Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence introduced legislation to rename the Fox Creek post office located at 12711 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit after the late “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin. Signed by every member of the Michigan Congressional Delegation, the official name of the post office would become the “Aretha Franklin Post Office Building.”
Earlier this week, a bill went into effect to rename a portion of the Lodge Freeway between Livernois and I-94 in Detroit the “Aretha Franklin Memorial Highway.” Franklin also has a street in downtown Detroit named after her and a high school could be on the way. Chene Park was also rededicated as the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre.
“It is my pleasure to honor this mega talent and my good friend Aretha Franklin in this manner,” said Congresswoman Lawrence, who is also a native of Detroit. “After renaming Chene Park to the Aretha Franklin Amphitheater, I felt additional accolades were necessary on the federal level to extend her legacy. This is the contribution from all of us in the Michigan Delegation to that legacy.”
Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1942 and moved to Detroit from Buffalo, New York when her father, the late Reverend C.L. Franklin, became the minister at Detroit’s New Bethel Baptist Church in the city’s predominately African American Black Bottom neighborhood. That is where Franklin began singing on Sunday mornings. At the age of 17, after dropping out of Northern High School, Franklin moved to New York to pursue a successful singing career that netted her 20 number one hits, more than 20 Grammy Awards and resulted in her being the first women inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. She sang for three U.S. Presidents, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2005.
“We just cannot thank her enough for sharing that amazing voice and artistry with us all. Once again, thank you to the beautiful Queen of Soul,” said Congresswoman Lawrence.
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