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

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism is a groundbreaking analysis of the blues tradition that examines the careers of three crucial black women blues singers through a feminist lens.

Angela Davis provides a historical, social, and political context for reinterpreting the performances and lyrics of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday as powerful articulations of an alternative consciousness profoundly at odds with mainstream American culture.

Through meticulous transcriptions of all extant lyrics, Davis demonstrates how the roots of the blues extend beyond a musical tradition to serve as a consciousness-raising vehicle for American social memory.

This stunning and indispensable contribution to American history is as boldly insightful as the women it praises, and is sure to be a triumph.