Blues Legacies and Black Feminism

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday

Author	Angela Davis
Subject	Music history and analysis
Publisher	Pantheon Books
Publication date	1998
Pages	427
ISBN	9780679771265

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday is a 1998 book by American academic Angela Davis. Davis examines the music of blues singers Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Ma Rainey from a feminist perspective. Davis proposes that the singers gave a voice to the experiences of America's Black working class and Black women through the 1920-30s that challenged their depictions in wider American culture. ^{[1] [2]}

References

Notes

1. Hay 1998
2. Kirkus Reviews 1997

Sources

• Hay, Fred J. (1998). "Review of Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday". Appalachian Journal. 25 (4): 442–445. ISSN   0090-3779.
• "Review of Blues Legacies and Black Feminism". Kirkus Reviews . December 1, 1997. Retrieved 19 April 2025.

Commentary and reviews

• Brooks, Daphne (10 August 2020). "100 Years Ago, 'Crazy Blues' Sparked a Revolution for Black Women Fans". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
• Colby, Michael (February 15, 1998). "Review of Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday". Library Journal. 123 (3): 144.
• Davis, Francis (March 8, 1998). "Ladies Sing the Blues". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
• Graybosch, Anthony (1998). "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism:". Newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. 26 (81): 12–14. doi:10.5840/saap1998268124.
• Hay, Fred J. (1998). "Review of Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday". Appalachian Journal. 25 (4): 442–445. ISSN   0090-3779.
• "Review of Blues Legacies and Black Feminism". Kirkus Reviews . December 1, 1997. Retrieved 19 April 2025.
• Nicholson, David (12 February 1998). "Feminism and the Blues". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
• Nurse, Donna (February 21, 1998). "Those old black feminist blues". The Globe and Mail.
• Perlah, Jeffery (March 14, 1998). "Blues Legacies And Black Feminism Review". Billboard. 110 (11): 24.
• Purnell, Kim L. (October 2001). "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, by Angela Y. Davis". Women's Studies in Communication. 24 (2): 262–265. doi:10.1080/07491409.2001.10162437.
• Rose, Tricia (February 24, 1998). "Blues Sisters". The Village Voice. p. 139.
• Stewart, Lindsey (December 2021). ""That's Why I Do What I Do": Southern Black feminism in philosophy". Philosophy Compass. 16 (12). doi:10.1111/phc3.12789.
• Stewart, Lindsey (2017). "Work the Root: Black Feminism, Hoodoo Love Rituals, and Practices of Freedom". Hypatia. 32 (1): 103–118. ISSN   0887-5367.
• Woldu, Gail Hilson (1999). "Review of Blues Legacies and Black Feminism". Women & Music. 3: 90.

External links

• Excerpt in The New York Times
• Blues Legacies and Black Feminism on Google Books