Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 355 ratings · 26 reviews

From one of this country's most important intellectuals comes a brilliant analysis of the blues tradition that examines the careers of three crucial black women blues singers through a feminist lens. Angela Davis provides the historical, social, and political contexts with which to reinterpret the performances and lyrics of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Ho...more

Paperback, 464 pages

Published January 26th 1999 by Vintage (first published 1998)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Ms. Blog's Best Feminist Non-Fiction Reads: Reader's Choice

149th out of 383 books — 262 voters

Sister Citizen by Melissa V. Harris-Perry

Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

Feminist Theory from Margin to Center by Bell Hooks

In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker

Black Feminist/Womanist Studies

32nd out of 84 books — 17 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 919)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Apr 18, 2008 Kat rated it 4 of 5 stars

I devoured this like candy. Davis delineates a complex analysis of the work of the early blueswomen in relationship to gender and class issues in the African-American community in the decades following slavery. She grounds Ma Rainey's and Bessie Smith's songs and performances in historical context, considering their roots in the musical and socioeconomic history of slavery, as well as looking at ways in which they foreshadowed the political developments of the '60s and '70s.

I could have done wit...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 04, 2013 Seif Salama rated it 4 of 5 stars

Davis's work is a powerful re-reading of Blues women, and firmly places them in the center, rather than the margin, of Black oppositional and autonomous culture discourse. The book is mostly devoted to the work of Gertrude Rainey and Bessie Smith, but there are important sections devoted to Billie Holiday as well. In each case, the Davis argues for a more complete contextual understanding of Blues women music as introducing gender issues, breaking discursive taboos, and forging meaning within th...more Davis's work is a powerful re-reading of Blues women, and firmly places them in the center, rather than the margin, of Black oppositional and autonomous culture discourse. The book is mostly devoted to the work of Gertrude Rainey and Bessie Smith, but there are important sections devoted to Billie Holiday as well. In each case, the Davis argues for a more complete contextual understanding of Blues women music as introducing gender issues, breaking discursive taboos, and forging meaning within the context of an imagined community of Black women's lives.

To begin with, Davis convincingly argues that Blues women were on the vanguard in breaking down taboos concerning domestic violence and male subjugation, as many Blues songs concerned these matters. Davis uses powerful works such as "Rough and Tumble Blues," "See See Rider Blues," and "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair," to demonstrate that Blues women were willing to engage in oppositional, if allegorical, violence in the service of personal autonomy. Even man songs that seem to demonstrate acquiescence, even masochism, in the face of male abuse can be seen to have an ironic, subversive, or didactic quality that belies a simplistic surface reading.

Davis also takes on the common notion that Blues music doesn't include social protest, an interpretation that has been pushed by white commentators, such as Samuel Charters, and black commentators, such as Albert Murray. Davis argues that Blues music inherits from Slave musical culture a coded approach to naming and resistance that demands more than a surface analysis of the lyrics, and takes into account the role of music as a lyrical interlocuter. Focusing on tunes such as "Backwater Blues" and "Washwoman's Blues," Davis almost always effectively demonstrates that coded protest is still protest, and that women's blues historically anticipated and grounded mass movements in the areas of civil rights and feminism, while remaining linked with West African hermeneutic structure of naming and interpretation, such as "nommo."

In terms of Religious content, Davis forcefully recounts how women reconfigured a secular existential (or even "Devil's") music as prayer itself, magically and aesthetically conjured to exorcise emotions such as "the blues." At the same time, she harshly criticizes the Black church for adopting Christian dualisms concerning the moral status of body and spirit, which she sees as sexualized forms of racism and sexism--- since both blacks and women have been semiotically linked with earthiness and body as opposed to spirit by while male elites. Celebratory Sexuality, on the other hand, has always, according to Davis, been an oppositional aspect of black working-class consciousness. This extends beyond sexuality to an affirmation of Black folk religious life (such as Hoodoo) and crossing of class boundaries in the Blues, which Davis contends is a major reason Blues music was ignored and even distanced by Black elites during the Harlem Renaissance.

Davis's discussion of Billie Holiday is short (two chapters) but powerful, in which she argues that Holiday subversively appropriated the saccharine Tin Pan Alley love song format she was given as Slaves would have appropriated the English language upon their arrival in the North Americas. Holiday worked little in the formal Blues, but was nontheless grounded in the Blues idiom, from which she drew inspiration, and a subversive presentation of white romantic life to Black audiences. In this vein, such songs as "Strange Fruit" fit more coherently, and the ironic (and yet utopian) edge in her voice professes to the truth of Black women's lives, even in ways that on the surface seem to be feministically regressive.

