September 13, 2025 • 45 mins
As performer's around the country rally to raise money to aid those affected by the flood the Empress of the Blues Bessie Smith's 'Back Water Blues' become the sound track of this disaster.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Eric Gaskell, and you're listening to the
Distorted History podcast and program. I can't give you many
names and joy a blunder. Look, I'm un doctor by
(00:27):
a long struggle for freedom. It really is a revolution.
When last week left off, following the destruction of the
Leveyan Mountains landing and the subsequent flooding at Greenville, the
quote unquote queen city of the Delta, the rest of
the nation as a whole finally sat up and took notice.
(00:49):
This then led to the Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover,
being opponent by President Calvin Coolidge to head up the
government's relief efforts. Thereby, I'm putting him in charge of
both the militaries and the American Red Crosses efforts in
this emergency, notably doing so after multiple governors and other
politicians had begged the President to do something, as even
before the Mounds Landing disaster, something like seventy thousand individuals
(01:11):
had already been displaced by this flooding. Meanwhile, it also
has to be noted that even with Herbert Hoover being
placed in charge, it wouldn't be for another year before
Congress actually got around to allocating money for the relief efforts.
As a result of the government not seeing the aiding
of its own citizens during an emergency as being its responsibility,
much of the funding for these relief and rescue efforts
(01:33):
had to be provided through donations to do so. Hoover
and the Red Crosser aided by the media and drawing
the public's attention to this disaster and the need for
their assistance, and luckily, the public for the time being
at least was drawn to the ongoing drama that was
playing out along the Mississippi River. Indeed, separate from the
relief efforts, the Charles T. Buelen Company will look to
(01:53):
capitalize off the still unfolding disaster by selling what they
termed a quote Marvelous attraction as you see. For one
hundred and twenty five dollars, an enterprising person or organization
could purchase a quote walk through exhibition of quote America's
greatest calamity. The full Kid included a quote striking six
(02:14):
x ten foot canvas banner and bright colors so as
to draw people in, and twenty four viewing boxes which
contained photos that consisted of quote. The Raging Wooters flooded districts,
dynamiting levees, refugees, flood babies, whole town submerged rescue work
of the Red Cross, which was all accompanied by lecture
notes to provide for their contacts for the images people
(02:35):
were seeing. This whole package, the company assured its purchasers
would be quote good anywhere in America. In fact, they
were confident that it would quote pay for itself over
a decoration day and give you a big profit too,
as this photo show of the disaster was sure to
be the quote greatest money getter of the season. Which
is all to say that the niche was very clearly
(02:56):
caught up in the drama of this ongoing disaster and mass.
Some look to profit off of it, others actually look
to raise money to help those affected. Yet, before we
get into that and eventually the woman whose Blue Song
would provide a bit of a soundtrack for the flood, first,
like always, I want to acknowledge my sources for this series,
which include Richard mzone Junior's Backwitter Blues, the Mississippi Flood
(03:18):
of nineteen twenty seven in the African American imagination, John M.
Berry's Rising Tide, the Great Mississippi flood of nineteen twenty
seven and how it changed America, Susan Scott Parishes, the
flood year nineteen twenty seven a cultural history, and for
this episode in particular Mischa R. Scott's Blue Zeppers and
Black Chattanooga, Bessie Smith and the emerging urban South. And
(03:39):
like always, these and any other sources like websites that
I used will be available on this podcast Bluesky and
kofee pages. Plus for anyone who doesn't want to be
bothered skipping through commercials, there is always an ad free
feed available to subscribers at patreon dot com slash Distorted History.
And with all that being said, let's begin in lou
The government stopping up and providing funding door an emergency.
(04:00):
It fell to the people, and so benefit events were
held all across the country to raise money for flood relief.
For example, only eleven of the May the LA Times
would advertise a quote Monster flood benefit, while various other
large scale benefits would be staged in places like Atlanta, Chicago,
New York, Boston and Hollywood. Now, some of these benefits
were rooted any longing for better days as to find
(04:23):
by white people, and in case you're wondering what these
better days might be. While only twenty seventh of July,
the New York Times would announce a benefit dance it
would quote revive memories of the old South. People then
showed up to this event dressed up in quote all
time Southern costumes so as to dance and enjoy themselves,
while music was being provided by an all black band.
(04:45):
So to be clear, the better days these people were
longing for and recreating were the days of plantations and
the South before the Civil War. That being said, the
most successful benefits tended to be Vaudeville shows. Now, Vaudeville
was described as a people's culture in that it was
a rejection of pretense and the more traditional high society
forms of entertainment. Indeed, vaudeville as a form of entertainment
(05:07):
had especially risen to prominence in America and northern cities,
thanks at least in part to the foot of new
immigrants from Europe, who provided both performers and an audience
for these shows. Vaudeville then was working class, multi ethnic,
and even multi racial, which, to be clear, does not
mean it was not racist. It's just that audiences and
performers of different ethnicities and racists all took part in
(05:27):
or enjoyed some aspect of these shows. As you see,
Vaudeville was kind of a bit of everything. It featured music, dance,
short dramatic presentations, and comedist sketches that often played into
various ethnic and racial stereotypes. Yet, for as successful as
these Vaudeville benefits were, this was kind of the last
gasp of this form. As you see, by the nineteen thirties,
(05:49):
Vaudeville would essentially be dead, killed by a combination of
the stock market crash, the rise of network radio, and
talking films, a medium that would preserve some of these acts,
with the lives of the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers,
and Abbota Gastello, all coming from the Vaudeville circuit, although
in doing so they largely left the ethnic stereotypes behind.
(06:09):
That being said, the blackfaced style performances which were popular
on Vaudeville would still live on for a time in
the form of early cartoons. Still, even though it would
soon be on its way out, Vaudeville provided a significant
amount of assistance by raising money for the victims of
the flood three. A number of benefits held in vaudeville
theaters across the country, lack in the National Theater on
Treymont Street in Boston, a venue which would play host
(06:31):
to an audience of thirty eight hundred, or in the
Apollo Theater in Chicago, were reportedly every star within fifty
miles on the Apollo wanted to take part, while New
York City also saw a host of benefits take place
in its vaudeville theaters, and to illustrate just how popular
vaudeville still was in this moment, While a number of
long running Broadway shows offered to donate the proceeds from
(06:52):
certain performances to the Red Cross, Vaudeville would still on
strip these offerings due to their mass appeal. Indeed, the
man who would raise the most money for flood victims
was Vaughanville actor Will Rogers, whose parents were both part
of Cherokee and whose father was not only a political
leader among the tribe in Oklahoma, but was also a
one time Confederate soldier. Meanwhile, vaudeville performers who found themselves
(07:14):
trapped in the flooded region also found a way to
help out by putting on shows of the victims so
as to give them some kind of entertainment and to
distract them somewhat from their troubles. Among these performers was
John Walsh, a white man from Georgia of Irish descent,
who stound himself on stage as quote Martinilli, the handcuff King,
an escape artist, a man who could quote escape from boxes,
(07:36):
straight jackets, handcuffs and lang irons, male sex, and torture straps. Well,
you see, had been in the city of Wynnah, Mississippi,
when the river started to overwhelm it's levees. Well Slash
Martinelli then took it upon himself to be there to
meet the people arriving in town on trains as he
fled the flooding taking place elsewhere along the river. The
performer then assisted these refugees in finding places to stay
(07:58):
in something to eat, while also putting together a benefit
performance at the local Dixie Theater to help raise money
to aid these refugees, while also giving the people, why
no doubt, a distraction from their troubles. And it doesn't
seem like Welsh Slash Martinelli was alone in this, as
reported the other vaudeville performers who were similarly trapped in
the flooded region also took it upon themselves to wherever
(08:19):
they might be, put on chos for people to try
and provide some kind of entertainment and escape. Meanwhile, throughout
all this, it became appaired to African Americans across the
country that they needed another option to send aid to
those in need, as it was clear that their brothers
and sisters in the flooded area were being ignored, if
not downright mistreated by the traditional forms of relief. Therefore,
(08:40):
they needed other ways to help they did not involve
the Red Cross. The NAACP would then lead the ways.
They looked for organizations which they could trust to distribute
the aid that came from their own fundraising efforts. For example,
the DC chapter the n DOUBLEACP would hold benefit concerts
at the famous Howard and Lincoln Theater. And so the
Black community and the NAACP in particular came together to
(09:03):
provide aid to those who they knew were being discriminated
against and left out of the official methods of support,
something which to be clear, was desperately needed. As we
will definitely talk more in depth about the specific plight
of black refugees in upcoming episodes. The whole reason why
(09:51):
I decided to cover this topic in this manner I
ain trying to focus on how the flood intersected with
the blues was because the blues was kind of the
soundtrack of the flood. Now, there were multiple reasons for this.
