The 1920s saw a revolution in technology, the advent of the recording industry, that created the first class of African-American women to sing their way to fame and fortune. Blues divas such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter created and promoted a working-class vision of blues life that provided an alternative to the Victorian gentility of middle-class manners. In their lives and music, blues women presented themselves as strong, independent women who lived hard lives and were unapologetic about their unconventional choices in clothes, recreational activities, and bed partners. Blues singers disseminated a Black feminism that celebrated emotional resilience and sexual pleasure, no matter the source.
Robert Philipson
Director
Jewelle Gomez
Narrator
Chris Albertson
Himself
Brian Keizer
Himself
Linda Tillery
Herself
Muscle Shoals72%
Whitney73%
Disclosure78%
Western Stars70%
The Up in Smoke Tour76%
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.77%
Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition86%
This Is It73%
The Last Repair Shop74%
Welcome to Chechnya69%
Adele One Night Only78%
TINA77%
Live Aid79%
Zappa72%
Searching for Sugar Man78%
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me84%
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert82%
Supersonic73%
Madonna: Truth or Dare62%
I Am Divine73%