There are isolated examples where Davis is less successful than at other times, but on the whole, her argumentation is strong and fearless, and her analogical and narrative analysis of the music along with lyrics adds, rather than detracts, from her argument.(less)

like · see review

Dec 05, 2011 Diann Blakely added it

Who just won the P & W Jackson Award, a $50,000 prize given in honor of "an American poet of exceptional talent who deserves wider recognition"? Mullen teaches at UCLA, and the best imaginable description of her work comes from a former long-term resident of Los Angeles, one of my surpassingly favorite writers, Kate Braverman. While utterly singular in their respective gifts, the two women resemble each other in their subversive--if not felonious, even treacherous--phrases and cadences and m...more

like · see review

Dec 12, 2010 tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: music, politics

This review is a short version made to fit GoodReads' character limits. I strongly suggest that the reader read the FULL review under my profile's writing:

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2...

I've 'known' of Davis for decades as a black radical who was persecuted by then-Governor-Reagan &, like any black radical, the FBI. I've always been impressed by her as someone who managed to not get killed, someone who stuck out this racist insanity & who also managed to be a university profess...more

like · see review

Apr 18, 2013 Nick Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don’t know much about Angela Davis. I was first aware of her through John Lennon’s song and, of course, a Communist feminist who went to prison for gun running for Black nationalists is always going to be conservative America’s worst nightmare (unless she converts to Islam)...so she’s alright with me. And she seems to have had a respectable career in academia since and here is a solid academic book about Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, placing their music largely into the context o...more I don’t know much about Angela Davis. I was first aware of her through John Lennon’s song and, of course, a Communist feminist who went to prison for gun running for Black nationalists is always going to be conservative America’s worst nightmare (unless she converts to Islam)...so she’s alright with me. And she seems to have had a respectable career in academia since and here is a solid academic book about Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, placing their music largely into the context of African-American working class culture, focusing on the way their music addressed black women. Six of the eight chapters concentrate on Rainey and Smith: Davis is at her most secure here and for anyone interested in ‘Classic Blues’ there are many intriguing ideas: I liked, for instance, her discussion of the relationship of the blues to the Church, the music as part of a working class culture and within broader African-American traditions that lead back to the time of slavery and back to Africa, but, on the other hand, although a lot of Davis’s relating the subject matter of Smith and Rainey’s songs to the lives of contemporary African-American women is detailed, it is fairly straightforward. But I have two uncertainties about her methods. First, Davis largely responds to the songs as though they are literary texts, always focusing on the lyrics. (The 200 pages of text is followed by a further 150 pages of transcriptions of the lyrics of the complete Rainey and Smith recordings: an invaluable resource for anyone who loves their singing but strains to hear what they are singing about through the crackle of the old and battered recordings, although I imagine they are now available on the Web.) Leaving aside the fact that the majority of their songs were written by other people, Davis’s methods ignores the unique musical form of the blues: while she emphasises that the blues’ subject matter, such as its highlighting of sex, was antithetical to white popular music, musically the blues was also completely alien: even today, with the influence of the blues filtered and softened through rock, much of early blues sounds very strange, harsh and dissonant: it was not the kind of music polite people invited into their parlours. Davis has no way of discussing this or of discussing Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith as singers...and, finally, they were singers, not creators of literary texts. My second doubt is that while she praises the music for its ambiguities, Davis has no real interest in finding any: she has her political agenda and she follows it: I am sympathetic to her argument, but I am unconvinced that Rainey and Smith’s music is as consistent as Davis argues: the life of art is often found in its inconsistencies and uncertainties, but Davis irons out these interests for the sake of her argument. She often presumes how contemporary Black women responded to the songs, but, while I find her deductions plausible, she draws on very little evidence to back them up. I imagine the contemporary audience’s response was much more varied than Davis allows. The last two chapters are on Billie Holiday: Davis acknowledges that Holiday was not a blues singer, but she is vague how Holiday’s music relates to the earlier blues and these chapters feel a little tacked on. The first of the two chapters, about Holiday’s early recordings of popular Tin Pan Alley songs, is constantly suggestive, while being the least satisfactory in the study. A constant interest of jazz singing is the relation and tension between the performance of the singer and the song: Davis sensibly relates Holiday’s style to black American traditions and the songs as part of white popular music, but, because of her concentration on the lyrics, Davis has no real way of discussing this tension, other than dismissing the songs as pieces of fluff that were forced upon Holiday: there is a suggestive comparison between the way English was originally forced upon the African slaves and the way these songs were forced upon Holiday, but, finally, I don’t think it is a valid analogy: yes, individual and sometimes very poor songs were forced onto Holiday by her record company, but Davis ignores that Holiday sang within a specific jazz style (Swing) which continually drew upon and responded to white popular music. Davis implies that Holiday would have been singing some other sort of song if given the freedom, but it is difficult to know what that might have been. The final chapter focuses on Holiday’s interpretation of the anti-lynching song, ‘Strange Fruit’: Davis is back on more secure ground, relating this song to a continuing tradition of African-American social protest...but Davis’s enthusiasm for this work is based on the assumption that the value of a song or recording is found in the Seriousness of its subject matter: those of us who love Holiday’s work for her unique way of phrasing a line, the way she gives a standard new and unexpected emotional resonance through her originality of approach, will probably find this an inadequate response. For anyone interested in the subject matter this book is well worth reading, but, overall, it didn’t make me rethink my response to these singers.(less)

