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Book Review
Aug. 7th, 2018 11:49 amBlues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday
by Angela Y. Davis
This fascinating book looks at women's blues of the 1920s and 1930s through the lens of black feminism, revealing how the lyrics and recorded performances of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith illuminated the struggles and issues that black working-class women faced in the early 20th century. It also looks at how Billie Holiday was inspired and informed by this music and how she carried forward some of the themes of Rainey and Smith's work. Davis interprets Rainey and Smith's songs through the social and political contexts of their times with great insight. She also connects the feminist content of these songs to the later feminist movement of the 1970s. The only thing this book lacks is an closer examination of the music itself.
I found this book extremely interesting, especially the ways that Davis tied blues lyrics to the specific conditions of black women's lives in the decades after emancipation: the importance of the freedom to choose sexual partners, the importance of travel, the lack of economic opportunities, and resistance to male dominance and violence. I very much liked the way Davis tied the blues to historical events and contexts, like the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and the 1927 flood of the Mississippi. I also liked the discussion of the ways in which blues music stood in opposition to and provided an alternative to the assimilation of middle-class values and ideals of womanhood, and to the repressive side of the Christian church.
by Angela Y. Davis
This fascinating book looks at women's blues of the 1920s and 1930s through the lens of black feminism, revealing how the lyrics and recorded performances of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith illuminated the struggles and issues that black working-class women faced in the early 20th century. It also looks at how Billie Holiday was inspired and informed by this music and how she carried forward some of the themes of Rainey and Smith's work. Davis interprets Rainey and Smith's songs through the social and political contexts of their times with great insight. She also connects the feminist content of these songs to the later feminist movement of the 1970s. The only thing this book lacks is an closer examination of the music itself.
I found this book extremely interesting, especially the ways that Davis tied blues lyrics to the specific conditions of black women's lives in the decades after emancipation: the importance of the freedom to choose sexual partners, the importance of travel, the lack of economic opportunities, and resistance to male dominance and violence. I very much liked the way Davis tied the blues to historical events and contexts, like the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and the 1927 flood of the Mississippi. I also liked the discussion of the ways in which blues music stood in opposition to and provided an alternative to the assimilation of middle-class values and ideals of womanhood, and to the repressive side of the Christian church.
