Lucille Ball
	Lucille Ball has made significant and positive contributions to the country with her comedy. Many consider her America's best female actress. Kathleen Brady, in fact, says, "Lucille Ball is one of the greatest performing artists America has produced" (ix). Throughout her career, Ball has not only been a comedienne, but also a superb businesswoman, an excellent role model, and has won numerous awards.
	Lucille Ball's major contribution has been as a comedienne. Not only was she the star of the world renowned television show, I Love Lucy, but she has also performed on radio, in films, and even on Broadway. Ball had an extraordinary personality. "In short, Lucille Ball's unique brand of wacky
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After her split with Desi Arnaz, "Lucille Ball at last realized her dream of Broadway success, opening in the musical comedy Wildcat on Dec. 16, 1960" (Moritz 34). Clearly her talents were varied.
	In addition to being an exceptional comedienne, Ball was a superb businesswoman. While she was married to Desi Arnaz, she and Arnaz bought out RKO radio station, and changed its name to Desilu. After she and Arnaz divorced, Lucy bought all of his shares of Desilu (Moritz 34). This was very uncommon for women to do at this time. It was very rare that women even had any say about what was going on. This proved her strength as a woman. When she was ready to sell Desilu, Ball made a handsome profit from selling the company for $17,000,000 to Gulf & Western in 1967. Obviously she knew what she was doing. In fact, Gloria Steinem said, "I admire her as a business woman. You know, she really seemed to control her entire professional life and was very, very smart" (100 Years of Great Women). She was certainly a brilliant businesswoman.
	Because of her unbelievable talent as an actress, comedienne, woman, and person in general, Lucille Ball has become a role model for many people. Among these people are Rosie O'Donnell, Carol Burnett, and Bette Midler. In fact, Rosie O'Donnell said, "Lucille Ball paved the way for every female performer, I think, today. You know, you have to honor those who came before you and give a hand to those who
Lena Horne is an amazing woman. Her pride in her heritage, her refusal to compromise herself, and her innate elegance, grace, and dignity has made her a legendary figure. Her role as a person who has helped to improve the status of African Americans in the performing arts has provided a permanent legacy.During the 1960s Horne was involved in the American Civil Rights Movement. During the 1960s Horne was involved in the American Civil Rights Movement. She participated in the March on Washington in 1963, performed at rallies in the South and elsewhere, and worked on behalf of the National Council for Negro Women. During the same period, she was also very visible on television, appearing on popular variety shows and in her own special, Lena in Concert, in 1969. In 1969 Horne starred in the movie Death of a Gunfighter.n the 1990s Horne cut back on performing. She was drawn back from semiretirement to do a tribute concert for a long-time friend, composer Billy Strayhorn, at the JVC Jazz Festival. At age seventy-six
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” Lucille Ball. Lucille Ball was a famous actress on the CBS network, starring in the nations most beloved show ever, “I Love Lucy” and continued to be on countless television show and movies, such as “The Lucy show”, “The Lucy Desi comedy hour” and many many more. She is funny, inspiring, a hard worker, interesting, pioneer.
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.
Without a doubt there is one major performer that certainly stands out within our pop culture world. The name of this very famous American icon is, Dolly Parton. Dolly has surpassed any rags to riches story that ever lived. She has touched the lives of so many individuals over many decades through her many talents. Dolly started her career at a very young age and continued fulfilling her life endeavors through country music, pop music, and even acting. This American icon didn’t stop with just her talents, she also gave back to our society through charity, fundraising, and establishing her own theme park. Dolly Parton was brought up in a very poor family, however through much dedication she became the famous icon everyone idolized today.
She said “ I don't measure America by its achievement but by its potential.” She said this because it shows that it doesn’t matter what they did but what comes out of it. One of Shirley’s major accomplishment was becoming the first African American in Congress (history.com). In 1968 she was elected to the House Forestry Committee (biography.com). Shirley Chisholm was one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 (biography.com). She founded this because she felt like there needed to be a group of African Americans that thought the same. Another major accomplishments was being instituted in the National Women’s Hall of Fame (The Famous People). Her contributions to the country in many different occasions put her in the Hall of Fame in 1993 (The Famous People). In 1972 she ran for President of United States for the Democratic Party. She was the first African American women to run and got 152 delegates but did not win (Notable biographies and The Famous People). Shirley Chisholm had a lot of accomplishments to help African American women in the United
Lucy Stone has influenced a lot of women’s daily lives today. Because her ability to speak to the people and influenced them to join her on the behalf of racism, and sexism. Lucy show that she was complacent she really didn’t care what sexiest mean hate comments came her was and that is why people trusted and wanted to be just like
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.
Even in this day in age, nearly 70 years later, people all over still know and love Lucille Ball and her iconic television series, I Love Lucy. After buying Desilu from her ex-husband, Lucille Ball became the first woman in history to own her company. She also realistically portrayed her character because when Lucille was pregnant so was Lucy. Ball is known as one of the most influential women today because she opened the door for future women in comedy. Throughout her lifespan, Lucille Ball continually opened the door for women in comedy and television, changed the way women were perceived in the media, and was even the first woman to own a television studio.
Before there were women like Oprah Winfrey or Ellen DeGeneres, there was a Lucille Ball. A woman running her own television show, production network, while also maintaining the role as a mother and a wife. Lucille was one of the influential women of her time, impacting society anywhere from interracial dating and marriages, her television show and her pregnancy and what it represented. Lucille Ball paved the road for a woman following a career in comedy, expanding acceptance for women's priorities to not always be that of her physical appearance, and the betterment of her husband and children's lives. In the 1950’s a woman who focused on her own career advancement and self-betterment was often considered selfish and self-centered, and Lucille Ball was one of the women to prove that stereotype wrong. With so little women at the time in the workplace and drastically fewer women with upper-level positions, Lucille Ball stands out.
It wasn’t until three years later when Tony Bennett convinced her to return to show business that she did any performing. In 1981 she put on the performance of a lifetime. Her one women show entitled “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music” ran for fourteen months straight before she took the production on tour.
paved the way for religious freedom. She was a great leader in the cause for
financial donations to many organizations, and she also became a patron of the arts. Her
She is talked about as, “Lucille Ball is known as the First Lady of comedy.” (Patrie 1). Tons looked up to Ball and saw how much she accomplished for the comedy and acting industry. She is also considered as a, “pioneer of the modern sitcom.” (Johnson 1). Ball was seen as an influential person for the ways in which she was able to introduce new ideas. She and Arnaz even introduced developing the production technique used for the modern sitcom, filming I Love Lucy in segments, with three cameras, before a live audience. When I Love Lucy first aired, many people fell in love with the show admediatly. It had such a big impact that, “In 1953, 67% of American homes tuned in every Monday night to watch the show.” (Gehring 1). For that many to be watching the show, they must have enjoyed all the humor and relationships. Some believed that the show’s comic resilience was able to comfort the viewers who were struggling with their own personal demons and to also encourage the viewers to practice their own persistence as
Bessie Coleman has left a brave legacy on the world. She showed others to not let your race or gender stop you from making an impact on the world. She refused to take no for an answer when it came to following her heart and her dreams. Always remember to follow your heart and your dreams no matter what others