like · see review

Jul 24, 2011 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Strong and stimulating in its scrupulous scholarship and
passionate determination to show how three famous singers
and their many unsung sisters influenced the development
of feminism, civil rights, and music during their singing
years and long afterward. In the black community and
far beyond it. A long section of great value to future
students presents the lyrics of all extant recordings of
songs by the three featured singers. Which represents a
formidable task in itself--listening and re-liste...more

like · see review

Mar 10, 2010 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010

I was...disappointed in this. I knew next to nothing about Ma Rainey or Bessie Smith, but I've been a Billie Holiday fan for a few years now, and was really interested to see how she might be figured in an 'academic' text. Davis' project, on a fundamental level, is fairly innovative and well-meaning; the book sets out to place these three women within a historical continuum of African-American music, from slave songs to blues and gospel to jazz and its followers. And I did like some of the histo...more I was...disappointed in this. I knew next to nothing about Ma Rainey or Bessie Smith, but I've been a Billie Holiday fan for a few years now, and was really interested to see how she might be figured in an 'academic' text. Davis' project, on a fundamental level, is fairly innovative and well-meaning; the book sets out to place these three women within a historical continuum of African-American music, from slave songs to blues and gospel to jazz and its followers. And I did like some of the historical connections Davis made--particularly in the legacy she articulates between the coded narratives/yearning for mobility in slave music and the emphasis on sexual and geographical freedom in blues lyrics. The understanding of blues women in relation to religious music and to blues men is a fairly interesting narrative to construct. However, I have serious concerns with Davis' methodological approach--she seems, for one, not to know where she wants to go. Does she want to be a historicist? A literary analyst (via close readings of lyrics--which she never really made clear in the sense of marking where Rainey, Smith, and Holiday had written lyrics and when they had been using others' writing)? A musicologist (this was definitely a failed venture)? A feminist critic? Which isn't to say that these approaches can't coalesce, but if you do hope to do so, make sure it works--well. Not to mention, Davis presumes that we can make transparent readings of songs by way of understanding vocal inflections--but the voice is perhaps the most non-qualifiable instrument, and I often questioned the way she read something. So while I admire her interest in claiming the performative revision of Tin Pan Alley love songs in Lady Day's repertoire, I wonder whether she makes grave errors in understanding Holiday as merely a person and not an artist. We don't always bare our selves in our art, and because the biographical information is often fraught with bad criticism, to rely on it is a major mistake, to my mind. The writing itself was not all that fascinating, either, though I will give her this--it was lucid.

A worthwhile text if you're reading it for fun, for a little insight into these women, a little chic history (and there is a good chapter on the development of "Strange Fruit"), but reading it for a class simply didn't work for me.(less)

like · see review

Feb 17, 2013 Rowena rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Rowena by: Ben

Shelves: african-american, feminism, readalongs

This was a very informative book about the much-overlooked impact of blues music on American culture and feminism. It’s definitely not a light read; Davis thoroughly researched her material and it’s hard to read this book in large chunks as the tone of the book is quite academic.

