Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (1894-1937) was both a protégée of Rainey’s and her rumored lover. Much of her music focused on sex and relationships, as evidenced by her song “I Used to Be Your Sweet Mama.” In Dr. Angela Davis’ Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, she attributes a collective openness to sexual themes that rippled into blues music to the newfound autonomy of Black women. “For the first time in the history of African presence in North America, masses of black women and men were in a position to make autonomous decisions regarding the sexual partnerships in which they entered. Sexuality thus was one of the most tangible domains in which emancipation was acted upon and through which meanings were expressed.” Davis also discussed Smith’s specific use of call-and-response in her songs as a method of conversation among women about male behavior. Both Smith and Rainey transformed a musical characteristic—originating from West African storytelling and later utilized by the blues to draw in audience participation—into a feminist device.
