Billie Holiday Impact On Society

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Billie Holiday “If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.” -Billie Holiday Born on April 7th, 1915, was a African American girl named Billie Holiday. Little did anyone know she would grown up to be a women with a huge impact in the world of jazz music. Miss Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She’s the daughter of Sarah Julia, and Clarence Holiday. Her father was a musician, and he left her mother when Billie was born to follow his dreams as a jazz guitarist. Billie Holiday didn’t have the easiest childhood. For the first ten years of her life she really struggled with the fact that her mom often left because of her job, leaving Billie to be raised by her grandmother Martha Miller. Billie …show more content…

Billie Holiday’s career was sky rocketing. In this time it wasn’t common for women to be successful in this genre of music. It was mainly men who played or sang jazz songs, but Billie Holiday changed this. She had people who supported her and took a stand. She didn’t care who or what she sounded like, she knew it was her voice and she wanted to be a singer. It didn’t matter if she was a girl or boy. Holiday was even hired by Artie Shaw to work with an all white orchestra. She was the first black women to ever do this. This was also the first full time full-time job for a black female singer to tour the Southern US with a white bandleader. She faced a lot of problems being put into these tense racial situations. While touring in the south many members of the audience would give Billie a hard time. In Louisville, Kentucky one man called her a “nigger wench” and demanded she sing another song. Billie lost her temper at this and had to be escorted off the stage. So many odds were fighting against Billie Holiday during the time she was working towards her music career and even before. She was African American and a female in the 1930s. People were not excepting during these times. Its awful to think that people judged and discriminated against others just based off of what they looked like. Billie rarely let this slow her down. She fought against it and gained her reputation in the jazz world. People always overlook the fact that it is not easy to get your name out there. Especially if you’re a black female in the

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