Religion / Civil rights & activism / Music
C. L. Franklin
1915–1984 · Baptist minister, recorded preacher, civil rights leader
Pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church from 1946 to 1979, famed for his recorded sermons, a leader of Detroit's 1963 Walk to Freedom and father of Aretha Franklin.
- Born
Bolivar County, Mississippi- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 69- Birth name
- Clarence LaVaughn Walker
- Also known as
- Rev. C. L. Franklin · The Man with the Million-Dollar Voice
- Detroit years
- 1946–1984
- Field
- Religion, Civil rights & activism, Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, a sharecropper's son from Mississippi, was preaching by 16 and led churches in Memphis and Buffalo before New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit called him as pastor in June 1946. He moved his family, including young Aretha, to the city's North End, and over the next three decades turned New Bethel into one of the best-known Black churches in America. His dramatic, half-sung preaching earned him the nickname of the man with the Million-Dollar Voice; his Sunday services went out on the radio, and dozens of his sermons, such as The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest, were released on record, many by Chess. Gospel stars filled his home, and Aretha recorded her first album at New Bethel in 1956. Franklin fought discrimination against Black autoworkers and helped organize the Walk to Freedom down Woodward Avenue with Martin Luther King Jr. on June 23, 1963. In 1979 burglars shot him at his home; he lay in a coma until his death in 1984 and was entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Highlights
- Pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, 1946–1979
- Released dozens of sermon albums, many on the Chess label
- Co-organized the Walk to Freedom with Martin Luther King Jr., June 23, 1963
- Linwood Avenue was renamed C. L. Franklin Boulevard in his honor
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1946–1979
New Bethel Baptist Church
The church he led for 33 years; its broadcasts and recorded sermons made him nationally famous, and Aretha Franklin recorded her first album here in 1956.
Buried here · 1984–
Woodlawn Cemetery
Historic cemetery on North Woodward where he was entombed in 1984; Aretha Franklin was later laid to rest here too.