Are Ella Fitzgerald's Contributions To African Americans

Instead of listening to the Secret Service she asked one of the head Pilots to fly her. She was optimistic when they landed. She asked why are they not flying into war, they're really good. Later she donated $175,000 to build a new Runway. One of her most important contributions to the Tuskegee airmen and civil rights was to talk to FDR the president and ask for them to join the war effort. she said all people should be equal and they should all have the opportunity to fight for their

She has risen from a poor background and was ranked the richest African American of the 20th Century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history and was once the world’s only black billionaire. She is also known as the most influential woman in the world, both older generations and young.

Along with that, girls would pour their heart into the songs they sang from the radio. Fitzgerald spent a majority of her time imitating the singers broadcasted. Ella first fell in love with the singer Louis Armstrong. When singing his songs she was able to learn how to sing the style of swing. Later on Fitzgerald hear of the Boswell Sisters and completely idolized them. Ella said,”My mother brought home one of her records, and I fell in love with it. I tried so hard to sound just like her.” (Nicholson 9). Fitzgerald was able to grasp an incredible tone and foundation for her voice. This lead to her future career as a singer.

The African-American people have suffered great hardships since slavery. During the 15 and 19th century many Africans were taken and forced into slavery. Some slaves

Dorothy Dandridge may seem to be like a beautiful and strong African American woman on the outside, but on the inside she held in a lot of pain. Dorothy Dandridge is an actress, singer, and entertainer, who no longer walk this green Earth, but when she did, she made history. Dorothy was the first African American actress to achieve a leading-role status. Dorothy also had a deeply troubled life and racism didn’t make her life any easier especially when it came to achieving her dreams, but she got through it and during her time, the early 1930’s through the 1960’s, that was saying something. Racism was a lot worse then what it is now, but it made it harder for African Americans to achieve their goals, especially African American women. Dorothy was very worth looking up to now and when she was alive. Dorothy Dandridge is a contribution to African American history because she was the first African American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress, how she fought all odds against her, mainly racism, and she made it possible to for other African American women to follow in her footsteps and look up to her as a role model.

February of every year is known as National Black History Month. There are many African American people who made a great impact on all African-Americans today. In honor of this month, though, I have chosen to write about Marian Anderson. Marian Anderson was a singer who had made a great impact on many of the black singers in the past. She was one of the first female African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955. Some of Marian’s last words to the public were “I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country.”

The Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement specifically in creative arts such as music and literature. Jazz represented the flavor and zest of African American culture in the 1920s-1940s. Billie Holiday had a great impact on the Harlem Renaissance because she was one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. She performed with other great jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Teddy Wilson, Jo Jones, and Henry Allen. Her career as a jazz singer was an incredible and thriving one, however, it was shortened because of her battle of substance abuse. Despite the drug use and the loss of her mother, the only thing she could turn to was her music. Billie Holiday's legacy will always live on when the discussion of the Harlem Renaissance is present.

She showed them that they could be equal. The only difference was the color of the skin. She taught them that that wasn’t even a big difference. She fought segregation her entire life.

Shows did not want to hire an activist, they wanted an entertainer. Nina would not compromise her mission for money, so she continued to bring attention to civil rights through her songs. Nina said, “America’s society is nothing but a cancer, and it must be exposed before it can be cured.” She was just exposing the cancer in society and although Nina had good

Considered one of the most influential artists in jazz history.” Jazz played a huge role in the 1920’s, it brought many people together by bringing the Americans and the African American

This also tied back to the way she was fighting for African American rights, not only in a political way but also in her art. She helped changed the way Old Negros looked, raggedy clothes and sometimes no clothes to the way New Negros looked, with angelic robes. She helps portray a way African Americans were not commonly portrayed before. Even in her Gamin a simple sculpture bust of her nephew, helped change the way people view African Americans. Just because he is a street urchin, does not mean he does not have emotions and deep

She was the starving musician, the jazz singer who did all she could to stay alive and still do what she loves. The dedication she displayed to jazz is not easy to explain. She was a perfectionist in her fashion, depending upon her excellent ear, unique voice and honesty and love for people to keep her love alive.

Unlike Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou devoted her life to inspiring African Americans to do whatever they wanted to do no matter what other people said. She also wanted to inspire people. Her poems Phenomenal Woman and Still I Rise inspired not only the African American people, which is was intended to, but the whole world including men. Like Hughes, Maya Angelou did not think that one day she would be reading one of her poems at President Clinton 's inauguration. But she did think that she would inspire young African American writers that they too could become wonderful writers in a white society. Angelou is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary black literature and as a remarkable Renaissance woman.

For example, “ In Ghana she joined a community of "Revolutionist Returnees” exploring pan-Africanism and became close with human rights activist and black nationalist leader Malcolm X. In 1964, on returning to the U.S., she helped him set up the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which disbanded after Malcolm X’s assassination the following year” (“Maya Angelou Biography”). She took risks and went through a lot, so that black people would get their rights and be treated equal and she didn’t care what it would have cost her, she got into some dangerous things. She had a lot of dedication to her work and worked hard to not only herself but for other rights. If she believed in something she made sure that it would came to existence. Additionally, she worked hard on books and movies that soon became recognized for her work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman.

Ella earned many awards throughout the many years she was a singer. She received her first Grammy in 1958, for best female vocal performance. Not only at that Grammys shows was she awarded her first grammy she also became the first African American female to win a award. Along with the many Grammy she won, she also sold over 40 millions copies. Over her lifetime she recorded over 200 albums and about 2,000 songs. She was also awarded the image award for lifetime achievement and the presidential medal of freedom and The Kennedy Center for performing arts medal of honor. One of the highest honors she received was from president Ronald Reagan, The National Medal of art and the first Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award which was later named after Ella. Most people do not know that Ella did not always want to