Clarence LaVaughn Franklin also called C. L. Franklin, was a profoundly persuasive African-American Baptist evangelist and civil rights activist. He was also the father of the well known Aretha Franklin born in the countryside of Mississippi, Franklin was called to the ministry when he was 16 and preached at various churches in the South before moving to Buffalo, then Detroit, where he established the New Bethel Baptist Church. A wonerful and spiritually skilled speaker, his sermons were regularly recorded and published as effective LP records to nationwide audiences. He additionally visited generally and was well known in the gospel music scene, and his training of his little girl Aretha Franklin as a gospel vocalist was instrumental in
