The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

Arts

Women

African Americans

This collection uses primary sources to explore the impact of women blues performers.

An encyclopedic overview of blues music, including primary sources and discussion of the origin, development, and impact of blues. 

A map of the migration of blues music and styles across the United States. 

A map documenting the migration of three varying styles of blues music including East Texas, Mississippi Delta, and Piedmont when African-Americans left the South for different regions of the US. Use in conjunction with [inmotionaame.org](http://www.inmotionaame.org). 

A ca. 1925 letter from the stage act Tolliver & Harris regarding a scheduling problem attributed to legendary blues singer Bessie Smith.

Transcription:

Jac[damage] 

Ju[damage] 



Mr Douglas

Mgr [Manager] Douglas Theatre

Macon Ga. [Georgia] 

Dear Sir.

We want to inform you why we are not playing your house this week with the Bessie Smith unit. Last tuesday she aggreed [agreed] to pay our Railroad fare there but at the last minute she refused to do so rather than pay it from the [deleted text: sallm] small salary we were geting [getting] we closed. Now we dont know what she may tell you so we want to be square and that is why we are writeing[writing] you. We will no dout [doubt] pick up your house next week as Mr Revene picks us up at once. As for the reports on the act you may ask Radcliff or Allen & Stokes we have two a no. [number] 1. acts. Hopeing [Hoping] to play you in the near future

We beg to remain 

Yours truly 

[Signed] Tolliver & Harris

A 1925 photograph of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, known as the "Mother of the Blues," one of the most influential early female blues singers.

A 1929 Douglas Theatre handbill for Bessie Smith’s “all-talking” film.

A 1929 handbill from Douglas Theatre promoting legendary blues singer Bessie Smith in an “all-talking” film with an “all-star colored cast” called The St. Louis Blues, as well as other “some talkie” films. 

Ukulele sheet music for “The Saint Louis Blues,” written by W.C. Handy, 1914.

“The Saint Louis Blues,” written by William Christopher (W. C.) Handy and performed by Marion Harris, was promoted as the “first successful blues published” and “the most widely known ragtime composition.” Blues singer Bessie Smith was one of its most famous performers.

The sheet music for “The Crazy Blues,” performed by Mamie Smith, 1920.

Mamie Smith was the first African American woman to make a blues recording in the 1920s. 

A photograph of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, one of the most influential blues singers, who recorded over one hundred of her own compositions.

A 2010 interview with Guthrie Ramsey and Steve Almond in which they describe the history and demise of the blues. 

The album cover of Blues for Rampart Street, recorded by Ida Cox and Coleman Hawkins at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in 1961. 

Cox recorded her first blues songs in 1923 for the Paramount label, which dubbed her the "uncrowned queen of the blues."

A photograph of the rhythm-and-blues group Gladys Knight and the Pips receiving a proclamation honoring the group in 1970.

The family quartet from Atlanta, Georgia formed in the 1950s; their career spanned decades. 

A photograph from 1990 of contemporary rhythm-and-blues singer Toni Braxton, who rose to fame in the 1990s.

Questions

1. Blues music appeared on the music scene in the 1920s. Using the items in the set, discuss how African American women influenced and helped shape the blues movement across the United States. How did blues music travel? 
2. Using the items in the set and additional resources, explore the cultural, social, and economic influences on blues music. Did the blues influence female and male singers differently? 
3. Using items in this set, discuss the origins of the blues and how it developed as a musical form. How can the blues be understood in terms of time? How did the blues’ place of origin influence the development of the music? 


Activity

Blues music has a melancholy undertone; singers have been described as “having the blues.” Blues lyrics consist of three rhyming lines with the first line always repeated. Ask students to write their own three-line blues stanza, using items in the sets as models. 

Teaching Guide: Exploring Women and the Blues

Resources

1. [Empress of the Blues: The Bessie Smith Story](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/blues/bsa.html), University of Virginia. 
2. [Mamie Smith and the Birth of the Blues Market](http://www.npr.org/2006/11/11/6473116/mamie-smith-and-the-birth-of-the-blues-market), National Public Radio. 
3. [The Mother and the Empress: Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith](http://www.biography.com/news/bessie-smith-ma-rainey-biography), Bio. 

Overview

Although the origins of blues music are difficult to trace completely, the blues movement is said to have grown from African American song and culture throughout the South. Women were an influential part of this development with several female blues singers driving the movement throughout the United States. In 1920, Perry Bradford brought Mamie Smith into the spotlight with her performance of “Crazy Blues,” which was the first commercial blues record ever recorded. The influence of Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, and Ida Cox can still be heard in more contemporary artists like Toni Braxton, Gladys Knight, and others.

English

Women and the Blues

women-and-the-blues_11_5a43275efd8a74b33f6162a7d9db54ad.jpg

Courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library via California Digital Library.

Curtis, Rolland J., “Gladys Knight and the Pips,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/e160a814354b05525a51f181623f6f5d.

A photograph of the rhythm-and-blues group Gladys Knight and the Pips receiving a proclamation honoring the group in 1970.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 11 of 12 in the Primary Source Set Women and the Blues