Marian Anderson: An American Pianist

Bessie was born April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee to a part time Baptist preacher, William Smith, and his wife Laura. The family was large and poor. Soon after she was born her father died. Laura lived until Bessie was only nine years old. The remaining children had to learn to take care of themselves. Her sister Viola then raised her. But it was her oldest brother,

Jane (Laura) Addams was born to Sarah (Weber) Addams and John Huy Addams on September 16, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois near Rockford and Wisconsin border. She was the eighth of nine children. From this union out of the nine children only three of the daughters and one son survived to see adulthood.

On February 15, 1820, Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams Massachusetts to Lucy and Daniel Anthony. Susan out of eight children was raised in a strict Quaker family. Her father, Daniel Anthony, was a very rigid man, a Quaker cotton manufacturer and abolitionist. He believed in making sure children were guided right, not targeting them. Her father did not let his kids experience the childish enjoyments of toys, games, and music, because all of those above were seen as distractions from the Inner Light. Instead her father imposed self-discipline.

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.”

She was born in 1855 in Toledo, Ohio. She was born as Sarah Elizabeth Jacobs. She was the second of seven children. After the American Civil War, her and her family moved to Chicago, Illinois.

Anthony was born in February of 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. She was raised in a

In the 1920’s, blues was a very popular and dominating genre in the music industry. Generally, the blues was sung by African American women because according to the book entitled, “Blues Legacies and Black Feminism” by Angela Davis, “…The most widely heard individual purveyors of the blues—were women.” (Davis 4) The blues delivers certain emotions such as sadness, loneliness, love, sex, and feelings about the certain circumstances the artist may be going through at the time. Two women who dominate this style of music are Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith. As stated by “Gay & Lesbian Biography”, “The careers of Rainey and Smith are closely interwoven.” Ma Rainey is a woman who is admired for both her amazing vocals and her ability to entertain. Bessie Smith is a woman who started off as a background dancer for her peer Ma Rainey, but then went on to emulate her by outdoing her success. Both women are very talented musicians who can not only sing and entertain, but they also create an impact as two of the most influential feminists during the 1920’s who helped shape the blues into what it is today.

Early Life: She was born to Charles and Mary Moore in 1752 near Spartanburg, South Carolina. Her family was one of the first to migrate to the Piedmont area of South Carolina.

She was born March 3rd, 1925. O’Connor was raised by two very Catholic parents in Savanna, Georgia. Her father, Edward Francis O’Connor, worked as a real estate agent and was a World War II veteran. O’Connors mother, Regina Lucille O’Connor, was a very social woman and a stay at home mother. O’Connor was the only child of Edward and Regina, and was always a different type of girl. She was that type of girl who would always be alone on the playground during recess, talking to herself. She didn't have many friends, her only “friends” were her chickens, who she would knit clothes for. She had an interest of fowls, especially with oddities.

In 1894 Martha was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (Pratt 8). She was the daughter of Jane Beers and George Graham. Her father was a well-known physician who treated mental disorders. After living in Pennsylvania for 12 years, she and her family moved to Santa Barbara,

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.

It is said that Bessie Smith is the “Empress of the Blues.” She was a superior entertainer, with talent in singing and dancing. Bessie had such a beautiful, soulful voice and she collaborated with many great jazz performers. Bessie didn’t just stand for music, she stood for women. By the end of the 1920’s, she was the highest paid black woman of her day, earning the title “Empress of the Blues.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Rockland, Maine on February 2, 1892. She was the first daughter of three girls; her parents, Cora Buzzelle Millay and Henry Tolman Millay. Millay's parents divorced in 1900 and her mother

Martha Argrich to me is the best pianist out of the 10 listed. her solos were unbelievable I only watched 3 performers but her performance was different she took the whole orchestra on her back and she performed by herself rarely but sometimes and it sounds great. They say even though she has aged her performances are still extremely accurate and as vibrant as they were in the past. She started piano at the age of 3 did her first concert at 8 and became a prodigy after the dictator of Argentina assigned her parents to the argentine embassy so that she could pursue a musical career. As a person I feel she never really took a grasp on her life she remarried 3 times had daughters with 3 different men. I feel that being happy and content with