offered to pay Angela Davis' bail on charges related to the shootout at the Marin County Courthouse in 1970: “... not because I believe in Communism but because she is a black woman and she wants freedom for black people.” 

We all have our prejudices and I like to think that the era in which I grew up and the music that came out of it for me was the greatest period, I know that each era has it's great performers and Aretha Franklin is truly a giant of the 20th century, as much so as the classical composers and artists of an earlier period whose creations are still popular today.

Here she is in her beautiful performance in The Blues Brothers that surely must have captured the hearts of Black American women and women throughout the world. Humanity has just lost a great one.

Aretha Louise Franklin March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018