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Bessie Smith NAME CLASS DATE I” ICAN PROFILES Bessie Smith C H “Blues”—the distinctly American music that bemoans the heartbreak of A p lost love, grinding poverty, or endless troubles—grew out of the experi T , ence of rural African Americans in the South. It migrated to the North E with them and became a major element in the development ofjazz. R Bessie Smith, “Empress of the Blues,” was one of the greatest interpreters 21 of this music. As you read the passage below, think about how events in Bessie Smith ‘s life contributed to making her a singer of the blues. essie Smith never knew her father. He died Columbia alive. She soon became the country’s shortly after she was born in 1894 in Chattanooga, highest paid African American entertainer. Tennessee. Her mother struggled on, forced to Success, though, never made Smith lose her raise her seven children in poverty until she too feeling for the blues. In 1930 she wrote and sang died, when Bessie was nine. To keep going, the these lines in “Poor Man’s Blues”: “While you’re youngster began singing in the streets for nickels living in your mansion, you don’t know what and dimes. By age eighteen, her shining talent hard times mean. Poor working man’s wife is had won her ajob with an African American trav starving; your wife is living like a queen.” eling musical show that featured another future To those who knew her well, the singer was a jazz great, “Ma” Rainey. complex person. Sometimes, she was rough, drank Bessie Smith’s travels forced her to face too much, and made unreasonable demands on segregation at every turn. She and her fellow per her employers. At other times, she was kind, formers could ride only in the black sections of caring, and generous. Once she canceled all her trains, and they were barred from most hotels, engagements to care personally for the seriously which catered only to whites. Later, when Smith ill infant son of her business manager. headed her own successful traveling show, she Bessie Smith died as the result of an automo avoided some of these problems by having a rail bile accident in 1937. Jazz great Louis Armstrong way car custom-built for her. remembered, “She used to thrill me at all times, In 1923, after the death of her first husband, the way she could phrase a note with a certain Bessie Smith settled in Philadelphia. There she something in her voice no other blues singer entered a second, often stormy marriage. That could get. She had music in her soul and felt year also marked the beginning of her recording everything she did.” Her recordings, re-released career with the struggling Columbia record com in the 1970s, continue to influence today’s rhythm pany. Her records of songs like “Down Hearted and blues singers. Blues” became immediate big sellers and kept 1. What tragic events marked Bessie Smith’s personal life? 2. What kinds of discrimination did she experience in her professional life? 3. Making Comparisons How would you compare the conditions for African American entertainers of Bessie Smith’s time to those of today? 20 • Chapter 21 American Profiles © Prentice-Hall, Inc. Name Date AMERICAN LIVES Ernesto Galarza Scholar, Educator, Activist . Section 2 “When (Mexican-Americans] came to California, Anglo-Americans preached to us about our apathy and scolded us. (But] what is mistaken for apathy is simply a system of self-defense.... ‘La mula no naciô arisca’—the mule isn’t born stub born, he’s made stubborn. “—Ernesto 6 Galarza “La mula no nació arisca” in Center Diary (September/October, 1966) rnesto Galarza. born in a small village in firm xvorkers. lie led several strikes from the late E Mexico in 1905, came to the United States 1940s through the mid-1950s. Each time, the union when he was six, one of hundreds of thousands of was defeated. He grew angry over the lack of sup Mexicans who fled the turmoil of the Mexican port from organized labor, which was more inter Revolution. He })ecalne a scholar, an educator, and ested in helping industrial workers. He also real an activist. ized that the bracero program—still in force even Galarza was first involved iii activism when he though the war had ended—hampered moves to wa in high school, while working picking crops. A unionize farm workers. te tch( r encoui aged C il in to pin sue his educa In fighting the braceros program, Galarza was tion and h i( ut to colleg A1t rwards he attcn(l largely alone. One study describes his lonely effort: ed Stanford Universit for his master’s degree and “He had neither large numbers of supporters. nor Columbia for his doctorate. While studying for his finances, nor