Aretha Franklin exhibit debuts with eye toward her legacy

The Detroit museum that hosted Aretha Franklin's public visitations after her death is again holding space for her — this time with an exhibit featuring photographs, videos and the red shoes she wore at the first funeral viewing that drew global attention.

Billed as a "tribute to the Queen of Soul," ''THINK" opens to the public Tuesday at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and runs until Jan. 21, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The show is a prelude what the museum envisions is a larger, long-term exhibit that would debut late next year or in early 2020. And both could be a proving ground for a permanent museum honoring Franklin and her family.

"My aunt used to always talk about having a Franklin family museum," Franklin's niece, Sabrina Owens, told The Associated Press. "That's not on the immediate horizon, but I thought this would be a good start to it."

In a photo from Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Detroit, an exhibit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History features a "tribute to the Queen of Soul." "THINK" opens to the public Tuesday at the museum that hosted Aretha Franklin's public visitations after her death last month. It features archival photographs, videos and the red shoes she wore at her first visitation that drew global attention. (AP PhotoCarlos Osorio)

The first show aims to capture and celebrate Franklin's life in an intimate space that's designed to change and offer surprises over time — much like its subject did.

"This mirrors the way she was — keep on adding things to a collection, giving people something different to look forward to — just goes along with who she was as a person," Owens said. "She just always wanted to change, keep herself relevant."

In addition to the candy-apple red shoes, the exhibit includes a replica of the matching red dress she wore at the visitation. It also features video from various performances and appearances. Visitors are greeted by a large video monitor with three clips playing on a loop, including her scene-stealing turn singing "Think" in the film "The Blues Brothers."

In a photo from Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Detroit, an exhibit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History features a "tribute to the Queen of Soul." "THINK" opens to the public Tuesday at the museum that hosted Aretha Franklin's public visitations after her death last month. It features archival photographs, videos and the red shoes she wore at her first visitation that drew global attention. (AP PhotoCarlos Osorio)

The images and artifacts span her life — among them a photo of her birth home in Memphis, Tennessee, a framed copy of the first record she cut in her longtime home of Detroit and a close-up shot of her singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration. It also includes images captured by The Associated Press during her visitations, funeral and interment.

Museum officials say the cultural landmark takes great pride in hosting the exhibit, as well as maintaining a connection with Franklin, who died Aug. 16 at 76. The museum says roughly 31,000 people came through to see her during the Aug. 29-30 visitation period.

Given how recently she died, museum officials say it was important to capture and present some of those elements "of residual grief and love" for the inaugural exhibit.

In a photo from Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Detroit, an exhibit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History features a "tribute to the Queen of Soul." "THINK" opens to the public Tuesday at the museum that hosted Aretha Franklin's public visitations after her death last month. It features archival photographs, videos, the red shoes she wore at her first visitation and a replica of the matching red dress. (AP PhotoCarlos Osorio)

"We're trying to continue from the viewing the emotional experience we witnessed — see the emotional connection people had with the Queen and allow people to feel that," said George Hamilton, the Wright's interim CEO.

The feelings came rushing back to Gloria Easley, 68, who came from Chicago on Friday with her sister. The women thought the exhibit had already opened to the public, but Hamilton welcomed them nonetheless.

"When I came in and walked through the door, I was a bit taken aback," said Easley, who said she spoke by phone on numerous occasions with Franklin's late father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, and met the singer at gospel trailblazer Mahalia Jackson's 1972 funeral in Chicago. "I got a little emotional, having flashbacks listening to her voice."

In a photo from Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Detroit, an exhibit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History features a "tribute to the Queen of Soul." "THINK" opens to the public Tuesday at the museum that hosted Aretha Franklin's public visitations after her death last month. It features archival photographs, videos and the red shoes she wore at her first visitation that drew global attention. (AP PhotoCarlos Osorio)

Easley, who first "fell in love" with the young Franklin's voice on radio broadcasts of her father's services, told Hamilton that the exhibit hits the right notes.

"You're doing it in the right way and for the right reasons," she told him.

For the current and planned future exhibit, the museum is working with the Franklin family on creating something that encompasses her life and its impact.

In a photo from Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Detroit, an exhibit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History features a "tribute to the Queen of Soul." "THINK" opens to the public Tuesday at the museum that hosted Aretha Franklin's public visitations after her death last month. It features archival photographs, videos and the red shoes she wore at her first visitation that drew global attention. (AP PhotoCarlos Osorio)

"Aretha was obviously important to the world and important to Detroit," said museum board member Kelly Major Green. "We want to be able to express that appropriate and commensurate with the legacy that it is."

Franklin's niece believes it's a great way to start sharing that legacy. She adds that the exhibits and the public's response to them can help the family determine if a permanent museum "is a viable idea."

"It's just really good to see my aunt's dream come to fruition," Owens said.

Follow Jeff Karoub on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jeffkaroub and find more of his work at https://apnews.com/search/jeff%20karoub .

For more, visit https://apnews.com/tag/ArethaFranklin .

TOKYO (AP) — The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.

“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.

“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.

The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.

Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield's visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”

Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.

Thomas-Greenfield's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington's trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.

The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.

She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.

The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.

In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.

The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.

U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, speaks to Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, second right, as they wait for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, right, walk to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, talk prior to a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)