The book looks into the musical careers of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday; three African-American singers whose music “…gave musical expression to the new social and sexual realities encountered...more

8 likes · like · see review

Feb 19, 2013 Vern rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-books, reference

Davis explains that the Blues genre belongs to women just as much as it does men. Davis stated that the Blues provided a space where women could express themselves in new ways. By analyzing the work of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, Davis shows us the many themes their work embodied. Davis reminds us that the Blues, like the spirituals sang during slavery, are the collective property of the community.

Davis' primary focus was on the contributions of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith to the legacy of the B...more Davis explains that the Blues genre belongs to women just as much as it does men. Davis stated that the Blues provided a space where women could express themselves in new ways. By analyzing the work of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, Davis shows us the many themes their work embodied. Davis reminds us that the Blues, like the spirituals sang during slavery, are the collective property of the community.

Davis' primary focus was on the contributions of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith to the legacy of the Blues as well as a breakdown of their lyrics. This portion of the work seemed to go in circles and in my opinon there was a lot of unecessary dissecting. The research was thorough and insightful with some high points. There was little shared about the personal lives of Smith and Rainey outside of their sexuality and assertiveness. It was pointed out that even though their lyrics detailed graphic domestic violence there was little to no reference to the sexual assaults that were common during the time. To many, the songs sung by Smith and Rainey depicted women who tolerated violence for the sake of love.

Davis shed light on how the Blues genre was shunned and thought as "low" and "primitive" by the Black Arts movement of the 1920s known as the Harlem Renaissance. Whites of the time thought the genre to be childish, irrational, and bizarre. Two giants of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, embraced the Blues. Rainey and Smith sang about the "hoodoo" that Hurston studied and experienced. Hughes dedicated much of his work to the Blues.

The latter two chapters were devoted to Billie Holiday. Both chapters felt rushed and I never really understood the main objective of the first one. Davis did explain how Strange Fruit was birthed from a poem written by Lewis Allen and not Holiday viewing an actual lynching. Not ever singing it the exact same way twice, Holiday wanted Strange Fruit to invoke solidarity among its listeners. From the research one can tell that Holiday was moved into the position of a voice for social justice.

I could not relate to the feminist perspective that Davis attempted to give voice to from the lyrics these women sang. Like one of the writers referenced in the text, I personally see the Blues as complaint and no protest. Davis made argument against such thought which like she was reaching. These women were entertainers. They related to the working class and sang their "blues." Holiday was a troubled soul that found freedom in the way she sang the lyrics to the songs she was given. Davis included some amazing "side bar" tidbits that were intriguing and charged. There was graphic details of the lynching of Claude Neal in FL and how the devastation of the 1927, Mississippi River flood affected Blacks. As well developed as Davis' thoughts were, I found the writing to be quite monotonous.

(less)

like · see review

Jul 30, 2012 Troy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nollig, historical

I think that there are a number of takeaways from this book, and just thinking about how they relate to cultural studies of today, I think they are as pertinent as ever.

The challenge to patriarchy by simply affirming sexual agency? Still today. THe revolutionary act of simply picking up and moving somewhere? Still there. The fight of middle- and upper class blacks to disengage from the history and circumstance of their working class brothers and sisters? OH SO REAL.

The points Ms. Davis makes ar...more

like · see review

Apr 12, 2010 Nathan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: franklin-library, sociology

Conceptually this book shines, charging headfirst into confronting racial and sexual politics through the medium of black music placed in its social context. The ultimate execution is not so effective. The bulk of the book is actually a transcript of lyrics by the titular artists, which I found baffling and not at all helpful; if Davis had concentrated on analyzing the subtexts rather than the actual texts, this would have achieved a better purpose, more effectively. I can't help but feeling thi...more

like · see review

Jan 18, 2011 Robin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, music, memphis, reread, history, feminism

I originally read this book ten years ago in perhaps the most appropriate setting imaginable: on the job at a pseudo-old timey tourist trap of a coffee shop on Beale Street, Memphis TN. I'm happy to say that upon rereading, this book is as important to me now as it was then, as a Memphian, as a girl raised on the blues, and as a feminist. Recommended for anyone who doubts the contributions that black women have made to popular music, and especially to anyone who doesn't.

like · see review

Mar 22, 2009 Bobby rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is probably a very informative and helpful book for anyone studying music or feminism in an academic setting. For a casual read, even for someone interested in both blues and feminism, it's really dry and laborious. It does anthologize the lyrics of the women in the title however, which is a potential added bonus if you're into that sort of thing.

