Dinah Washington Biography

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Recommended: Racial discrimination in America

Dinah Washington, a vocalist and pianist, was an African American born in the South, who overcame racial discrimination and become one of the biggest singers in the country. Washington experienced several instances of racial prejudice, but persevered to overcome these hard ships. Dinah’s struggle with prejudice throughout her childhood and career left a lasting impact on the entire music industry. Obviously, Dinah Washington faced many harsh consequences during her childhood.

Dinah Washington was one of many African Americans who were racially discriminated in the roaring twenties. She was born on August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Being an African American in the south before the Civil rights movement, she experienced many disadvantages of having her color skin. Even though there was no slavery at this time, she still saw and had to overcome discrimination in the form of sharecropping, and Jim Crow Laws. Sharecropping was when a landowner makes a deal with a farmer to farm on his land in exchange for a share of the crops produced. However, since many blacks were not educated, they got the short end of the stick and ended up in deep debt. Jim Crow Laws were also in place; Jim Crow Laws made blacks and white be separated, but equal. Blacks and whites would use different bathrooms, schools, libraries, restaurants and even water fountains. Having religious parents, she grew up in a church and found her astounding vocals and love for the piano. Finding her love of music, she performed in churches, talent contests, and later clubs, until she was preforming in front of thousands of fans. Even though she dropped out of school a couple months before her eighteenth birthday to marry her first of seven husbands she found her calling ...

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...ieved much in her short life, including having won a Grammy. Although her life was cut short at the age thirty nine, that did not stop her legacy. She helped to pave a path for all African Americans in the future. For example, Diana Ross; she grew up in the housing projects and found her voice also in church. She eventually got signed to a record deal and was at one point declared the most successful female singer of all time. Being a big hit also brought in much money for Washington. Some of this money helped to financially support Martin Luther King Jr. in his fight for Civil Rights for all African Americans. Therefore, since Dinah Washington overcame the prejudice and became a huge success, she showed all that whatever a white could do, an African American could also do. She showed that no matter what race, with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.

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