Unappreciated Blues Movement

While reading the chapter “Blame It On The Blues” out of Angela Y. Davis’s book, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, I was in shock with the amount of depth and meaning the songs presented.    The blues that African Americans sung during this time told stories of political and social movements.  Some whites did not find any movement represented in the songs that these female African Americans were singing.

            In Bessie Smiths song “Poor Man’s Blues” she recites stories of history and events that took place at the time of the production.  She is singing of the struggle for blacks compared to whites when a “Poor working man’s wife is starvin’, your wife’s livin’ like a queen” and “Mister rich man, rich man, open your heart and mind, Give the poor man a chance, help stop these hard times.”  These lines hit home when you understand the time period she is singing this in.  War was over with but opportunity for blacks were slim.  Segregation during this time split the whites and blacks by a large margin.  The song really spoke out for black males, socially and politically.

Another song by Bessie Smith, “Washwoman’s Blues”, talks about the struggle for women during this time.  The song described the “impact of labor to which so many black women were condemned” and how housework was “the paid work most available to black women.”  Bessie uses history and her present times to paint an image over a blues song.  The blues is appreciated by only those who clearly heard the message. These songs were movements that could only be recognized by the aware.  The silent social and political protest was to be heard.

While growing up in this time was hard for women, growing up as a black women was worse. Through blues many stories of history are told.  A handful of the music didn’t impact hard until it did.   Bessie wasn’t the only woman to engage in movement socially and politically through blues, but she was like many other female blues musicians, black, under-appreciated, and looking to make a change.  Bessie's music and many more will forever remind us of these horrible times.