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Latest: Aretha Franklin's Viewing, Body Moved From The Charles H. Wright Museum

DETROIT (AP) — Aretha Franklin's body has been transported from a Detroit museum that hosted two days of public viewings of the Queen of Soul, the next step in a journey leading up to her funeral on Friday.

Workers carefully moved Franklin's polished bronze casket from the rotunda of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and loaded it in to a 1940 Cadillac LaSalle hearse.

Fans Of Soul Legend Aretha Franklin Pay Their Respects As Her Body Lies In Repose In Detroit
DETROIT, MI - AUGUST 28: The remains of Aretha Franklin are placed into a hearse outside of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History following a day-long public viewing on August 28, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. Franklin will lie in repose at the museum for another day-long public viewing tomorrow. Franklin's funeral will be held Friday at Greater Grace Temple. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Journalists from The Associated Press were allowed to document the casket's movement Wednesday night after the public viewing concluded. Wednesday's viewing attracted thousands of fans and mourners and was the last chance for the public to directly pay their respects to the late Queen of Soul.

A private viewing is scheduled for Thursday. Franklin's invitation-only funeral will be held Friday at the New Bethel Baptist Church.

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DETROIT, MI - AUGUST 28: A vintage hearse carrying the remains of Aretha Franklin leaves the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History following a day-long public viewing on August 28, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. Franklin will lie in repose at the museum for another day-long public viewing tomorrow. Franklin's funeral will be held Friday at Greater Grace Temple. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Fans Streamed In For 2nd Day Of Aretha Franklin Public Viewing

Mourners streamed in for a second day Wednesday to pay their respects to Aretha Franklin, who was dressed in a different outfit for her final public viewing, as if making a costume change during a show.

Fans waited festively outside, then walked in a solemn, single-file line into the rotunda of Detroit's Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. There, they found Franklin in a polished bronze casket and a sheer baby blue dress with matching shoes, a change from the bright red outfit seen Tuesday across the world. On the inside of the lid, embroidered into the fabric, read "Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul."

<> on August 28, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan.
<> on August 28, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan.

The two-day viewing was part of a week of commemorations for the legend, who died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer. She was 76.

Workers carefully moved Franklin's polished bronze casket from the rotunda late Wednesday night and loaded it in to a 1940 Cadillac LaSalle hearse.

Fans Of Soul Legend Aretha Franklin Pay Their Respects As Her Body Lies In Repose In Detroit
DETROIT, MI - AUGUST 29: Fans sign posters of Aretha Franklin created by artist Mark Gaines outside of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History where the Queen of Soul lies in repose on August 29, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. Franklin's funeral will be held Friday at Greater Grace Temple. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Journalists from The Associated Press were allowed to document the casket's movement after the public viewing concluded.

A sold-out concert called "A People's Tribute to the Queen" will be held Thursday night at Detroit's Chene Park Detroit Amphitheatre.

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<> on August 28, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan.

A marathon funeral with an all-star list of speakers and performers was scheduled for Friday.

Just as Franklin's more than six decades of music wrought emotions out of her fans, so too did her viewing.

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A pink Cadillac owned by Stuart Popp is seen outside the viewing of Aretha Franklin at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on August 28, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. - Aretha Franklin passed away from advanced pancreatic cancer on August 16, 2018 at age 76. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

As they approached the casket and heaping displays of roses, many people smiled, cried, crossed themselves, bowed their heads or blew kisses. The strains of Franklin's gospel recordings echoed in the airy space.

"I was pushed by ... but a tear still came," said Maggie Penn, 78, of Detroit. The retired counselor, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Franklin and crossed paths with her in the pre-fame years, said she always appreciated that the singer remained rooted.

Fans Of Soul Legend Aretha Franklin Pay Their Respects As Her Body Lies In Repose In Detroit
DETROIT, MI - AUGUST 28: Fans of Aretha Franklin attend a viewing for the soul music legend at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History on August 28, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. Franklin will lie in repose at the museum today and tomorrow for the public to pay their respects. Franklin's funeral will be held Friday at Greater Grace Temple. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

"She never forgot from which she came," Penn said.

Gina Moorman attended Tuesday night's sorority ceremony staged in Franklin's honor at the museum and returned Wednesday.

"I wasn't even going to do it, but I wanted to see her again," said Moorman, 57, as she waited with hundreds of others in a line that snaked around to the back of the museum and beyond. "It's a real blessing to see her."

Portrait Of Aretha Franklin
Portrait of American soul singer Aretha Franklin as she wears a strapless dress and pearl necklace and has her hair in a bun, 1977. (Photo bhy Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Peggie Funny and her friend Mary A. Wilson, of Columbia, South Carolina, both born in 1954, came to Detroit for one day only on a whim because they wanted to pay their respects. They were standing outside the museum taking video and sharing it with friends on social media.

"During the '70s, anything she made during that time, we were just dancing to and enjoying it," Funny said.

Seeing Franklin in her casket rendered Wilson speechless. "I felt very emotional going in, very emotional," she said. "I just wanted to stand there. I froze."

They were both impressed that Franklin had on a different outfit.

Delana Kidd said she woke up Wednesday and knew she had to go to the museum.

TOPSHOT-US-MUSIC-ENTERTAINMENT-FUNERAL-FRANKLIN
TOPSHOT - A woman poses for a photo at the Aretha Franklin tribute service at the New Bethel Baptist Church on August 27, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. - Aretha got her start singing at this church as her father, C.L. Franking was the pastor at this church for over 30 years. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

"Today was my day off, so I said, 'You've got to come,'" Kidd said. Kidd met Franklin at a store where she worked about 10 years ago, and the encounter made her a "forever fan," she said.

She said the singer looked beautiful while lying in repose: "I don't know about red yesterday. I didn't see it, but ... she just looked gorgeous, peaceful," Kidd said.

Lauren Mills, 74, said her late husband proposed to her at a Detroit-area Franklin concert in 1977. She's not sure what overcame him, since they had seen Franklin perform many times before, but "I guess it was something special," she said.

"It was just something about her voice that calmed you — whatever you were going through," said Mills, who attended Tuesday night's ceremony. "Seeing her, I would say she was saying, 'I've done my duty. I'm OK — I'm going to rest now,'" Mills said.

Fans Of Soul Legend Aretha Franklin Pay Their Respects As Her Body Lies In Repose In Detroit
DETROIT, MI - AUGUST 28: Fans of Aretha Franklin attend a viewing for the soul music legend at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History on August 28, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. Franklin will lie in repose at the museum on August 28 and 29 for the public to pay their respects. Her funeral will be held August 31 at Greater Grace Temple. (Photo by Paul Sancya-Pool/Getty Images)

Herman Phillips, another fan who spent time at the viewing Wednesday, shared his own personal connection to Franklin.

"I feel that I'm a privileged one because I sang in a choir with Aretha when I joined her father's church, in a young adult choir," Phillips said. "I sang with her, not often because she was on the road a lot, but I do say I have that privilege. I was able to sing with Aretha at one time."

Moorman didn't know Franklin personally, but that didn't seem to matter. The music, she said, drew her in as it conveyed joy, pain and all things in between.

"She was intertwined in all of our lives," she said, adding that her love for the singer "started with 'Respect.'" "We're just feeling good about seeing the Queen."

© 2018 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 

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