Billie Holiday: Most Influential Women In Jazz

Billie Holiday’s biggest influences in music were Bessie Smith and Louis “Pops” Armstrong; she admired the power that Smith had to interpret a song, and Armstrong’s music style. “Lady Day” became famous in 1939 when she recorded “Strange Fruit”, which is song that protests against the lynching of African Americans in the United States (The Biography.com website). A year later, in 1940 she recorded a new version of “All of Me”. This song which was written in 1931 by Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks, is one of the most popular songs from the 1930s.

Ella Fitzgerald, also known as “The First Lady of Song” or “Lady Ella”, was an extraordinary singer highly known in the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Virginia then moving to New York, Ella grew up during the 1920s and got her breakthrough in the early 1930s. She joined an orchestra and produced her first number one single, A-Tisket, A-Tasket. Ella’s contributions to the Harlem Renaissance included not only her songs, but her appearances in movies such as. Ella Fitzgerald is shaped into the woman that she once was through her background, accomplishments, challenges and hardships; she also leaves a legacy that would continue on to influence many generations to come.

Harriet Martineau was a woman ahead of her time. In a world ruled by men, she was one of the first female journalist and sociologists; she paved the road for other women in these fields. Despite her physical disabilities, she wrote over 50 books. She also fought for women’s and slave’s equality.

The Autobiography of Bessie Coleman… From the Grave I stepped out of the house and took a deep breath. Today was the day… In Atlanta, Texas in the year of 1892, I, Bessie Coleman, was born on the 26th day of January.

Ella Fitzgerald, also known as “The First Lady of Song”, was a singing sensation and the most famous female jazz vocalist of all time. She is famous for several quotes but the quote that stands out and means the most to me says, “It isn’t where you came from, it’s where you’re going that counts.” Ella proved this quote to be true because she endured many struggles throughout her lifetime but she never let it stop her from doing what she loved most, and that was singing. Singing gave Ella joy and comfort. She also used her struggles and memories to assist her in expressing her emotions while performing.

Simone began recording her music in the 50s under the Bethlehem label, releasing her first full album in 1957, which featured "Plain Gold Ring" and the title track "Little Girl Blue." It also included her one and only Top 20 pop hit with her version of "I Loves You Porgy" from the George and Ira Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess. Under different labels, Simone released a bevy of albums from the late '50s throughout the '60s and early '70s, including records like The Amazing Nina Simone (1959), Nina Simone Sings Ellington! (1962), Wild Is the Wind (1966) and Silk and Soul (1967). She also made cover songs of popular music, eventually putting her own spin on such songs as Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun.

‘Music is more than an object of study: it is a way of perceiving the world. A tool of understanding’ (Haynes 2012, p.g 31). The power of music is indisputable. It can completely reshape not only the way we view the world, but our everyday thoughts and actions.

Ransby wrote about the complexity of Ella Baker's life. Ransby stated: "for me, in looking back as Baker's life in all of its rich complexity" (Ransby, Pg). In the writing the biography, Ransby brought to life a person in her writing. Her argument centered on the idea of complexity. The complexity of Baker's life leads to the importance of her legacy.

Award winning author, Shirley Jackson’s controversial short story, “The Lottery” is a fictional account of brutality underlying in traditions. For the reader, fiction can be fantasy; however, art can also be a reflection of life. Life is filled with events: some positive and some negative. At time writers use these events, personal and historical, as inspiration for their work, or a reader may connect similarities from a work of fiction to a historical event. World War II has ended and Jackson’s short story is released three years later.

2.3 Why is the role of music decisive in the Civil Rights Movement? “We Shall Overcome” is what some people consider to be the soundtrack of the Civil Rights Movement. As Pete Seeger explains in his book Everybody Says Freedom, it was born in the South as a gospel hymn, where it was called “It’ll Be All Right” and sung in black churches. It travelled throughout the South until it arrived to Pete Seeger and Guy Carawan, who made it popular. In 1958, Pete Seeger performed it in front of Martin Luther King Jr. Two year later, Guy Carawan sang it at the founding convention of SNCC in North Carolina, making it the unofficial soundtrack of the movement (Seeger 8).

The 1920s was a crazy decade for Americans. More people were now living in rural areas instead of the country side, the wealth of the country doubled, and many were buying the same things due to better advertising, but the most exciting thing was the new lifestyle changes that were happening to women. Societies view of a woman would completely change during this amazing decade. Women were now able to vote, try new fashion styles, listen to more unique music, and experience a new social freedom. The most drastic change was women’s lives in politics.

When you think about women’s rights activists and women involved in the anti-slavery movement in the 19th century, you usually think about Susan B. Anthony, but in reality, there was another woman that was also greatly involved. Her name was Lucy Stone. She was most famous for being the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a bachelor's degree, for being elected president of the State Woman's Suffrage Association of New Jersey, for helping found the American Equal Rights Association, and for being the first woman in the United States to keep her own surname after marriage. One of her sister-in-laws, Elizabeth Blackwell, was the first woman to have a medical degree. Her other sister-in-law, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, was the first woman to