Living life to the fullest and looking forward,we all strive to be this person. Bessie Smith made this her life motto and lived it well. Facing hardships and tragedies Bessie Smith still made it in a world against her race and her gender. She spoke for a generation of women about love and loss and what it meant to be an early 1900’s African American woman. The Empresses of the Blues remains a legend today, her lyrics still empower and speak to the women of this time, her message living on. Bessie Smith showed that we must not let tragedies and grievances hold us back from our dreams, a message still prevalent today. Growing up with poverty, death and oppression, Bessie Smith’s story resonated with many young African Americans in the early
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Moving through her troubled childhood and the struggle to become a somebody in the world of blue’s music. Her hard work paid off and Smith “...became the highest paid black entertainer of the day, heading her own shows, which sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers, and touring in her own railroad car.” (Notable Biographies). This type of success was a huge help to her career as a musician, allowing her to travel when and where ever to perform her music. Her music was not the only thing that had taken off, she fell in love and married Jack Gee. Life began to complicate her relationship with Jack as seen in her song “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Bessie and Jack each had affairs throughout the course of their relationship, that being only one of the problems in their relationship. “Gee...never adjusted to show business life, or to Smith's bisexuality.” (Notable Biographies). Her relationship from that point on only went downhill but Smith didn’t let her failed relationship hurt her, instead she transformed her heartbreak into music that was widely received nationwide. She became a wild woman who loved to have fun and “had no time to marry, no time to settle down.” This was seen in songs such as “‘T Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do” and “You’ve Got To Give Me Some”. She continued to sing and follow her dreams despite the loss of her lover displaying her perseverance through tough times.
Through tough times in her childhood of death and poverty to the heartbreak of her failed relationship with her husband, Bessie Smith never let these things get in the way of following her dreams. She continues to speak for the African American women of the early 1900’s and today through her powerful music and messages. A woman worthy of the title, The Empress of
Moving through her troubled childhood and the struggle to become a somebody in the world of blue’s music. Her hard work paid off and Smith “...became the highest paid black entertainer of the day, heading her own shows, which sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers, and touring in her own railroad car.” (Notable Biographies). This type of success was a huge help to her career as a musician, allowing her to travel when and where ever to perform her music. Her music was not the only thing that had taken off, she fell in love and married Jack Gee. Life began to complicate her relationship with Jack as seen in her song “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Bessie and Jack each had affairs throughout the course of their relationship, that being only one of the problems in their relationship. “Gee...never adjusted to show business life, or to Smith's bisexuality.” (Notable Biographies). Her relationship from that point on only went downhill but Smith didn’t let her failed relationship hurt her, instead she transformed her heartbreak into music that was widely received nationwide. She became a wild woman who loved to have fun and “had no time to marry, no time to settle down.” This was seen in songs such as “‘T Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do” and “You’ve Got To Give Me Some”. She continued to sing and follow her dreams despite the loss of her lover displaying her perseverance through tough times.
Through tough times in her childhood of death and poverty to the heartbreak of her failed relationship with her husband, Bessie Smith never let these things get in the way of following her dreams. She continues to speak for the African American women of the early 1900’s and today through her powerful music and messages. A woman worthy of the title, The Empress of