{Goddess Aretha}

RIP 1942-2018

Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace.

~Barack Obama {on Twitter today}

Aretha Franklin spent the turbulent 60s building her career, and in 1967 released her most famous song, and one that became inextricably linked to the civil rights and feminist movements of the time. “Respect” was originally released in 1965 by Otis Redding; Franklin’s cover of the song came out in 1967, and soon became the most popular version.

“I was stunned when it went to No. 1,” Franklin told Elle in 2016, “and it stayed No. 1 for a couple weeks. It was the right song at the right time.”

Franklin, who Elle noted had it written into her contract in the 60s that she would never perform for a segregated audience, was glad that the song became linked to feminist and civil-rights movements. She added that the line “you know I’ve got it” has a direct feminist theme.

“As women, we do have it,” she says. “We have the power. We are very resourceful. Women absolutely deserve respect. I think women and children and older people are the three least-respected groups in our society.”

[Excerpt from Hilary Weaver's "Aretha Franklin’s History with Civil Rights, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Barack Obama" for Vanity Fair - August 16, 2018]