For example, it's partially because those most affected by the
flood were black people, and so it's only natural that
they would make and consume music that spoke about this
(10:11):
flood and their experiences with it. That being said, the
nineteen twenties was also a time where genres like jazz
and the blues were becoming popular in general beyond just
the African American community. This was partially a sign of
the times, as both genres are seen as modern because
they did not follow these structures and structures of classical music. Additionally,
the popularity of the blues in particular could be traced
(10:33):
back to the fact that people in America at the
time had the distinct feeling that a more traditional personal
connection was getting lost as the government and big businesses
were starting to control the discourse. As you see, this
was the period in which everything was becoming increasingly connected
for the first time, and there was a sense that
the larger narrative was being controlled to some extent, as
(10:53):
the feeling was they were more and more often simply
being told what the government or the big missesses wanted
them to hear. As a result, people were on some
level looking for something that expressed real, genuine human emotions,
something in which the blues had in spades, because the music,
by its nature was personal, honest, and expressive of feelings. Now,
the initial wave of commercially successful blues performers were the
(11:17):
quote unquote classic blues singers that were primarily female vocalists
who had roots in the vaudeville circuit, women with big
voices who were typically accompanied by large brass ensembles. Women
like the best known, best selling, and highest paid blues
artists of the nineteen twenties, a woman who recorded one
hundred and sixty songs over the course of her career
and was known as the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith.
(11:40):
Bessie had been born in eighteen ninety two in the
city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a large industrial and transportation center which,
like other more urban Southern locales, was seen as attractive
to African Americans. Who wanted something anything other than life
on a farm. Now, the foundations of Chattanooga's African American
population actually started in the Antebellum pre Civil War period,
(12:01):
when former Says who had acquired their freedom one way
or another arrived seeking a new, different life in burgeoning
urban centers like Chattanooga, whereupon arrival, they started creating their
own little working class community. The city, unsurprisingly then was
more closely tied with the North end the Union, and
indeed they voted against secession, only to be overruled by
the rest of the state. This then led to Chattanooga
(12:24):
being basically occupied by the Confederates, which had the effect
of chasing out a number of Union loyalists while also
bringing in a number of enslaved individuals at the same time. However,
when Union forces ultimately took over the city, Chattanooga became
a haven from saved people seeking freedom, as he became
quote unquote contraband, which was the technical term for runaway saves,
(12:44):
essentially freed by the Union army as a way of
denying the Confederates to their labor. The camp where the
so called contraband were held, though, lacked everything from food
to shelter. Now, this was partially because of a general
lack of supplies, but it was also, of course because
of just basic racism, as a number of those in
power did not actually care about the fleeing saves and
(13:05):
thus saw no need to provide for these people who
were seeking freedom. Instead, they saw them as a quote
unquote problem, and specifically a threat to white families. Eventually, though,
a number of these runaway staves were hired and put
to work by the army in various capacities. They were
tasked with jobs like foraging for food, cutting wood, and
repairing train tracks that had been damaged by the Confederates,
(13:25):
while others worked as carpenters and brick masons were tasked
with building and or reconfiguring structures into infirmaries and hospitals.
Black women, meanwhile, were often hired to do laundry work
as cooks and nurses were also assisting in farming efforts.
Then there were those who managed to set themselves up
as merchants who saw in various goods like coffee, fruit, tobacco,
and candy. Even after the war was over, Chattanooga's black
(13:47):
population would continue to grow, at least in part due
to the general violence in East Tennessee toward the now
free African Americans. Some residents of the state then sought
to escape this violence by finding relative safety in the
black community that had formed in Chattanooga, where they had
started establishing their own churches and even the Howard Free School. Indeed,
in the years following the Civil waris Chattanooga seemingly looked
(14:10):
to attract Northern whites and immigrants, it also became a
natural destination for Southern blacks, as the city had a
different character than the rest of the South. As a result,
by eighteen ninety, African Americans made up forty three percent
of Chattanooga's population. The city then was home to all
men are of black managed their own businesses like barbershops,
funeral parlors, print shops, drug stores, grocery stores, bakery, shoe stores,
(14:32):
laundry saloons, restaurants, hotels, and theaters. They even had their
own manufacturing plants in the city, making it so they
had their own self sufficient community. Now I portantly for
our story. Among the people who moved to the city
and made a life for themselves were William and Laurias Smith.
The couple had left their home in northern Alabama to
move to Chattanooga with their six children, and it was
(14:53):
here in their new home where their youngest, a girl
named Bessie, was born. Now it seems likely that their
move to Chattanooga was a lead partially motivated by pursuit
of better work than sharecropping, as Bessie's father, William, a
former saveman and part time Baptist minister, found work in
a factory upon their arrival, work that certainly paid better
than sharecropping, although he wouldn't make as much as other
(15:14):
men working similar jobs elsewhere in the country. This, of course,
was also dangerous work as well, as this was industrial
labor at the turn of the century, a time when
factory owners did not even pretend to care about the
safety of their workers, and you would have to imagine
that was even more true when the workers in question
were African American. This move to the city would also
(15:35):
change the rhythms of Bessie's mother, Laura's life, as she
had been a sharecropper's wife before arriving in Chattanooga, which
meant that not only had she maintained their home and
raised their children, but that she had also likely worked
in the fields beside her husband. Now though, in addition
to all the hard work of raising children and maintaining
the household in age before modern appliances, Laura also took
(15:55):
up work as a laundress. This situation became even more difficult,
though so following William's death in a year nineteen hundred,
as this put even more responsibility and stress on Laura
to support their family all by herself. That being said,
the fact that she worked as a laundress helped because,
unlike domestic labor, where the women were expected to be
on call for most of the day and thus could
(16:16):
not see their families, laundresses worked out of their own homes,
meaning she was still around to keep an eye on
her children and also enlist their help. Tragically, though, it
would not be long after her husband's death that Laura
died as well, thereby leaving young Bessie in the care
of her oldest sister, the twenty five year old Viola,
who supported herself and her young siblings first by working
(16:36):
as a cook and later by working as a washerwoman
like their mother. And even though Viola did her best
to pick up the sack, the fact remained that life
for her and her siblings would be much harder from
here on out, as while there had been some semblance
of security when both of their parents had been alive
and working, starting with William's death the family would be
forced to move multiple times. Yet, despite this upheaval, Viola,
(16:58):
like most of the African Americans in Chattanooga, put a
lot of value in education, and so Bessie at the
very least attended grammar school, where she was taught reading, writing,
and arithmetic. Meanwhile, throughout all this music was a vital
and vibrant part of the Black community's day to day life,
dating back to the days of slavery. Work songs, for example,
persistently the postwar period, as labors and various vocations used
(17:21):
music to measure out their work while also seeking to
relieve the drudgery. It was then these work songs that
became the foundation of African American secular music, which was
in contrast to, and sometimes at odds with, the African
American religious music tradition. Meanwhile, there was also the popularity
of brass band music, which swept the nation in the
late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds, a fad that African
(17:42):
Americans took part in as brass bands came to serve
as entertainment for various community events, which notably also provided
opportunities for both amateur and professional musicians alike, also rising
the promise around the same era as ragtime, which was
so named for the quote unquote ragged or syncopated rhythms
that a musical style which by the way, might have
(18:03):
had its origins within the African American community as well,
specifically coming from the quote unquote sporting houses and cabarets
in places like Charleston, Atlanta, Memphis, Baltimore, and Saint Louis.
And then there was the tradition of Menstreal shows, where
white performers done up in blackface created a fictional, care
free plantation life through skits and musical performances featuring childlike,
(18:24):
fun loving racist stereotypes to entertain the crowd, a form
of entertainment so popular that a number of actual black
performers and composers got their start participating in such shows,
as even with their racist overtones, they still offered an
escape and a freedom that was otherwise unavailable to most
African Americans, especially in the South. Meanwhile, some of these
(18:44):
black artists and composers would also start writing musicals with
black audiences in mind, meaning they stripped the form of
its plantation and racist overtones as much as they could. Yet,
while these musicals were focused primarily on black audiences, white
audiences would eventually become enamored with them as well, to
the point that white writers started writing their own black musicals,
(19:04):
which predatably often added back in those racist overtones. Still,
the fact of the matter was various African American musical
traditions were already beginning to form the backbone of popular
music in America now. As her Bessie Smith in particular,
she would have grown up around the work songs of
the washer women like her mother and older sister, and
she also would have likely regularly been exposed to traditional
(19:27):
African American religious hymns, spirituals, and shouts due to her
father's close ties with the church. On top of that,
Chattanooga in general became a kind of center for music
and musical development during this time, in no small part
because it was a railway hub, which meant that various
performers and musicians regularly came through town, some of whom
would invariably be forced to wait for another train, and
(19:49):
so during this layover, a number of these performers took
this opportunity to perform, which both gave them an opportunity
to make some extra cash while also bringing to Chattanooga
new songs and trends that otherwise might not have reached
there for some time. It was in this way, then
that the city was consistently being exposed to new things.