like · see review

Jul 29, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Angela Davis wows her reader with her research on Blues music by 3 famous (at that time) black female blues singers. The incredible lines she draws between lyrics and what they told us about black society at that time is amazing. She is a fantastic writer. This is a book that I savored.

like · see review

Mar 24, 2012 Nakia White rated it 4 of 5 stars

Read this for one of my Black studies courses back in the day when I knew nothing of jazz, blues, or the female musicians who injected a their own version and flair of feminist theology in to their songs. Great writer. Great book.

like · see review

Mar 11, 2013 Tank rated it 4 of 5 stars

In this text, Davis exams the many facets in which Rainey, Smith, and Holiday are still relevant in any discourse involving Black American music, history, and feminism. These women and their artistry transformed the sociocultural way in which we examine and experience music, sexuality, love, and on a massive scale cross-cultural communication and issues of social justice. To get a crash course in post-slavery America at the turn of the century and many of the social justice issues that terrorize...more

like · see review

Dec 17, 2008 AJ rated it 5 of 5 stars

this b00k rulez!

like · see review

May 24, 2009 Jennifer marked it as to-read

Jun 22, 2008 Mark Brown rated it 1 of 5 stars

So I must give respect where respect is due - Angela Davis is a very smart woman. However, this book was not good. Maybe its because I am skeptical and a singer but her analysis of the voice and her seeming to "know" what these ladies were trying to portray is a bit of a stretch. It is mostly personal opinion for the most part and I found myself pushing through it to say that I had read it but not good - in my opinion.

1 like · like · see review

Dec 19, 2009 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis (1998)

like · see review

Sep 23, 2008 Lanaya rated it 3 of 5 stars

This text is generally good. Years ago, I did not find this book very exciting to read. Yet, I did feel the theory offered a few good nuggets here or there.

I will keep this book forever because I find the topic extremely interesting. Maybe I would enjoy the text more if I read it again today. Maybe not. I have mixed feeling about Angela Davis.

like · see review

Dec 16, 2007 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Blues fans

Perhaps I this book would have struck more of a chord in me if I were more of a Blues fan... but there's no getting around that the women who sang the Blues definitely were fighting white and male power... and that is awesome, even if you don't listen so much to the music.

like · see review

Feb 06, 2008 Charlotte rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone interested in musical history and the Womyn who helped shape it.

Excellent – does an incredible job in analyzing - interconnecting forms of oppression. Also uncovers priceless historical information about three gems in music.

like · see review

Dec 02, 2012 Mallory rated it 4 of 5 stars

Don't be intimidated by "464 pages"- only the first 200 are Davis' analyses, the rest are transcription sof the musical recordings of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.

like · see review

Aug 22, 2007 Danika rated it 2 of 5 stars

the book was interesting but i'd like it if angela davis added a little more fact and a little less pontificating.

like · see review

Aug 23, 2007 wordLife marked it as to-read Recommends it for: women of color, music lovers, feminists

Shelves: referencematerials

i used parts of this book for papers i did in college... i never read the whole thing, but i will someday...

like · see review

Aug 02, 2007 Celeste rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: feminists and blues fans and everyone else

Shelves: race-studies, women-s-studies

An excellent analysis of early women's blues as a social critique.

like · see review

Jun 13, 2007 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: blues fans!

Shelves: blackstudies, ethnomusicology, culturalanalysis

WARNING: Will turn you into a rabid blues addict.

like · see review

May 22, 2013 Samantha marked it as to-read

May 22, 2013 Namelessnarrator marked it as to-read

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 30 31 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (4)

Genres

Music

34 users

Feminism

18 users

Non Fiction

16 users

History

12 users

Biography

10 users

Race

7 users

Gender

6 users

Cultural > African American

4 users

Culture > Cultural Studies

4 users

Culture

3 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Angela Y. Davis

Angela Yvonne Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. She emerged as a nationally prominent activist and radical in the 1960s, as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement despite never being an official member of the party. Prisoner rights have been among her continuing inter...more

More about Angela Y. Davis...

Books by Angela Y. Davis

Abolition Democracy: Beyond Prisons, Torture, and Empire

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Blues Legacies & ...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday
avg rating	preview: Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday Goodreads rating: 4.06 (355 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68766.Blues_Legacies_and_Black_Feminism?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347506171l/68766.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68766.Blues_Legacies_and_Black_Feminism?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis[/url]

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website