Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga: Bessie Smith and the Emerging Urban South

by Michelle R. Scott

As one of the first African American vocalists to be recorded, Bessie Smith is a prominent figure in American popular culture and African American history. Michelle R. Scott uses Smith's life as a lens to investigate broad issues in history, including industrialization, Southern rural to urban migration, black community development in the post-emancipation era, and black working-class gender conventions. Arguing that the rise of blues culture and the success of female blues artists like Bessie Smith are connected to the rapid migration and industrialization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Scott focuses her analysis on Chattanooga, Tennessee, the large industrial and transportation center where Smith was born. This study explores how the expansion of the Southern railroads and the development of iron foundries, steel mills, and sawmills created vast employment opportunities in the postbellum era. Chronicling the growth and development of the African American Chattanooga community, Scott examines the Smith family's migration to Chattanooga and the popular music of black Chattanooga during the first decade of the twentieth century, and culminates by delving into Smith's early years on the vaudeville circuit.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

216 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2008

Reviews

[selen · Rating 3 out of 5]

girl what was your claim.

[Sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I always loved Bessie Smith and recently saw her biopic, it was just natural that I will eventually read this interesting book that came my way and turned quite a treat.

This is not a place to find details from Bessie's life - if you want a definitive biography, it was written long ago by Chris Albertson who even updated it recently and this is last word on a subject, as he interviewed people who are no longer alive and who knew the Empress personally. What Michelle R. Scott did here - and she did it masterfully - she created something along the line of Daphne Duvall and her unforgettable book "Black Pearls" that was all about the world in which these 1920s Blues singers lived. Scott completely focuses on American south (particularly area of Chattanooga) around turn of the century and in great detail describes life conditions of black population, how did they lived, what options in life they had, what exactly was the life of washerwoman (Bessie's mother) like, what was the popular music of the day and how it all influenced young woman who started as a street singer and eventually became highest paid entertainer of her time.

To be honest, Bessie is mentioned almost as afterthought - she is present and we get details about her family movements, how they changed the addresses constantly, jobs they did and where exactly Bessie started professionally - but reader can tell author's heart was elsewhere and she wanted to paint greater picture instead. Scott truly enjoys when describing life of black population of now long-lost world the way it was back in the day, at times it feels almost like archaeological work because she really digs in old documents and newspapers, starting with aftermath of Civil War and than explaining how urban migration came along, what was the role of the church in this new society, Ku Klux Clan and hostility towards this newcomers, minstrelsy and new music that came along... Bessie Smith is discussed but more in light of what her early life must have been and what probably shaped her well-known personality. Its all very well written with a hint of all sorts of intelligent perception and understanding of life of poor black woman from the bottom of society in those frankly, dangerous times. Contrary to readers who expected more of Bessie, I found the book absolutely fascinating because it covers overview of the whole society. Brilliant. This is re-reading literature for sure.

"The durability of a female performer most generally depends on her nerve and her constitution."

[Lawrence G. Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga: Bessie Smith and the Emerging Urban South wasn't the best book that I have read. It was long on the emerging urban South and pretty skimpy on Bessie. This book was based upon a doctoral dissertation and it pretty much read like one. I live in Chattanooga and was hoping that this book would give me some insights into the world of jazz and the blues. There was a very limited coverage of the musical elements and plenty on the socio-economic and broader cultural context. While I appreciate this content, I was looking for the Empress herself.