In particular, East ninth Street became the entertainment and musical
(20:12):
center for Chattanooga's African American community. This, then, is where
young Bessie would have been exposed to a wide range
of African American musical traditions. Plus or also the local
rent parties were poor African American apartment dwellers to make
rent through parties featuring food and entertainment, typically music for
a ten cent entrance fee. Music then would have been
anywhere and everywhere that young Bessie went. It shouldn't come
(20:35):
as a surprise, then, that Bessie saw making music as
a way in which he could help out her family,
likely taking a cue from one of her older brother's, Clarence,
who had demonstrated that there were other ways of making
money other than through manual labor as Clarence, whenever he
had the opportunity, would join up with traveling minstrel troops
as a comedian. Bessie, meanwhile, from ages ten to twelve,
would perform on street corners in downtown Chattanooga, collecting spare
(20:59):
change from passers. By. Accompanying Bessie on these ventures was
her seventeen year old brother, Andrew, a competent piano player
who also knew the basics of playing guitar. Bessie then
would dance and sing popular songs while her brother accompanied
her on the guitar. Now, the songs that Bessie performed
during this time weren't what we would call the blues
as we know it today, primarily because it form, which
(21:20):
grew at least in part out of traditional folk and
work songs, seems to have developed first in more rural areas.
As such, it hadn't quite reached cities like Chattanooga just yet. Still,
though Bessie likely would have been familiar with the traditions
that the blues grew out of, as well as other
traditions that would go on to influence her own style. Notably,
in undertaking this path, Bessie was unintentionally transgressing in multiple ways.
(21:43):
As you see, by performing on street corners downtown, Bessie
was invading a traditional male space, and in doing so,
she was unwittingly putting herself among the ranks of the
quote unquote new women of the time, with the likes
of school teachers and other women who weren't outside the home,
in just any woman in general who sought a kind
of personal independence. Meanwhile, by performing popular music, Bessie was
(22:05):
likely also unintentionally acting against certain black elites who frowned
upon pursuing anything that did not present Black people as
honorable and dignified. Their entire focus, you see, was on
fighting for respect in this extremely racist country. They were
then convinced that the only way to change the prevalent
racist stereotypes of black people was to create a holy,
virtuous society and people who, through every aspect of their life,
(22:29):
challenged these stereotypes. In the minds of some of these
black elites, then only proper church music was acceptable. Bessie Smith, then,
as a young girl, performing popular black songs on a
street that was infamous for its crime and saloons, would
have been seen as an example of everything that good
upstanding black people should avoid doing now. We can't see
if she ever encountered any kind of pushback from such elites,
(22:50):
but even if she did, it didn't seem to matter.
After all, her primary goal was to make money to
help support her family, and she was apparently successful in
doing so. She eventually made a transition from amateur street
corner performer to appearing on actual stages as she joined
the vaudeville circuit. How and when she made this transition
as unclear, but it happened sometime in late nineteen oh
(23:11):
eight or early nineteen oh nine. While rumour would have
the Blue singer Gertrude Ma Rainey kidnapped Bessie off the
street and took her away with her as a way
of explaining how she got her started in vaudeville, a
more believable story claims that Bessie won a town contest
or alternatively simply audition to be a part of the
Moses Stokes Review. Regardless of how it happened, though, Bessie
eventually made her way to Atlanta, where she joined up
(23:33):
with an African American vaudeville troupe there was operating out
of that city. While also taking part in the traveling
vaudeville circuit, which mainly seemed to follow the pattern of
harvests across the region, meaning there would time their arrival
to coincide with the harvest, which was a time when
agricultural laborers would be paid and thus would have the
excess funds she spent OneD for volities like entertainment. It
(23:55):
was then, as a chorus member on the vaudeville circuit
that Bessie Smith would likely actually first in on her
Gertrude ma Rainie supposedly the first African American woman to
perform the blues professionally. At the very least, she was
at the forefront and among the first who gain popularity
with the style. As such, she became known as the
mother of the Blues. Bessie then would cite Ma Rainy
(24:15):
as an important early influence on her career. Now, to
be clear, Bessie was not a star at this point.
In fact, she wasn't even a futured performer. Eventually, though,
Bessie would emerge from being a background chorus member and
she became a part of a futured act when she
teamed up with a talented male tap dancer as she
sang while he danced. Meanwhile, Throughout all this, Bessie was
(24:37):
continuing to refine and establish her own unique singing style.
As keep in mind, she was not a formally trained
vocalist in any way, so instead of a more refined
traditional style, Bessie seemly focused on infusing her performances with emotion.
Part of this involved developing improvisational skills that she could
use to turn any generic tune into a blues song,
(24:58):
doing so by omitting or replacing words with moans, and
added increased emotion to her performances. This emotion, her unique phrasing,
and the immense power of her voice then started earning
the young woman both attention and praise. That being said,
at the time, there didn't seem like there was much
in the way of opportunities for black women being successful
singing the blues. As you see, while music originating from
(25:20):
the African American community, like jazz and the blues had
been recorded prior to the nineteen twenties, the performers who
made these recordings had all been white. Indeed, passingly few
African American performers in general had been recorded prior to
the nineteen twenties, In particular, black female solo singers weren't
recorded as according to Black composer and musician W. C. Handy,
(25:41):
the attitude among white recording managers was that, quote, their
voices were not suitable. Their diction was different from white girls. Basically,
the white men who decided who would or would not
get recorded and not like black female vocalists, and so
they did not believe that anyone would buy their records.
These recording managers, however, would be proven white wrong. Win
Okay Records started releasing recordings made by Mamie Smith in
(26:04):
nineteen twenty as in particular, Mamie Smith's Crazy Blues sold
several thousand copies when it was released in August of
nineteen twenty, thereby approving without a shadow of a doubt
that there was indeed an audience for such music, and
with that, the quote unquote race record boom was launched.
Following Mamie Smith's success, a series of black female singers
(26:25):
were signed to contracts by paramount Columbia Okay in the
black owned Black Swan Records. Now Bessie Smith would actually
audish for Black Swan Records in nineteen twenty one bought
her quote unquote row sound, and the fact that she
had one point reportedly told the engineer to quote hold on,
let me spit, resultant in Harry pacey ouner of the
record company, to decide that Bessie was not the rine
(26:46):
fit for black Swan. Indeed, he would select the younger
and smoother sounding Ethel Waters to be the debut blues
artist for his company. Not deterred, Bessie the following year
would try again, as she was recorded by both Okay
and Columbia Records. However, neither were actually released, with Okay
not seeing anything particularly unique or special about Bessie and
(27:07):
Columbia declaring that she was too quote course in loud.
This in spite of the fact that her style regularly
drew audiences as she headlined on the vaudeville circuit. The
record companies, though, were convinced that laun Bessie might appeal
to a more rural audience. Urban African Americans would not
be interested, and she most certainly would not cross over
to white audiences. As it turns out, though not all
(27:29):
at Columbia held this opinion. Indeed, executive Frank Walker, eager
to get in on the quote unquote race record. Boom
recalled seeing Bessie Smith perform on the Southern vaudeville circuit
years earlier, and so he ordered one of his employees
to go find Bessie and bring her to New York, where,
after fourteen years of performing in vaudeville, she signed a
contract that paid her one hundred and twenty five dollars
(27:50):
per song and no royalties, which would prove to be
quite the deal for Columbia, as her first song, Down
Hundred Blues, sold over seven hundred and eighty thousand copies,
instantly making Bessie Columbia's Empress of the blues, and as
she helped to take what happened a regional folk style
music to the nation's attention. Bessie then went on to
become the best known blue singer of the era, as
(28:11):
between nineteen twenty three and nineteen twenty nine, she sold
some four million records That being sent him unclear on
how much benefit Bessie actually got from these massive sales,
as while she would become the highest paid African American
artist ever at that point in time, that money seems
to have primarily come for performing in not from record sales.
