Aretha Franklin was tracked by the FBI due to her civil rights activism

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Newly unsealed documents reveal that the FBI tracked Aretha Franklin because she was involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

A 270-page document shows the FBI paid special attention to the Queen of Soul’s many performances for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference civil rights organization.

The shows for the SCLC took place in Atlanta and Memphis between 1967 and 1968 and were labeled as “communist infiltration” events.

The FBI also tracked a scheduled performance at a Black Panther Party event that Aretha eventually canceled.

“Bobby Seale, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, has directed the Los Angeles Black Panther Party to