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CDs by C.L. Franklin
My Favorite Sermons /
Sermons
and Hymns /
Legendary Sermons /
Only a Look (with Aretha Franklin)
The Eagle Stirreth in Her Nest /
And
He Went a Little Farther
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Reviews
C.L. Franklin was a prophet. C.L.
Franklin was rare, not just unique; famous because he was well
known, but great because of his service. C.L. Franklin, the most
imitated soul preacher in history, a combination of soul and
science and substance and sweetness.
--Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, from the
Foreword.
Few black preachers have been better known than the reverend
C.L. Franklin; none has been considered a better preacher. This
collection of twenty of Franklin's best sermons shows the
development of his style. A learned man, Franklin had attended
both seminary and college, yet in his sermons he used the
old-fashioned, extemporaneous style of preaching,
"whooping" or chanting, combining oratory and intoned
poetry to reach both head and heart.
Dozens of Franklin's sermons were released on record albums,
and he went on preaching tours with gospel groups that included
his daughter, Aretha, reaching virtually every corner of the
United States.
This volume begins with Franklin's life history, told in his
own words. In an afterword, Jeff Titon reviews the
African-American sermon tradition and Franklin's place in it.
From Give Me
This Mountain
We are black, not because we are cursed, for blackness is not
a curse; it is a curse only if you think so, and you know, it's
nit really a curse then; it's just the way you think. Blackness,
so far as God is concerned, so far as truth is concerned, is
just the same as whiteness; for God has all kinds of colors in
his world, in his universe, and he has not condemned any color.
All colors are beautiful in the sight of God. The only reason
why you entertain a thought like that is because you have been
culturally conditioned by white people to think that way, and
they conditioned you that way because they used this as a means
to an end, to give you a feeling of inferiority, and to then
take advantage of you, socially, economically, and politically.
Source: Jeff Todd Titon, ed.
Give Me This Mountain: Life
History and Selected Sermons (1989)
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Clarence Vaughn Franklin (C.L.Franklin)--born
1915 in a Mississippi sharecropper family--became a nationally
known and respected Baptist minister of Detroit, Michigan. He
was known as the "man with the golden voice," not only
for his singing, but also for his command of the classical style
of Negro preaching. His parents were Rachel and Henry Franklin.
Precocious, he was Baptized at ten and at sixteen nominated for
ordination and then accepted as an associated pastor of St.
Peter's Rock Baptist Church in Cleveland Mississippi. |
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He later served as pastor in Memphis at New Salem
Baptist Church and then at Friendship Baptist Church in
Buffalo, NY. he then settled down for 33 years at New Bethel
Baptist Church in Detroit.
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C.L. Franklin married Barbara Siggers, a church pianist, and
had five children: Erma, Cecil, Aretha and Carolyn, as well as
half-brother Vaughn. At Bethel, Franklin started a food ministry
for those who could not afford sustenance for themselves or
their families, offered financial and legal help for the
homeless, and conducted a prison ministry.
He also became involved in politics
by urging voters to go out to the polls and vote for the
qualified candidates he was endorsing and was an active
member in the civil rights movement. |
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He co-organized the 1963 "Walk Toward Freedom March"
with his close friend, Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also
actively involved in such organizations as the Urban League,
NAACP, and on the Executive Board of the Southern Christian
Leadership Council.
C.L.'s sermons were broadcast on radio nationwide under the
Chess Recording Company banner. Rev. Franklin also released 76 live recordings of his sermons
and music. He preached at churches all over the country and
often brought his daughter, Aretha, though all the children
joined CL in his road entourage at one time or another.
His life was shorten, in June 1979, when he
was shot during a robbery attempt on his house in Detroit. He
remained in a coma for 5 years and died on July 27,
1984. Over 10,000 people attended his funeral at New Bethel Baptist
Church.
Detroit's mayor, Coleman A. Young, renamed Linwood Street as
C. L. Franklin Boulevard, and renamed the park, (located 2
blocks from C. L. Franklin's house), C. L. Franklin Park.
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updated 28 July 2008 |