Bessie was also reportedly a bit of a banass who
(28:32):
seemly had little to no fear. For example, while performing
in Concord, North Carolina, to a majority black audience, some
klansmen shown a book and it caused chaos or possibly
even worse, as they looked to untirely tent that Bessie
was performing in from these stakes, holding it up and
action them would have trapped the fifteen hundred primarily black
people in attendance underneath the fallen canopy. Now we have
(28:54):
no idea if this was the end of their plans
or not, as thankfully, one of the musicians performing alongside
Bessie that night happened to notice that something was up.
Upon being informed that the clan was up to no good, Bessie,
according to her sister in law, then stormed out of
the ten with one hand on her hip and the
other held in a fist that she shook with a
passion as she shout out of the six clansmen, quote,
(29:15):
what the fuck you think you're doing. I'll get the
whole damn ten out here if I have to. You
just pick up them sheets and run, which apparently they
did that being said Bessie's lack of fears sometimes got
her into trouble, like, for example, the time in Dallas
when the current on stage wasn't lowered on time, thus
disrupting the chorus girl's performance, a miss at that resulted
(29:37):
in the audience actually laughing at Bessie's carefully choreographed show,
something that she would not accept, and so the famous
African American singer confronted the white stage manager, who had
been talking with his wife at the time, shouting at
him quote, are you drunk? You was la getting that
curtain down? Standing here talking to that white bitch. Now,
the stage manager was not just going to stand there
(29:57):
as Bessie insulted his wife Plum. She was a black
woman yelling at a white man, and so he prepared
to hate her for daring to talk to him that way. Bessie, though, ever,
on a fraid, struck first, knocking the stage manager cleared
off his feet. This, however, was not the end of it,
as Bessie's fame and notoriety mattered less in Texas than
the color of her skin and her gender. As a result,
(30:19):
when a number of white men learned of this incident,
they ambushed Bessie after the show, dragging her into a
nearby lot, where they began to beat her with a whip.
Luckily for Bessie, she would be saved from this assault
when members of her touring company realized that something was
wrong and started searching for her with a police car
in tow. Bessie was then saved and as a result
of the treatment she received that night, never performed in
(30:42):
Texas again. Now as for her connection with the Mississippi
flood of nineteen twenty seven, Bessie, along with her traveling troop,
had spent the tail end of nineteen twenty six in
the beginning of nineteen twenty seven touring the Midwest and
the South with their show The Harlem Frolics, which was
a variety show consisting of the comedy duo of Tolliver
and Harris, Eggy Pitts and his Dancing Cheeks, and a
(31:04):
seven piece band and twelve course girls, with the star
of the show, of course, being Bessie Smith herself, who
was at the height of her popularity at this point,
with her record selling very well, especially in the South.
Bessie's Harlem Frocks show then filled theaters and cities as
she played for both whites only in primarily black audiences,
while also backing some fifteen hundred people into their tent
(31:25):
that they set up in more rural communities. Meanwhile, these
shows were so popular they were at times also broadcast
on radio and places like Atlanta and Memphis, most notably
for her purposes, though, this tour brought them to various
locales around the Mississippi's tributaries that were experiencing flooding round
about this time. In particular, Bessie's sister in law, Mount
Smith would years later recall how they quote came to
(31:47):
this little town which was flooded, so everybody had to
step off the train into little rowboats that took us
to where we were staying, with the town in question
most likely being Nashville. According to Susan Scott Parrish's scholarship,
a see nearby Cumberland River had started overflowing its banks
on Christmas Day in nineteen twenty six, and it kept
rising until New Year's Day. Meanwhile, Bessie Smith's tour brought
(32:08):
it to Nashville during that time, as she and her
trooper arrived in town somewhere between the twenty eighth and
thirtieth of December, the rising waters of the Cumbland would
flood some two hundred city blocks in Nashville, displacing some
ten thousand people as it did, most of them African American,
something that Bessie herself would have been familiar with, as
she had grown up in a low lying area in
West Chattanooga called Blue Goose Hollow that, due to its
(32:31):
low lying nature, likely was known stranger to flooding. Regardless,
Bessie and her company would spend ten days in Nashville,
seeing these events firsthand, while also reading about them in
the paper and hearing about them over the radio. Plus,
while Bessie experienced the flood firsthand here, she had also
likely seen it in different stages and others stops shed
made on that tour, as majority of the places they
(32:52):
visited put it up against the various rivers had fed
into the Mississippi that were actively flooding around that time,
so she would have likely also experien instance some places
the fearful anticipation of the flood, while in other places
she would have gone to see the aftermath and people
trying to rebuild. In Nashville in particular, though Bessie would
experience the lives with those who were displaced by the
flood as it was happening. It all started when they
(33:14):
arrived in town and had to be taken from the
train by boat, with white passengers being taken to a
local theater while black passengers were taken to the top
floor of a local funeral home, an arrangement that the
star Bessie Smith would not except, as she told others
that she could not stay there. However, not even the
Empress of the Blues could rise above Jim Crow, so
(33:34):
she would stay on the top floor of the funeral
home with the others, and it was here that Bessie
would hear the stories of the local black folk who
had been displaced by the flood. It was also during
this stay and that apparently some of the locals asked
her to sing a song called the Backwater Blues, but
this was not a tune that Bessie was familiar with.
It was likely some traditional country blue song that had
(33:55):
its origins one of the other many floods that affected
this region and the African Americans who were for to
live on the land that was most likely to flood.
Bessie then, even though she could not perform this requested song,
would take this title and use it for the song
she would eventually write about this flood, a song that
she would begin writing shortly after returning home to her
Philadelphia rowhouse in February nineteen twenty seven. Indeed, her sister
(34:17):
Maud Smith will remember when quote Bessie came to the
kitchen one day and she had a pencil on paper
and she started singing and writing. Bessie would call the
song that she wrote Backward her Blues, which was inspired
by the experiences she had and had heard about during
her last tour. It then wasn't long after initially writing
the song that Bessie would head up to New York
to record it on the seventeenth of February. Accompanying the
(34:39):
empress on the blues for this track was pianist James P. Johnson. Notably,
this represented her first collaboration with the talented innovator who
had originated the technique known as the Harlem Stride piano style,
which is a jazz style that borrows heavily from the
jumping left hand techniques of rag time. However, instead of
the hand jumping back and forth, since this style was
played with more swing, and since Johnson introduced the occasional
(35:01):
passing notes as he went, the hand looked more like
it was striding across the keys than jumping. Now, the
development and popularization of the Harlem stride style was an
outgrowth of the Harlem Renaissance, which was itself a byproduct
of the ongoing Great Migration, then more and less started
following the end of the First World War as Southern
blacks and increasing numbers left the South, and it's deeply
(35:22):
ingrained in varying in your face brand of racism for
the North, where the racism was less overt and legally enforced.
We'll talk more about the Great Migration and the impact
the flood had on it later in the series, but
for now, it's important to understand that many of these
migrating African Americans ultimately came to settle in major northern cities,
where they formed communities, both because we were limited and
(35:43):
where they could go, and because such communities offer protection
and familiarity. Among the most notable of these places was Harlem,
where amidst the larger African American community, was a smaller
community of poets, musicians, dancers, and artists who consciously made
the decision to not imitate the dominant way European art styles,
but to instead celebrate these styles that had been cultivated
(36:04):
in their communities in the South for decades. As for
Bessie singing, jazz guitarist Denny Barker would note that her
style was firmly rooted in church traditions, as he noted
that coming from the South and having a background in
churches down there, one can readily recognize thee quote similarity
between what she was doing and what those preachers and
evangelists from there did and how they moved people. Indeed,
(36:26):
Bessie's father had been a Baptist clergyman, so she more
than likely grew up in and around the musical traditions
of Black Southern churches with their hymns, their spirituals, and
their shounds, all of which she combined with more secular
traditions like these songs sung by the washerwomen like her
mother and her sister, these songs performed in minstrel shows,
and of course the music of the bluesmen to create
her own signature style. Now Backward Blues would be released
(36:50):
by Columbia Records on the twentieth of March, meaning it
was already out when the first of the levies along
the Mississippi started to fail a month later, a reality
that has led some to play so now that Bessie
Smith's Backwarder Blues wasn't technically about the nineteen twenty seven
Mississippi flood, but instead about the backward flooding that had
preceded it. But again, those rivers are all connected, so
(37:11):
as far as I'm concerned, it's the same flood. She
was just singing about it before it struck the Mississippi
in earnest, so a month after its initial release, when
the federal government in the nation as a whole finally
took notice of the disaster, her song was right there,
winning to personalize the tragedy and bring it right into
the public's homes. Indeed, an ad by a so called
race records distributor that appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier would
(37:34):
declare that quote Backwinter Blues brings to your mind the
heart raining scene of thousands of people made homeless by
the mighty flood. It wasn't long then, after the flood
became national news that Backward Blues became a best seller,
as reportedly, orders for the song reached nearly twenty thousand copies. Indeed,
as the Baltimore Afro American would point out in mid
(37:55):
June of that year, Bessie Smith's Backward Blues and also
her cover Muddy Water in Mississippi Moan were among the
best selling records of that week. As the paper would
note that quote, owners of record shops attribute the present
popularity of these records to the publicity given to the
Mississippi River floods, which are laying waste to many former
haunts of record buyers. Yet, not only was Bessie Smith's
(38:18):
Backwarter Blues a huge hit in its own right, but
it would also going to become her most covered song
as he likes of Viola McCoy, Kitty Woods, and Lonnie
Johnson would all record their own versions of the track. Now,
Bessie Smith's Backward Blues was obviously a part of a
traditional blue songs about floods because Black Southerners in particular
were forced to live in low lying lands near rivers.
