Aretha Franklin, Soul Legend and Icon of Civil Rights and Feminist Movements, Dies at 76

Legendary soul singer, feminist, and civil rights icon Aretha Franklin died early on Thursday morning. Often called the “Queen of Soul” as well as the “Voice of Black America,” she was 76 years old.

Franklin was renowned for her rendition of Otis Redding’s “Respect,” which became a feminist anthem; “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman;” and “Think”—for the power of her voice and her passionate performances as well as her ability to help galvanize black Americans and women, two groups who were fighting for rights and respect from their government and fellow citizens when the singer began releasing records in the 1960s.

“‘Respect’ became a soundtrack for the 1960s,” when it was released in 1967, wrote DeNeen L. Brown in the Washington Post. “Franklin, then just 24 years old, infused it with a soulful and revolutionary demand, a declaration of independence that was unapologetic, uncompromising and unflinching.”

Franklin’s rendition was adopted by both two separate social justice movements, Brown noted:

Born in Memphis, Tennessee on March 25, 1942, and raised mainly in Detroit, Franklin had been personally affected by segregation.

“The blues is a music born out of the slavery day sufferings of my people,” she told the Amsterdam News in 1961 after moving to New York to begin her music career.

Franklin sang both at the funeral of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 and at the first inauguration of President Barack Obama forty years later.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Franklin was in hospice care at her home in Detroit. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.