Bessie Smith (1894 - 1937) was a blues singer from Chattanooga, Tennessee who, like her mentor Ma Rainey, performed all over the U.S. and recorded extensively in the 1920s. She made her first recording in New York in 1923 for Columbia Records, which sold over 700,000 copies in six months, and she went on to become the most popular female blues singer of the decade. Smith sung at Harlem clubs and venues including the African-American-owned Lafayette Theatre, she attended Harlem parties and speakeasies, and her stage presence and powerful, expressive voice moved Harlem luminaries as well as everyday people. She was bisexual and had relationships with women in her touring chorus, defying conventional sexual mores while married to a man. Her song “Foolish Man Blues” seems to critique gay male effeminacy, but in light of her own sexuality and her circle of gay male friends like pianist and composer Porter Grainger, her disapproval was undoubtedly satirical. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤 #BlackHistoryM...