
Contents
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Black Performing Women before the Recorded Blues Black Performing Women before the Recorded Blues
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Black Queer Women in the Popular Entertainment Industry Black Queer Women in the Popular Entertainment Industry
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“Ethel Must Not Marry” “Ethel Must Not Marry”
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Ethel Waters, Black Swan Records, and Tensions over Racial Uplift Ethel Waters, Black Swan Records, and Tensions over Racial Uplift
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Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and the Emergence of Black Queer Popular Cultural Productions Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and the Emergence of Black Queer Popular Cultural Productions
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On the Road with the Empress of the Blues On the Road with the Empress of the Blues
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Two The Famous Lady Lovers in the Early Twentieth-Century Black Popular Entertainment Industry
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Published:September 2023
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Abstract
The second chapter turns to the Black popular entertainment industry, and specifically the “race records” industry which took off in 1920 with the popularity of Black female blues singers. Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Alberta Hunter were all classic blues women who had relationships with women – or were rumored to have – during the beginning of their popular recording careers in the 1920s. The significance of the entertainment world for Black women, both as a work alternative to domestic service and as a gathering place for lady lovers, is focused on along with the experiences of the women mentioned. The threat of violence in the Jim Crow South and the strategies lady lovers used to survive and thrive while touring and performing are also both explored.
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