Bessie Smith
Meredith Kerr
2-21-00

Bessie Smith was born in a shack in Chattanooga, Tennessee around 1894. Black birth certificates were not kept very well back then, but that is the assumed date. In those times black women did not have many choices for careers, but Bessie's talent proved to be more than enough to give her a life as an entertainer.
She began singing on street corners, her brother playing the guitar. In 1912 Bessie's brother got her an audition with Vaudeville, a traveling group of entertainers. She got the job and was befriended by Ma Rainy, who was called the mother of the blues. Ma Rainy gave Bessie the guidance to become the Blues legend she is today.
1923 was a big year for Bessie, she got married to a man named Jack G. and she recorded her first album for Columbia records, which sold 780,000 copies. Despite her success she did not receive as much money as she should have, but more than most blacks did. Bessie also starred in "St. Louis Blues" as......

Join Now to view the rest of this term paper!
Members: Login to view this research paper.

Title: Bessie Smith
Approximate Word Count: 346
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

With the Term Papers Lab Membership Pass, you get instant access to every essay on this site, including this essay on Bessie Smith, for as long as you remain a member.

Other essays sites charge almost $100 for a single term paper. At Term Papers Lab, you can get instant access to over 100,000 research papers for as little as $29.95!