Aretha Franklin Was Followed By FBI Early In Her Career Because Of Her Support Of Black Activists & She Received Many Death Threats, Says Reporter: They Tried To Scare Her

Aretha Franklin Was Followed By FBI Early In Her Career Because Of Her Support Of Black Activists & She Received Many Death Threats, Says Reporter: They Tried To Scare Her

Aretha Franklin’s fans weren’t the only ones keeping an eye on her.

Recently, a journalist by the name of Jenn Dize took to her Twitter account to share some never-before-seen files from the FBI, and it seems as if they were trying to build a case around the honorable Aretha Franklin.

The legal archives, which date back to between the 1960s and 1980s, show a series of documentation of Aretha Franklin’s whereabouts (during that time period) and the FBI’s suspicion surrounding her involvement with fellow Black activists.

Jenn Dize compiled the documents in a thread after receiving the data under The Freedom of Information Act.

She began with a record of the FBI looking into Franklin’s connection to Angela Davis, who was often labeled a “Black extremist,” following the “Respect” singer’s performance at a fundraising event held by The National United Committee to Free Angela Davis.

The legendary songstress’ association with political advocates of color, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and other prominent figures, sparked an entire investigation, accusing Franklin of supporting the “militant Black power concept.”

Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy

Because of this, nearly every move made by Franklin was noted. Law enforcement’s perceived agenda of not only the Black Panther party but Blacks keeping up noise in the music industry reportedly made the early part of Franklin’s career a highly-dangerous era.

Further into the thread, Jenn Dize alleged that Franklin even endured a number of death threats.

Dize wrote in a tweet,

“Aretha Franklin had some incredibly scary things happen to her. Four months after her father was shot in Detroit, she received a threat from a man who said he was going to kill her and her family. She was threatened many times over her career.”

There are also a series of other letters that were from the FBI and even to Franklin, as an effort to instill fear into the icon.

See more documents below:

On August 18, 2018, Ms. Aretha Franklin passed away at the age of 76 after a bout with pancreatic cancer.

What was your favorite Aretha Franklin hit? Let us know in the comments below!