[A just-unsealed file shows that the FBI extensively tracked
Aretha Franklin’s civil rights activism, particularly her
friendships with Martin Luther King, Jr., and Angela Davis. ]
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ARETHA FRANKLIN’S UNSEALED FBI FILE SHOWS BUREAU TRACKED HER CIVIL
RIGHTS ACTIVISM  
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Nina Corcoran and Jazz Monroe
September 8, 2022
Pitchfork
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_ A just-unsealed file shows that the FBI extensively tracked Aretha
Franklin’s civil rights activism, particularly her friendships with
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Angela Davis. _

Aretha Franklin, austinmini1275 (CC0 1.0)

 

The FBI has declassified its file on the late Aretha Franklin
[[link removed]]. The document
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which spans 270 pages and includes reports from more than a dozen
states, shows that the FBI extensively tracked Franklin’s civil
rights activism, particularly her friendships with Martin Luther King,
Jr., and Angela Davis. Elsewhere, the file outlines reputable death
threats against the singer and a massive copyright infringement case
spawned from a Yahoo! Groups message board in 2005.

The notes on Franklin’s friendship with Dr. King include close
documentation of her performances at the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), of which King was president. The FBI characterizes
the shows—which took place in Atlanta, Georgia, and Memphis,
Tennessee, in 1967 and 1968—as “communist infiltration” events.
A subsequent note in the file is titled “Assassination of Martin
Luther King. Racial matters.” It alleges that Franklin was said to
be involved in a free, “huge memorial concert” at Atlanta Stadium,
donated by the Atlanta Braves. The show “would provide emotional
spark which could ignite racial disturbance this area,” according to
an FBI source. In the end, the SCLC scrapped that memorial service and
held a three-mile procession to Morehouse College instead.

The tracking of Franklin’s ties to Angela Davis includes notes on
her performance at a 1972 fundraiser in Los Angeles for the Angela
Davis defense fund. The file notes that Davis was “facing
murder-kidnapping charges in California” and that the concert was
sponsored by the National United Committee to Free Angela
Davis—“an organization founded by the Communist Party, United
States of America.” Franklin had previously offered to post bail
[[link removed]] for Davis, though this
was not documented.

The FBI identified Franklin as a prospective performer at supposedly
threatening events far more often than she actually appeared at them.
In 1971, for instance, an FBI source infiltrated the Boston branch of
the Young Workers Liberation League, which was apparently planning an
Angela Davis benefit that “might be held at the Boston Garden with
Aretha Franklin.” Her planned performance at a Black Panther Party
event in Los Angeles, which she cancelled due to timing issues (for
which she later apologized
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is documented in a file covered in “Top Secret” and
“Classified” stamps. “Bobby Seale, Chairman of the Black Panther
Party, has directed the Los Angeles Black Panther Party to initiate
plans for a major rally culminating in free food distribution to the
poor black people in Los Angeles,” it reads. “Source also advised
that Gwen Goodloe wanted to contact Negro singing stars Aretha
Franklin and Roberta Flack to possibly assist in the event.”

The bureau also pursued links between Franklin and the Black
Liberation Army (BLA) after claiming to find her address among BLA
documents. The FBI characterized the BLA as a “quasi-military group
composed of small guerrilla units employing the tactics of urban
guerrilla warfare against the established order with a view toward
achieving revolutionary change in America.” The bureau eventually
conceded that it could not determine Franklin’s association with the
BLA. 

Perhaps most bizarre is a 1976 document linking Franklin with the
Coordinating Council for the Liberation of Dominica (CCLD), which an
FBI source called “a black extremist group bent on disturbing the
tranquility of the Island of Dominica.” The source added that the
CCLD “may have established a base of operation in the New York City
area” and identified Franklin as an associate of Roosevelt Bernard
Douglas, a “black extremist of international note.” Douglas went
on to become the Dominican prime minister. The bureau appears not to
have found any further links between Franklin and the CCLD. 

Three death threats against Franklin are documented, including a Cook
County jail inmate’s attempt to extort her for $1 million while
posing as an FBI agent, suggesting she would suffer repercussions for
failing to pay. In 1974, a stranger told Franklin she was on a “hit
list.” And five years later, one person extensively harassed her at
home, by letter and telephone, with threats to her life.

More than 170 pages of the file pertain to a copyright infringement
case, which began in 2005 after Franklin’s lawyers asked the FBI to
locate a Yahoo! Groups message board moderator. It took several months
and multiple grand jury subpoenas to find the culprit, who is a
self-proclaimed “anti-fanatic” who “keeps it real with respect
to his perception of the flaws in Aretha Franklin’s performances,”
as well as allegedly selling pirated DVDs and CDs of her
performances. 

The FBI notes the page’s claim to be “the unofficial biggest
Aretha Franklin fan site,” and describes, step-by-step, how to find
the message board from the Yahoo! homepage. “A person will email and
request to become a member of the group,” the bureau reported.
“The application process is purely subjective. There are also
members who have multiple screen names that will post messages with
one screen name and then respond to their own posting and argue with
themselves through their various screen names.” The case appears not
to have made its way to trial.

_Nina Corcoran [[link removed]] is
Associate Staff Writer. _

_Jazz Monroe [[link removed]] is Associate
Staff Writer and a music and culture writer based in London. His work
also appears in the Guardian, the Independent, and elsewhere._

_Additional reporting by Marc Hogan_

_Sign up for a Pitchfork newsletter for important stories in music._
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* Aretha Franklin
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* Martin Luther King
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* Angela Davis
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* FBI spying
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* civil rights movement
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