Nina Simone

Give light and people will find the way, Said Ella Baker. She was a woman, who even in the darkest hour, gave light to people everywhere. Being a Civil Rights activist in the 1930’s, she was one of the leading figures in the Civil Rights Movement. She dedicated her life to fighting for freedom and equality, and she deserves to be recognized worldwide.

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.

Combining with the motif of protest was the issues of women rights. Women celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 19th amendment, and liberal abortion laws in the year of 1970. No longer merely entertainment, popular music became a powerful means of protest and an effective force for social change. The whole feeling of fighting for what is right was often found in lyrics and music of the time. Although women had been in the music industry for centuries the song of the seventies that backed the idea of woman’s push for power was “I Am Women,” by Helen Reddy. The first line simply stats the mood of the whole song by stating, “I am women, hear me roar.”

During the 1960’s, Nina got involved with the current events – the civil rights fight – as an activist. Outraged by the events and her own struggles this led her to take action; She used her music to try to change society. Her music was often anthems for civil right movements - such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee - during the 1960s and 1970s. After almost 50 years of music, Nina Simone

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.”

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.

Joss Stone all show signs of Ella's influence. Ella is also credited with inspiring the great Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennet and Mel Torme to some extent. Although Ella's influence through style is great, perhaps her greatest achievement can be noticed in her career as a whole. Ella Fitzgerald was an influential woman with many followers around the world, of all races, religions and nationalities.

(ella baker.org) She was (sv)inspired to join the movement by her grandmother (w-w)who often confessed the brutality of life under slavery. (2)She was very (adj)inspiring to her community and even joined several organizations benefiting African Americans. One organization Baker was a part of called the SNCC helped create a Freedom Summer (bc)because they wanted to bring national attention to Mississippi’s racism and unwillingness to register black voters. (Ellabaker) (ly)Simply, she is remembered today for her “Audacity to Dream

Josephine Baker, born in 1906, was a great African American dancer, singer and actress from the 1920s, but was also a civil war activist and campaigner. She demonstrated the courage that many African Americans in the time had to face in order to be successful. She took risks throughout her life that would eventually lead to her empowerment and success, despite the difficulties that African Americans during the time faced including discrimination and violence.

In the twenty first century there are a few men in this world that admits when you think of artist, you don’t typically think of women. Women rights and racism play a strong role when it comes to African American female artist. For decades’ African American woman have always had a permanent double bull’s eye on their back. Their skin and gender was their worst enemy. In the 1700 century women rights movements started to rise. But if you look up women right movements starting in the 1700 century, the face of women rights is predominantly white women. Between books and the internet, they show that it was mostly white women who helped woman rights. If we still struggle to shine light on African American Women now in the 21st century, you cannot

Legacies and Black Feminism,'' her study of the recordings of Billie Holiday and the blues

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.

Nina Simone used music to challenge, provoke, incite, and inform the masses during the period that we know as the Civil Rights Era. In the songs” Four Women”, “Young Gifted and Black”, and Mississippi God Damn”, Nina Simone musically maps a personal "intersectionality" as it relates to being a black American female artist. Kimberly Crenshaw defines "intersectionality" as an inability for black women to separate race, class and gender. Nina Simone’s music directly addresses this paradigm. While she is celebrated as a prolific artist her political and social activism is understated despite her front- line presence in the movement. According to Ruth Feldstein “Nina Simone recast black activism in the 1960’s.” Feldstein goes on to say

Crowned as "The Queen of Soul", Aretha Franklin is one of the most honored female vocal artists of the last 50 years. She is an American soul singer, songwriter as well as a pianist. Her soulful, soaring voice has earned her mythic status over the years. It has been said that Aretha was a child prodigy of the golden age of gospel and was the anointed successor to gospel singers Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson. Many idolize her and her musical intelligence to this day. She is said to be one of the most quintessential sounds of America alongside The Beetles, The Stones, and Louis Armstrong.

She was idealized by every young African American girl in the 70's. She produced number one hits one after the other and became a social icon.