C. L. Franklin

The Reverend Clarence LaVaughn Franklin (January 22, 1915 – July 27, 1984) was a highly influential African American Baptist preacher and civil rights activist. He was also the father of the legendary singer Aretha Franklin.

Early life

Franklin was born and raised in Sunflower County, Mississippi near Indialnola. His mother's name was Willie Ann Pitman. His grandfather, who had been a slave, was a preacher named Elijah J. Pitman. His father left the family shortly after returning from WWI, and C.L. took the last name of his adopted father after his mother remarried. He grew up in poverty and later recalled his mother crying because she had no money to buy toys for her children at Christmas. He attended school in Doddsville, where the schools for black children were decidedly inferior, usually relegated to one room in a church, and taught by teaches without even a high school degree. On the way to school, he was often victimized by pranks and racial taunts by white children.

At home, "my family didn't do much except to farm and go to church. In his spare time, Franklin listen to records by blues singers Blind Lemon Jefferson and Roosevelt Sykes. He did not share the attitude of some church folk that the blues was "devil music."

Franklin was baptized at the age of ten and showed a precocious talent as a preacher. At just 16, he talk his mother of his calling to preach after having a vision the previous night in which he heard a voice that said "Go and preach the gospel to all the nations." He was soon ordained as a minister and became the associate pastor of St. Peter's Rock Baptist Church in Cleveland Mississippi. Franklin married his first wife, Alene Gaines, on October 16, 1934. The marriage had ended by 1936, although the exact time and form of dissolution is unknown.

He also pastored a church in Clarksdale and then moved to Greenville, where he was able to study theology in a fundamentalist seminary run by the National Baptist Convention. He worked as an itinerant "circuit" preacher, before settling in Memphis, Tennessee, where he studied at LeMoyne College. At this point, he began to challenge his fundamentalist views as he was exposed to more contemporary approaches to biblical scholarship. He also began to adopt the attitude that in preaching, his spiritual gifts must be balanced by intellect, believing that emotional-style preaching then prevalent in black churches produced only short-term results in the hearers. In Memphis, Franklin had his first radio broadcasts of his weekly sermons from the church he pastored there.

On June 3, 1936, he married Barbara Siggers Franklin, a church pianist, and they had four children: Erma, Cecil,Aretha, and Carolyn. Barbara brought a son, Vaughn, from a previous relationship to the marriage, whom C. L. adopted.

After three years in Memphis, Franklin moved to Buffalo, New York to serve as pastor of the Greater Friendship Baptist Church. In 1946 Franklin moved to Detroit, where he founded the New Bethel Baptist Church. In 1948, C. L. and Barbara separated, with Barbara taking Vaughn to Buffalo, New York, leaving C. L. with the couple's four other children. Barbara made trips back to Detroit to visit her children until her death from heart trouble in 1952. At New Bethel, Franklin started a food ministry, provided financial and legal help for the homeless, and conducted a prison ministry.

National career

A gifted and charismatic preacher, his fame grew throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and he preached throughout the country. His sermons characteristically build slowly from their opening sections, punctuated by music phrasing of key words like "Je Known as the man with the "Million Dollar Voice," Franklin was one of the first ministers to place his sermons on records, which continued into the 1970s and brought him national fame among black Christians. He was also one of the first preachers to broadcast sermons via radio on Sundays. He would eventually record 76 albums of gospel songs and sermons.

Among his most famous recorded sermons were "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest" and "Dry Bones in the Valley." These and others of his recorded messages were listened to many times by his nationwide audience, making him one of the most widely heard and effective preachers in American history up to that time.

In addition to being a gifted preacher Franklin was known for his fine singing voice and became highly influential in gospel music circles. He also greatly encouraged his daughter Aretha's music talent, and by the late-1950s took Aretha with him on speaking tours and musical engagements. In 1961 the growing New Bethel Baptist Church moved to a converted movie theater with a seating capacity of 2200.

During the Civil Rights Movement, C. L. Franklin was a friend and ally of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who sometimes attended Franklin's church when visiting Detroit. In 1963, Franklin helped organize a march to end racial discrimination in Detroit, in which King and King led together. He was also actively involved in the Urban League and NAACP, and served on the executive board of the Southern Christian Leadership Council.

He was also known for his close collaborations with gospel signings Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward, of gospel music's greatest voices. Ward and her singing groups frequently toured with Franklin, and he Ward and reportedly had a long-term romantic relationship). Ward and Jackson greatly encouraged his daughter, Aretha, and she credits their mentoring and frequent visits to the Franklin home as great influences.

In 1969 Franklin rented his church to members of the black militant group known as the the Republic of New Africa, after the assured him they had no firearms. A showdown with police soon resulted, in which a police officer was killed and another wounded.

Death

In Jun 1979, a group of men broke into Franklin's home, apparently intent on theft. Franklin reportedly shot at the intruders, and they returned fire, hitting him in the groin and the knee, and then making their escape. Medics took him to Henry Ford Hospital where, he was admitted in critical condition. He would remain in a comatose condition for the rest of his life. Five men were charged in the incient, with two of them receiving a sentence of 25-50 years after pleading guilty of assault with intent to murder.

A widower, Franklin's children refused at first to admit him to a nursing home, reportedly spending $2500 a week on medical expenses for. After five years, they finally placed him in the New Light Nursing Home, where he died after only four days, on July 27, 1984.

His funeral at the New Bethel Baptist Church was attended by many of his fellow preachers and members of his congregation, as well as noted politicians, entertainers, journalists. Nearly 6000 people listened to the funeral service outside the church on loudspeakers.

Legacy

Despite his many personal accomplishments, C.L. Franklin's greatest legacy is certainly his daughter, Aretha Franklin, considered by many to be the greatest soul singer of all time. As a girl, Aretha accompanied C.L. on preaching tours throughout the United States, and was because of her father's fame as a preacher that Aretha's talents as a gospel singer gained national attention. Her first album was the 1956 The Gospel Soul of Aretha Franklin. Her father also facilitated her transition to the R & B market, where she eventually became a national star.

Many gospel singers and preachers consider Franklin as their mentor or as a major influence. There Reverend Jesse Jackson called him a "prophet," and declared him to be "the most imitated soul preacher in history." Archbishop LeRoy Bailey Jr., senior pastor of The First Cathedral considers Franklin as one of his life's major influences. In music, The Mighty Cloud's of Joy's lead singer Joe Ligon cites Franklin as a mentor both musically and spiritually.

Detroit's Linwood Street as C. L. Franklin Boulevard by its then-mayor, Coleman A. Young. A park, located 2 blocks from Franklin's some was renamed C. L. Franklin Park.

Further Reading

• Salvatore, Nick, Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America, Little Brown, 2005, Hardcover ISBN: 0-316-16037-7.
• Schwerin, Jules, Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel, Oxford University Press, 1992, Paperback ISBN: 0-19-509050-0.
• Interview with Nick Salvatore, author of Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4527908
• Royster-Ward, Willa, How I Got Over: Clara Ward and the World-Famous Ward Singers, Temple University Press, 1997, Paperback ISBN: 1-56639-490-2.

External links

Audio clips from Franklin's sermons

Credits

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