As part of Her Dream Deferred week, our fifth annual weeklong series of activities elevating the crisis facing Black women and girls, the African American Policy Forum is hosting the salute to Aretha Franklin’s excellence that she deserved but didn’t properly receive. Our Black Feminist Homegoing for Aretha will take place on Sunday, March 24, 2019 at 3pm PST at UCLA Law School. The event will be followed by a screening of Amazing Grace and a talk back sponsored by UCLA African American Studies.

It was devastating enough to lose the Queen of Soul last year, but the disgraceful eulogy Reverend Jasper Williams Jr. delivered at her service last September added insult to injury. Instead of focusing on celebrating Aretha Franklin as the cultural icon she is, Reverend Williams used the occasion as a chance to launch uninformed diatribes against everything from single mothers to Black Lives Matter. Despite serving as a beacon for Black women over the course of her multi-decade career, Aretha was effectively denied the chance to be toasted, memorialized and paid homage on Black women’s terms.

What would it look like if Aretha Franklin’s legacy was seen through black women’s eyes? What would it sound like if Black women honored her sonic contributions in our own voices? At AAPF’s reimagining of the traditional earthly send-off, fans of Aretha’s from far and wide will contribute remarks, art, and performances that recast, reconstitute and reclaim what Aretha means for Black women. On this occasion of Aretha Franklin’s first birthday since her passing, join us for a Black feminist eulogy fit for a queen.