(38:40):
Lands said due to flooding, were especially fertile and greatful
growing count but which also left these communities especially vulnerable
these disasters. Then had predictably created a tradition of songs
within the style of African American music that focus specifically
on their trials and tribunations. The blues, after all, is
about how tough life can be, so of course the
(39:00):
flooding that readily plagued their communities would be featured within
this style of music. The thing was, this time the
flood was so huge and all encompassing that it caught
the nation's attention, doing so in part because it wasn't
just the black communities who were suffering, as white people
too felt the wrath of mother nature, which in some
ways helps to explain backwarter blues run away popularity. Plus's
(39:22):
flood also happened to coincide with the first time that
the blues was really being recorded and released commercially due
to the rise of quote unquote race records. As a result,
the traditional blues flood songs was for the first time
being presented to a mass audience, with Bessie Smith's Backward
Blues being there the right time to present to people
all across the country, both black and white, the experience
(39:43):
of those suffering from the flood while it was still
happening in addition to being timely, Bessie's song, unlike Lonnie
Johnson's Broken Levy Blues, which was recorded a year later,
does not focus on the device of racial issues involved
in the flood, like having the police round the black
men to force in the work on the lefees. Indeed,
the narrator in Bessie's song, who identifies herself as just
(40:05):
a poor old girl in the funnel line, assigns no
blame for the disaster. It's just an act of nature,
as she sings, quote when it rained five days in
the sky turned dark as night, then trouble's taken place
in the low lands at night. She then wasn't focused
on black people being forced to live in low lying
land or the failed policies of the Mississippi River Commission. Instead,
(40:26):
this was just the weather, a theme which you would
follow up later, as she added quote when a thunder's
enlightning and the wind begins to blow, there's thousands of
people ain't got no place to go. There's no human
antagonist in this song. Then it's just people reacting to
a natural disaster. Bessie's Backward a Blues and is a
song of personal woe and suffering, as after describing the
(40:47):
whether that was the cause of this disaster, she sings quote,
I woke up this morning, can't even get out of
my door. There's enough trouble to make a poor girl
wonder where she's gonna go. This song, then, isn't just
about rain or flooding. It's about what affects this disaster
is having on people, namely the way this flood is
taking away people's homes, a theme that Bessie follows up
(41:09):
on as she sings quote, I went up and stood
on some high, old lonesome hill, then look down where
I used to live. She had started the day off
with the water at her door, and now she had
been forced to flee to high ground because she couldn't
live there anymore. Indeed, the full scope of this personal
disaster is made clear when she sings quote backwarter blues
Donet called me to pack my things and go because
(41:31):
my house fell down and I can't live there no more.
The floodwaters and hadn't just driven Bessie's narrator from her home,
but had destroyed it completely. This song then made this
massive disaster whose scope was hard to comprehend personal as
while we can talk about how many acres were flooded
or the number of people who were displaced, It's really
more than likely this kind of individual tale of woe,
(41:54):
this personal tale of losing one's home, that has a
greater impact. Bessie Smith then threw her music made this
disaster more personal and easier to understand. In doing so,
she also put a black face on this disaster as
while Backwater Blues, unlike Lonnie Johnson's Broken Levy Blues, doesn't
explicitly deal with how the standard racism and oppression was
(42:15):
worsened by the flood, it still made African Americans a
part of the story. As keep in mind, the mainstream
white presses coverage of this disaster was primarily about whites
and how they had been affected. African Americans mean, while
had been a side note at best, and most typically
were just presented as comedic relief assorts, they were a
people whose troubles and suffering wasn't treated seriously in the
(42:37):
mainstream reporting. Backwater Blues then, even though it did not
address Jim Crower any of the ongoing social problems as
related to the flood, since it was a song written
and performed by a black woman and a distinctly African
American style of music. It spoke of black pain and
misfortune and thus brought it to the forefront in a
way that the national press refused to Bessie Smith's backwater
(42:59):
blues and went on, I want to become one of
the best known blue songs of all time. As he
became the soundtrack of the flood in saying that, we
also kind of get a feel for the type of
person Herbert Hoover was as he went at one point
state what a quote great oversight it was at a
white composer. Quote didn't write a plaintive dirt which the
Negro refugees might sing in the camps mass There had
(43:20):
been numerous blues songs written about the flood, with Bessie's
being particularly popular, and yet it apparently did not rise
to the notice of Herbert Hoover. This apparent lack of
serious care when it came to African Americans and their
experiences during this disaster from the man who was heading
up the relief efforts will be an ongoing through line
for the rest of the series. However, up next, I
(43:41):
think we will take a slight detour down to New
Orleans to look at the tale of how the rich,
beggers and businessmen of that city decided to, in an
effort to save themselves, dynamite levies elsewhere, destroying nearby communities
in the process. A tale of greed and naked self
interest at the cost of others, but when they will
have to for now remain a story for another time.
(44:06):
Thank you for listening to Distorted History. If you would
like to help out, please rate and review the podcasts
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If you would like ad free in early episodes, I
set up such a feed over at patreon dot com
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on Spotify or likely through your podcast app as long
(44:27):
as it uses an RSS feed. I will continue to
post sources on koffee and Twitter, though, as it's just
a convenient place to go to access that information regardless.
Once again, thank you for listening and until next time.
(45:03):
VLA
My name is Eric Gaskell, and you're listening to the
Distorted History podcast and program. I can't give you many
names and joy a blunder. Look, I'm un doctor by
(00:27):
a long struggle for freedom. It really is a revolution.
When last week left off, following the destruction of the
Leveyan Mountains landing and the subsequent flooding at Greenville, the
quote unquote queen city of the Delta, the rest of
the nation as a whole finally sat up and took notice.
(00:49):
This then led to the Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover,
being opponent by President Calvin Coolidge to head up the
government's relief efforts. Thereby, I'm putting him in charge of
both the militaries and the American Red Crosses efforts in
this emergency, notably doing so after multiple governors and other
politicians had begged the President to do something, as even
before the Mounds Landing disaster, something like seventy thousand individuals
(01:11):
had already been displaced by this flooding. Meanwhile, it also
has to be noted that even with Herbert Hoover being
placed in charge, it wouldn't be for another year before
Congress actually got around to allocating money for the relief efforts.
As a result of the government not seeing the aiding
of its own citizens during an emergency as being its responsibility,
much of the funding for these relief and rescue efforts
(01:33):
had to be provided through donations to do so. Hoover
and the Red Crosser aided by the media and drawing
the public's attention to this disaster and the need for
their assistance, and luckily, the public for the time being
at least was drawn to the ongoing drama that was
playing out along the Mississippi River. Indeed, separate from the
relief efforts, the Charles T. Buelen Company will look to
(01:53):
capitalize off the still unfolding disaster by selling what they
termed a quote Marvelous attraction as you see. For one
hundred and twenty five dollars, an enterprising person or organization
could purchase a quote walk through exhibition of quote America's
greatest calamity. The full Kid included a quote striking six
(02:14):
x ten foot canvas banner and bright colors so as
to draw people in, and twenty four viewing boxes which
contained photos that consisted of quote. The Raging Wooters flooded districts,
dynamiting levees, refugees, flood babies, whole town submerged rescue work
of the Red Cross, which was all accompanied by lecture
notes to provide for their contacts for the images people
(02:35):
were seeing. This whole package, the company assured its purchasers
would be quote good anywhere in America. In fact, they
were confident that it would quote pay for itself over
a decoration day and give you a big profit too,
as this photo show of the disaster was sure to
be the quote greatest money getter of the season. Which
is all to say that the niche was very clearly
(02:56):
caught up in the drama of this ongoing disaster and mass.