friends in high places. His weapons degree. he and his wife also launched their own were highly personal: the shield of research and school. analytical thought, the sword of’ the written and Galarza became a researcher for the Pan spoken word.” One of those swords was his 1955 American Union. In ten ‘ears there, he stu(hed a report. Strangers in Our Fields, a 1)00k based on a number of issues. Most prominent was the bracero tour of’ 150 migrant—worker camps in California and program of the 1940s. During World Arizona. in . War 11, the 1964, he financed publication of’ anoth United States suffered a shortage of farm workers. er critical look at the growers, Merchants of Labor The government signed > an agreement with Mexico That year, the bracero program was finally ended. )1) Cl) to permit the entrance of temporal-v workers called Over the next two decades, before his death in ci) U) braceros (from the Spanish wor(l for “arm”). At first 1984, c;alarza remained active in many ways. He c,) the United States agreed to pro\isions required b taught at universities from Notre Dame to the Mexico that aimed to ensure ti mat these workers University of California. He taught elementary C) were not discriminated against. in 1943, Congress school and—in San Diego—pioneered bilingual allowed those limitations to be ignored if doing so education. 1-Ic wrote children’s books 11) in Spanish -J was required for the war and effort, With the limits lift— in both Spanish an(1 English. He helped orga cci 0) ed, the number of braceros jumped. The large nize community groups and advised foundations on 0D C) growers used their economic power to take advan Mexican—American issues, lie had come far from C) tage of the workers. \‘Vhen other farm workers tried the small village where he was l)oruu. C) to organize and strike, the growers replaced thos( C) workers witl i I raceros. Galarza protested the bracero program. lie Questions Cl) cci believed that workers should be admitted to the I . WI-mat does Galarza mean li’’ using the Spanish C.) ci) United States as immigrants—so they could have ph1rLse about the mule? E 2. the full rights of immigrants. l3ecause he thought What obstacles prex’eumt1 the firm workers from 11) orgamzing? that time Pan Anwnican Union did not (10 enough to support the workers, he left that organization. 3. Why would a scholar and activist like Galarza Meanivhile, Gaiarza was working for the become involved in elementary education? National Farm Labor Union trying to organize 14 UNIT 6, CHAPTER 20 Name Date AMERICAN LIVES Henry Ford Engineer with a Vision Section 3 “fMjake money and use it, give employment, build factories, and send out the car where the people (can] use it... Business is a service, not a bonanza.” —Henry Ford, on his view of the goals of his business (1916) Ford (1863—1947) did not invent the workers more, he offset the boredom of the assem afford to Henlyautomobile. FTc did not invent the assembly bly line by giving them the resources to line. ‘What he did was to use his engineering skill to buy his cars. Still facing some opposition from develop a reliable car and to devise a method of other investors, Ford bought out other stockholders manufacturing it that was cheap. In doing so, he and put control firmly in the hands of himself and achieved his vision—to put a steering wheel in the his family. The cost was $105 million. hands of ordinary eopie. F’ord sufftred setbacks too. During ‘World War Ford was horn on a farm outside Detroit and I, he sponsored a “peace ship” that hoped to con loved the peace of the countryside. He disliked vince nations to stop the fighting. The idea fiuiled farm work. though—machines interested him. At miserably. lie also became notonous for his 16, he began to work in a machine shop. From that extreme views, especially his hatred of Jewish peo job and others he improved his knowledge of steam ple. Some workers resented the company’s power and electrical systems. Meanwhile, he began “Sociology Department.” This group was set tip to to tinker with developing a car. In 1896, he com help workers—many of them immigrants arid many pleted his first, the “quadricycle,” in a small shed. uneducated—live thrifty lives. However, the staff After knocking out part of the wall—the vehicle often intrnded in the workers’ lives. Finally, during was too wide for the doorway—he drove his first the 1920s, sales dwindled as consumers preferred ‘ car onto the street. flashier cars from other companies. Ford sold the car for $200 and immediately lii 1927, Ford shut down his factories and began making another.
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