Bessie Smith Thesis

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Bessie “Empress of the Blues” Smith Bessie Smith was arguably one of the most influential blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance. Bessie Smith was brought up in poverty. Born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, one of seven children in a small one room shack. After the death of her mother and father, her older sister, Viola took care of her and the rest of her siblings. Bessie finished school until the eighth grade; when Bessie was 12, she was recruited by her brother’s mezzo troop, where she met a woman by the name of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Bessie defied racial barriers, she wanted to make a difference in peoples’ lives with her music and voice. She made more money than any African American before her. She dealt with a lot of

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