Some look to profit off of it, others actually look
to raise money to help those affected. Yet, before we
get into that and eventually the woman whose Blue Song
would provide a bit of a soundtrack for the flood, first,
like always, I want to acknowledge my sources for this series,
which include Richard mzone Junior's Backwitter Blues, the Mississippi Flood
(03:18):
of nineteen twenty seven in the African American imagination, John M.
Berry's Rising Tide, the Great Mississippi flood of nineteen twenty
seven and how it changed America, Susan Scott Parishes, the
flood year nineteen twenty seven a cultural history, and for
this episode in particular Mischa R. Scott's Blue Zeppers and
Black Chattanooga, Bessie Smith and the emerging urban South. And
(03:39):
like always, these and any other sources like websites that
I used will be available on this podcast Bluesky and
kofee pages. Plus for anyone who doesn't want to be
bothered skipping through commercials, there is always an ad free
feed available to subscribers at patreon dot com slash Distorted History.
And with all that being said, let's begin in lou
The government stopping up and providing funding door an emergency.
(04:00):
It fell to the people, and so benefit events were
held all across the country to raise money for flood relief.
For example, only eleven of the May the LA Times
would advertise a quote Monster flood benefit, while various other
large scale benefits would be staged in places like Atlanta, Chicago,
New York, Boston and Hollywood. Now, some of these benefits
were rooted any longing for better days as to find
(04:23):
by white people, and in case you're wondering what these
better days might be. While only twenty seventh of July,
the New York Times would announce a benefit dance it
would quote revive memories of the old South. People then
showed up to this event dressed up in quote all
time Southern costumes so as to dance and enjoy themselves,
while music was being provided by an all black band.
(04:45):
So to be clear, the better days these people were
longing for and recreating were the days of plantations and
the South before the Civil War. That being said, the
most successful benefits tended to be Vaudeville shows. Now, Vaudeville
was described as a people's culture in that it was
a rejection of pretense and the more traditional high society
forms of entertainment. Indeed, vaudeville as a form of entertainment
(05:07):
had especially risen to prominence in America and northern cities,
thanks at least in part to the foot of new
immigrants from Europe, who provided both performers and an audience
for these shows. Vaudeville then was working class, multi ethnic,
and even multi racial, which, to be clear, does not
mean it was not racist. It's just that audiences and
performers of different ethnicities and racists all took part in
(05:27):
or enjoyed some aspect of these shows. As you see,
Vaudeville was kind of a bit of everything. It featured music, dance,
short dramatic presentations, and comedist sketches that often played into
various ethnic and racial stereotypes. Yet, for as successful as
these Vaudeville benefits were, this was kind of the last
gasp of this form. As you see, by the nineteen thirties,
(05:49):
Vaudeville would essentially be dead, killed by a combination of
the stock market crash, the rise of network radio, and
talking films, a medium that would preserve some of these acts,
with the lives of the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers,
and Abbota Gastello, all coming from the Vaudeville circuit, although
in doing so they largely left the ethnic stereotypes behind.
(06:09):
That being said, the blackfaced style performances which were popular
on Vaudeville would still live on for a time in
the form of early cartoons. Still, even though it would
soon be on its way out, Vaudeville provided a significant
amount of assistance by raising money for the victims of
the flood three. A number of benefits held in vaudeville
theaters across the country, lack in the National Theater on
Treymont Street in Boston, a venue which would play host
(06:31):
to an audience of thirty eight hundred, or in the
Apollo Theater in Chicago, were reportedly every star within fifty
miles on the Apollo wanted to take part, while New
York City also saw a host of benefits take place
in its vaudeville theaters, and to illustrate just how popular
vaudeville still was in this moment, While a number of
long running Broadway shows offered to donate the proceeds from
(06:52):
certain performances to the Red Cross, Vaudeville would still on
strip these offerings due to their mass appeal. Indeed, the
man who would raise the most money for flood victims
was Vaughanville actor Will Rogers, whose parents were both part
of Cherokee and whose father was not only a political
leader among the tribe in Oklahoma, but was also a
one time Confederate soldier. Meanwhile, vaudeville performers who found themselves
(07:14):
trapped in the flooded region also found a way to
help out by putting on shows of the victims so
as to give them some kind of entertainment and to
distract them somewhat from their troubles. Among these performers was
John Walsh, a white man from Georgia of Irish descent,
who stound himself on stage as quote Martinilli, the handcuff King,
an escape artist, a man who could quote escape from boxes,
(07:36):
straight jackets, handcuffs and lang irons, male sex, and torture straps. Well,
you see, had been in the city of Wynnah, Mississippi,
when the river started to overwhelm it's levees. Well Slash
Martinelli then took it upon himself to be there to
meet the people arriving in town on trains as he
fled the flooding taking place elsewhere along the river. The
performer then assisted these refugees in finding places to stay
(07:58):
in something to eat, while also putting together a benefit
performance at the local Dixie Theater to help raise money
to aid these refugees, while also giving the people, why
no doubt, a distraction from their troubles. And it doesn't
seem like Welsh Slash Martinelli was alone in this, as
reported the other vaudeville performers who were similarly trapped in
the flooded region also took it upon themselves to wherever
(08:19):
they might be, put on chos for people to try
and provide some kind of entertainment and escape. Meanwhile, throughout
all this, it became appaired to African Americans across the
country that they needed another option to send aid to
those in need, as it was clear that their brothers
and sisters in the flooded area were being ignored, if
not downright mistreated by the traditional forms of relief. Therefore,
(08:40):
they needed other ways to help they did not involve
the Red Cross. The NAACP would then lead the ways.
They looked for organizations which they could trust to distribute
the aid that came from their own fundraising efforts. For example,
the DC chapter the n DOUBLEACP would hold benefit concerts
at the famous Howard and Lincoln Theater. And so the
Black community and the NAACP in particular came together to
(09:03):
provide aid to those who they knew were being discriminated
against and left out of the official methods of support,
something which to be clear, was desperately needed. As we
will definitely talk more in depth about the specific plight
of black refugees in upcoming episodes. The whole reason why
(09:51):
I decided to cover this topic in this manner I
ain trying to focus on how the flood intersected with
the blues was because the blues was kind of the
soundtrack of the flood. Now, there were multiple reasons for this.
For example, it's partially because those most affected by the
flood were black people, and so it's only natural that
they would make and consume music that spoke about this
(10:11):
flood and their experiences with it. That being said, the
nineteen twenties was also a time where genres like jazz
and the blues were becoming popular in general beyond just
the African American community. This was partially a sign of
the times, as both genres are seen as modern because
they did not follow these structures and structures of classical music. Additionally,
the popularity of the blues in particular could be traced
(10:33):
back to the fact that people in America at the
time had the distinct feeling that a more traditional personal
connection was getting lost as the government and big businesses
were starting to control the discourse. As you see, this
was the period in which everything was becoming increasingly connected
for the first time, and there was a sense that
the larger narrative was being controlled to some extent, as
(10:53):
the feeling was they were more and more often simply
being told what the government or the big missesses wanted
them to hear. As a result, people were on some
level looking for something that expressed real, genuine human emotions,
something in which the blues had in spades, because the music,
by its nature was personal, honest, and expressive of feelings. Now,
the initial wave of commercially successful blues performers were the
(11:17):
quote unquote classic blues singers that were primarily female vocalists
who had roots in the vaudeville circuit, women with big
voices who were typically accompanied by large brass ensembles. Women
like the best known, best selling, and highest paid blues
artists of the nineteen twenties, a woman who recorded one
hundred and sixty songs over the course of her career
and was known as the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith.
