Mamie Smith: Empress Of Blues

George Elliot Clarke is an important poet and writer of contemporary Canadian literature and holds the title of the Canadian Parlamentary Poet Laureate. He was born near Windsor Plains in Nova Scotia on the 12th February 1960 and grew up in Halifax. He earned several degrees and was nominated, after the famous Canadian poet of the first half of the 20th century, E. J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature. Clarke calls himself an 'Africadian' since his family is of African descent. His work comprises several text in poetry, prose and drama which mainly processes the history and culture of blacks in the eastern parts of Canada. He wrote the poem 'Halifax Blues', that forms the topic of this lesson, when still being in his early

Known as the “Empress Of Blues”, Bessie Smith was said to have revolutionized the vocal end of Blues Music. She showed a lot of pride as an independent African-American woman. Her style in performance and lyrics often reflected her lifestyle. Bessie Smith was one of the first female jazz artists, and she paved the way for many musicians who followed.

The Blues also became a hit in the 1920s after Mamie Smith recorded “Crazy Blues” and it grew into a huge part of the Jazz Industry. African Americans were given credit for the creation of the Blues industry of music as well. Bessie Smith was known as the “most famous of the 1920s Blues singers.”

(lamda, 1)  Shug’s character symbolizes the independence these women had at a time when the independence of a black woman was nonexistent.  Many women blues performers sang about breaking away from traditional society and gaining their liberty. For example, Bessie Smith’s song, ‘Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do (Bessie Smith Collection, Track 2), she preaches.

Around 1903 when my parent's died to survive, my brother, Andrew, and I began to perform a musical act on the streets of Chattanooga. I sang and my brother accompanied me on the guitar, often in front of the White Elephant Saloon. In 1912, when Clarence my older brother returned to Chattanooga, he persuaded the managers of his troupe, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give me an audition. Consequently, I was hired as a dancer with the Moses Stokes Company, to perform in a show that included the Mother of the Blues, Ma Rainey. Intriguing rumors surround our meeting—legend has it that Ma Rainey literally kidnapped me, that she and her husband forced me to tour with their show, teaching me in the process how to sing the blues. Some rumors say we had

After the American Civil War black freed-man settled in the Mississippi Delta. In the Delta each African could have their own fields. Clearing fields, preventing crops from floods, and cultivating their crops were duty of the black people. Mississippi Delta region has a significant influence in the emergence of many blues musicians. When Africans settled in the Delta, they started to record blues music. Unfortunately, recording was quite expensive for them. Therefore, less people could record in the Delta region. Jasper Love, a Clarksdale blues singer, was worked with mules to clear and farm the land. Farm bell was quite important for him because daily labor began and ended with the

Florence mills was the first black international female star. She traveled around the world to do shows.That made her known for doing shows everywhere and stared to get more popular. She have done numerous of performances like a hit musical called ‘Shuffle Along’. And she did a all-black performance as well. This point gives her a historical credibility because she was the first black woman to do international shows.Now that she was the first international female star everyone would know her and like her and really appreciate her for being the first female to do internacional with dancing.

August Wilson’s highly acclaimed play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set in Chicago in the late 1920’s. The main character, Ma Rainey, is an African American blues singer, and she is managed by a white music producer named Irvin. Levee, the youngest of four band members, takes on a surprisingly dominant role in the play. Anyone can open a history text book and learn about the general social issues that were present in the early nineteen hundreds. Wilson takes this history lesson one step further, and shows his readers the affects of these racial issues on a personal level. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom shows how the disrespect and exploitation of young African Americans in the music industry can either lead to empowerment or downfall.

Before watching “The Jazz Singer”, I had no idea of its cultural or historical significance. I learned that it was the first motion picture to have synchronized dialogue and words. It set the precedent for cinematography, live voice recordings, and real-time dialogue. The film was based on a short story written only a few years prior. The story was called “The Day of Atonement” and was authored by Samson Raphaelson. The short story was then adapted into an onstage musical in 1925 before finally becoming a full length feature film in 1927.

Even after slavery, African American women are still imprisoned by their inferior role to men. The women could be from different statuses based on job, wealth, or marital status, but they are would find themselves suffering under the rules of their men. The blues “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” by Ida Cox and “Mamie’s Blues” by Jelly Roll Morton talk about the challenges of women living during the Harlem Renaissance. The blues surrounded the African American women during this time, and these songs talk about women facing hardships in life because they are second class citizens compared to men.

Due to the fact that the narrator could not actually know what the piano player is thinking, the reader can say that the narrator is actually describing his own actions after hearing the musician sing. Based on the lack of emotion given from the narrator and the blending of the narrator and the musician’s actions at the end of the poem, the speaker, has a common voice with the piano player, both of whom are

In Saint Louis Blues, sung by Bessie Smith, there was an unmistakable air of sadness, blended with nostalgia as she remembered her husband who had gone missing. The song captures a grieving and morose tone because her husband, “left dis town”. The song talks about how if she doesn’t feel any better, she’s going to have to leave town to get away from everything she has gone through there. Looking at the lyrics it appears that she lost her husband to another woman, who with her “store bought hair” and diamonds was able to lure him away, leaving her alone and depressed. The role of the reed organ appeared to be to keep the tempo, and continue to emote the same depressed feelings so artfully expressed in Bessie Smith’s rendition.

Eddie James “Son” House, Jr., an American blues singer and guitarist once stated, "People keep asking me where the blues started and all I can say is that when I was a boy we always was singing in the fields. Not real singing, you know, just hollerin', but we made up our songs about things that was happening to us at the time, and I think that's where the blues started (Cohn, 1993).”

The main theme of the blues was built upon racism in the surrounding. The music expressed the bad treatment, and starvation that blacks received from the dominant race. An example of the music is by Ma Rainey, who was one of the earliest connections between the male country blues artists that roamed the backroads of the South and their female equivalent; she made her professional debut in 1900 at the age of l4 at the Springer Opera House in Columbus, Georgia. She was one of the first to feature the blues on stage. Ma Rainey said from "Chain Gang Blues":

At the heart of jazz, the blues was a creation of former black slaves who adapted their African musical heritage to the American environment. The blues is a 12-bar musical form with a call-and-response format between the singer and his guitar dealing with themes of personal adversity, overcoming hard luck, and other emotional turmoil.