(11:40):
Bessie had been born in eighteen ninety two in the
city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a large industrial and transportation center which,
like other more urban Southern locales, was seen as attractive
to African Americans. Who wanted something anything other than life
on a farm. Now, the foundations of Chattanooga's African American
population actually started in the Antebellum pre Civil War period,
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when former Says who had acquired their freedom one way
or another arrived seeking a new, different life in burgeoning
urban centers like Chattanooga, whereupon arrival, they started creating their
own little working class community. The city, unsurprisingly then was
more closely tied with the North end the Union, and
indeed they voted against secession, only to be overruled by
the rest of the state. This then led to Chattanooga
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being basically occupied by the Confederates, which had the effect
of chasing out a number of Union loyalists while also
bringing in a number of enslaved individuals at the same time. However,
when Union forces ultimately took over the city, Chattanooga became
a haven from saved people seeking freedom, as he became
quote unquote contraband, which was the technical term for runaway saves,
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essentially freed by the Union army as a way of
denying the Confederates to their labor. The camp where the
so called contraband were held, though, lacked everything from food
to shelter. Now, this was partially because of a general
lack of supplies, but it was also, of course because
of just basic racism, as a number of those in
power did not actually care about the fleeing saves and
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thus saw no need to provide for these people who
were seeking freedom. Instead, they saw them as a quote
unquote problem, and specifically a threat to white families. Eventually, though,
a number of these runaway staves were hired and put
to work by the army in various capacities. They were
tasked with jobs like foraging for food, cutting wood, and
repairing train tracks that had been damaged by the Confederates,
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while others worked as carpenters and brick masons were tasked
with building and or reconfiguring structures into infirmaries and hospitals.
Black women, meanwhile, were often hired to do laundry work
as cooks and nurses were also assisting in farming efforts.
Then there were those who managed to set themselves up
as merchants who saw in various goods like coffee, fruit, tobacco,
and candy. Even after the war was over, Chattanooga's black
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population would continue to grow, at least in part due
to the general violence in East Tennessee toward the now
free African Americans. Some residents of the state then sought
to escape this violence by finding relative safety in the
black community that had formed in Chattanooga, where they had
started establishing their own churches and even the Howard Free School. Indeed,
in the years following the Civil waris Chattanooga seemingly looked
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to attract Northern whites and immigrants, it also became a
natural destination for Southern blacks, as the city had a
different character than the rest of the South. As a result,
by eighteen ninety, African Americans made up forty three percent
of Chattanooga's population. The city then was home to all
men are of black managed their own businesses like barbershops,
funeral parlors, print shops, drug stores, grocery stores, bakery, shoe stores,
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laundry saloons, restaurants, hotels, and theaters. They even had their
own manufacturing plants in the city, making it so they
had their own self sufficient community. Now I portantly for
our story. Among the people who moved to the city
and made a life for themselves were William and Laurias Smith.
The couple had left their home in northern Alabama to
move to Chattanooga with their six children, and it was
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here in their new home where their youngest, a girl
named Bessie, was born. Now it seems likely that their
move to Chattanooga was a lead partially motivated by pursuit
of better work than sharecropping, as Bessie's father, William, a
former saveman and part time Baptist minister, found work in
a factory upon their arrival, work that certainly paid better
than sharecropping, although he wouldn't make as much as other
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men working similar jobs elsewhere in the country. This, of course,
was also dangerous work as well, as this was industrial
labor at the turn of the century, a time when
factory owners did not even pretend to care about the
safety of their workers, and you would have to imagine
that was even more true when the workers in question
were African American. This move to the city would also
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change the rhythms of Bessie's mother, Laura's life, as she
had been a sharecropper's wife before arriving in Chattanooga, which
meant that not only had she maintained their home and
raised their children, but that she had also likely worked
in the fields beside her husband. Now though, in addition
to all the hard work of raising children and maintaining
the household in age before modern appliances, Laura also took
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up work as a laundress. This situation became even more difficult,
though so following William's death in a year nineteen hundred,
as this put even more responsibility and stress on Laura
to support their family all by herself. That being said,
the fact that she worked as a laundress helped because,
unlike domestic labor, where the women were expected to be
on call for most of the day and thus could
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not see their families, laundresses worked out of their own homes,
meaning she was still around to keep an eye on
her children and also enlist their help. Tragically, though, it
would not be long after her husband's death that Laura
died as well, thereby leaving young Bessie in the care
of her oldest sister, the twenty five year old Viola,
who supported herself and her young siblings first by working
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as a cook and later by working as a washerwoman
like their mother. And even though Viola did her best
to pick up the sack, the fact remained that life
for her and her siblings would be much harder from
here on out, as while there had been some semblance
of security when both of their parents had been alive
and working, starting with William's death the family would be
forced to move multiple times. Yet, despite this upheaval, Viola,
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like most of the African Americans in Chattanooga, put a
lot of value in education, and so Bessie at the
very least attended grammar school, where she was taught reading, writing,
and arithmetic. Meanwhile, throughout all this music was a vital
and vibrant part of the Black community's day to day life,
dating back to the days of slavery. Work songs, for example,
persistently the postwar period, as labors and various vocations used
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music to measure out their work while also seeking to
relieve the drudgery. It was then these work songs that
became the foundation of African American secular music, which was
in contrast to, and sometimes at odds with, the African
American religious music tradition. Meanwhile, there was also the popularity
of brass band music, which swept the nation in the
late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds, a fad that African
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Americans took part in as brass bands came to serve
as entertainment for various community events, which notably also provided
opportunities for both amateur and professional musicians alike, also rising
the promise around the same era as ragtime, which was
so named for the quote unquote ragged or syncopated rhythms
that a musical style which by the way, might have
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had its origins within the African American community as well,
specifically coming from the quote unquote sporting houses and cabarets
in places like Charleston, Atlanta, Memphis, Baltimore, and Saint Louis.
And then there was the tradition of Menstreal shows, where
white performers done up in blackface created a fictional, care
free plantation life through skits and musical performances featuring childlike,
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fun loving racist stereotypes to entertain the crowd, a form
of entertainment so popular that a number of actual black
performers and composers got their start participating in such shows,
as even with their racist overtones, they still offered an
escape and a freedom that was otherwise unavailable to most
African Americans, especially in the South. Meanwhile, some of these
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black artists and composers would also start writing musicals with
black audiences in mind, meaning they stripped the form of
its plantation and racist overtones as much as they could. Yet,
while these musicals were focused primarily on black audiences, white
audiences would eventually become enamored with them as well, to
the point that white writers started writing their own black musicals,
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which predatably often added back in those racist overtones. Still,
the fact of the matter was various African American musical
traditions were already beginning to form the backbone of popular
music in America now. As her Bessie Smith in particular,
she would have grown up around the work songs of
the washer women like her mother and older sister, and
she also would have likely regularly been exposed to traditional
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African American religious hymns, spirituals, and shouts due to her
father's close ties with the church. On top of that,
Chattanooga in general became a kind of center for music
and musical development during this time, in no small part
because it was a railway hub, which meant that various
performers and musicians regularly came through town, some of whom
would invariably be forced to wait for another train, and
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so during this layover, a number of these performers took
this opportunity to perform, which both gave them an opportunity
to make some extra cash while also bringing to Chattanooga
new songs and trends that otherwise might not have reached
there for some time. It was in this way, then
that the city was consistently being exposed to new things.
In particular, East ninth Street became the entertainment and musical
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center for Chattanooga's African American community. This, then, is where
young Bessie would have been exposed to a wide range
of African American musical traditions. Plus or also the local
rent parties were poor African American apartment dwellers to make
rent through parties featuring food and entertainment, typically music for
a ten cent entrance fee. Music then would have been
anywhere and everywhere that young Bessie went. It shouldn't come
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as a surprise, then, that Bessie saw making music as
a way in which he could help out her family,
likely taking a cue from one of her older brother's, Clarence,
who had demonstrated that there were other ways of making
money other than through manual labor as Clarence, whenever he
had the opportunity, would join up with traveling minstrel troops
as a comedian. Bessie, meanwhile, from ages ten to twelve,
would perform on street corners in downtown Chattanooga, collecting spare
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change from passers. By. Accompanying Bessie on these ventures was
her seventeen year old brother, Andrew, a competent piano player
who also knew the basics of playing guitar. Bessie then
would dance and sing popular songs while her brother accompanied
her on the guitar. Now, the songs that Bessie performed
during this time weren't what we would call the blues
as we know it today, primarily because it form, which
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grew at least in part out of traditional folk and
work songs, seems to have developed first in more rural areas.
As such, it hadn't quite reached cities like Chattanooga just yet. Still,
though Bessie likely would have been familiar with the traditions
that the blues grew out of, as well as other
traditions that would go on to influence her own style. Notably,
in undertaking this path, Bessie was unintentionally transgressing in multiple ways.
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As you see, by performing on street corners downtown, Bessie
was invading a traditional male space, and in doing so,
she was unwittingly putting herself among the ranks of the
quote unquote new women of the time, with the likes
of school teachers and other women who weren't outside the home,
in just any woman in general who sought a kind
of personal independence. Meanwhile, by performing popular music, Bessie was
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likely also unintentionally acting against certain black elites who frowned
upon pursuing anything that did not present Black people as
honorable and dignified. Their entire focus, you see, was on
fighting for respect in this extremely racist country. They were
then convinced that the only way to change the prevalent
racist stereotypes of black people was to create a holy,
virtuous society and people who, through every aspect of their life,
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challenged these stereotypes. In the minds of some of these
black elites, then only proper church music was acceptable. Bessie Smith, then,
as a young girl, performing popular black songs on a
street that was infamous for its crime and saloons, would
have been seen as an example of everything that good
upstanding black people should avoid doing now. We can't see
if she ever encountered any kind of pushback from such elites,
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but even if she did, it didn't seem to matter.
After all, her primary goal was to make money to
help support her family, and she was apparently successful in
doing so. She eventually made a transition from amateur street
corner performer to appearing on actual stages as she joined
the vaudeville circuit. How and when she made this transition
as unclear, but it happened sometime in late nineteen oh
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eight or early nineteen oh nine. While rumour would have
the Blue singer Gertrude Ma Rainey kidnapped Bessie off the
street and took her away with her as a way
of explaining how she got her started in vaudeville, a
more believable story claims that Bessie won a town contest
or alternatively simply audition to be a part of the
Moses Stokes Review. Regardless of how it happened, though, Bessie
eventually made her way to Atlanta, where she joined up
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with an African American vaudeville troupe there was operating out
of that city. While also taking part in the traveling
vaudeville circuit, which mainly seemed to follow the pattern of
harvests across the region, meaning there would time their arrival
to coincide with the harvest, which was a time when
agricultural laborers would be paid and thus would have the
excess funds she spent OneD for volities like entertainment. It
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was then, as a chorus member on the vaudeville circuit
that Bessie Smith would likely actually first in on her
Gertrude ma Rainie supposedly the first African American woman to
perform the blues professionally. At the very least, she was
at the forefront and among the first who gain popularity
with the style. As such, she became known as the
mother of the Blues. Bessie then would cite Ma Rainy
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as an important early influence on her career. Now, to
be clear, Bessie was not a star at this point.
In fact, she wasn't even a futured performer. Eventually, though,
Bessie would emerge from being a background chorus member and
she became a part of a futured act when she
teamed up with a talented male tap dancer as she
sang while he danced. Meanwhile, Throughout all this, Bessie was
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continuing to refine and establish her own unique singing style.
As keep in mind, she was not a formally trained
vocalist in any way, so instead of a more refined
traditional style, Bessie seemly focused on infusing her performances with emotion.
Part of this involved developing improvisational skills that she could
use to turn any generic tune into a blues song,
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doing so by omitting or replacing words with moans, and
added increased emotion to her performances. This emotion, her unique phrasing,
and the immense power of her voice then started earning
the young woman both attention and praise. That being said,
at the time, there didn't seem like there was much
in the way of opportunities for black women being successful
singing the blues. As you see, while music originating from
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the African American community, like jazz and the blues had
been recorded prior to the nineteen twenties, the performers who
made these recordings had all been white. Indeed, passingly few
African American performers in general had been recorded prior to
the nineteen twenties, In particular, black female solo singers weren't
recorded as according to Black composer and musician W. C. Handy,
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the attitude among white recording managers was that, quote, their
voices were not suitable. Their diction was different from white girls. Basically,
the white men who decided who would or would not
get recorded and not like black female vocalists, and so
they did not believe that anyone would buy their records.
These recording managers, however, would be proven white wrong. Win
Okay Records started releasing recordings made by Mamie Smith in
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nineteen twenty as in particular, Mamie Smith's Crazy Blues sold
several thousand copies when it was released in August of
nineteen twenty, thereby approving without a shadow of a doubt
that there was indeed an audience for such music, and
with that, the quote unquote race record boom was launched.
Following Mamie Smith's success, a series of black female singers
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were signed to contracts by paramount Columbia Okay in the
black owned Black Swan Records. Now Bessie Smith would actually
audish for Black Swan Records in nineteen twenty one bought
her quote unquote row sound, and the fact that she
had one point reportedly told the engineer to quote hold on,
let me spit, resultant in Harry pacey ouner of the
record company, to decide that Bessie was not the rine
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fit for black Swan. Indeed, he would select the younger
and smoother sounding Ethel Waters to be the debut blues
artist for his company. Not deterred, Bessie the following year
would try again, as she was recorded by both Okay
and Columbia Records. However, neither were actually released, with Okay
not seeing anything particularly unique or special about Bessie and
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Columbia declaring that she was too quote course in loud.
This in spite of the fact that her style regularly
drew audiences as she headlined on the vaudeville circuit. The
record companies, though, were convinced that laun Bessie might appeal
to a more rural audience. Urban African Americans would not
be interested, and she most certainly would not cross over
to white audiences. As it turns out, though not all
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at Columbia held this opinion. Indeed, executive Frank Walker, eager
to get in on the quote unquote race record. Boom
recalled seeing Bessie Smith perform on the Southern vaudeville circuit
years earlier, and so he ordered one of his employees
to go find Bessie and bring her to New York, where,
after fourteen years of performing in vaudeville, she signed a
contract that paid her one hundred and twenty five dollars
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per song and no royalties, which would prove to be
quite the deal for Columbia, as her first song, Down
Hundred Blues, sold over seven hundred and eighty thousand copies,
instantly making Bessie Columbia's Empress of the blues, and as
she helped to take what happened a regional folk style
music to the nation's attention. Bessie then went on to
become the best known blue singer of the era, as
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between nineteen twenty three and nineteen twenty nine, she sold
some four million records That being sent him unclear on
how much benefit Bessie actually got from these massive sales,
as while she would become the highest paid African American
artist ever at that point in time, that money seems
to have primarily come for performing in not from record sales.
Bessie was also reportedly a bit of a banass who
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seemly had little to no fear. For example, while performing
in Concord, North Carolina, to a majority black audience, some
klansmen shown a book and it caused chaos or possibly
even worse, as they looked to untirely tent that Bessie
was performing in from these stakes, holding it up and
action them would have trapped the fifteen hundred primarily black
people in attendance underneath the fallen canopy. Now we have
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no idea if this was the end of their plans
or not, as thankfully, one of the musicians performing alongside
Bessie that night happened to notice that something was up.
Upon being informed that the clan was up to no good, Bessie,
according to her sister in law, then stormed out of
the ten with one hand on her hip and the
other held in a fist that she shook with a
passion as she shout out of the six clansmen, quote,
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what the fuck you think you're doing. I'll get the
whole damn ten out here if I have to. You
just pick up them sheets and run, which apparently they
did that being said Bessie's lack of fears sometimes got
her into trouble, like, for example, the time in Dallas
when the current on stage wasn't lowered on time, thus
disrupting the chorus girl's performance, a miss at that resulted
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in the audience actually laughing at Bessie's carefully choreographed show,
something that she would not accept, and so the famous
African American singer confronted the white stage manager, who had
been talking with his wife at the time, shouting at
him quote, are you drunk? You was la getting that
curtain down? Standing here talking to that white bitch. Now,
the stage manager was not just going to stand there
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as Bessie insulted his wife Plum. She was a black
woman yelling at a white man, and so he prepared
to hate her for daring to talk to him that way. Bessie, though, ever,
on a fraid, struck first, knocking the stage manager cleared
off his feet. This, however, was not the end of it,
as Bessie's fame and notoriety mattered less in Texas than
the color of her skin and her gender. As a result,
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when a number of white men learned of this incident,
they ambushed Bessie after the show, dragging her into a
nearby lot, where they began to beat her with a whip.
Luckily for Bessie, she would be saved from this assault
when members of her touring company realized that something was
wrong and started searching for her with a police car
in tow. Bessie was then saved and as a result
of the treatment she received that night, never performed in
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Texas again. Now as for her connection with the Mississippi
flood of nineteen twenty seven, Bessie, along with her traveling troop,
had spent the tail end of nineteen twenty six in
the beginning of nineteen twenty seven touring the Midwest and
the South with their show The Harlem Frolics, which was
a variety show consisting of the comedy duo of Tolliver
and Harris, Eggy Pitts and his Dancing Cheeks, and a
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seven piece band and twelve course girls, with the star
of the show, of course, being Bessie Smith herself, who
was at the height of her popularity at this point,
with her record selling very well, especially in the South.
Bessie's Harlem Frocks show then filled theaters and cities as
she played for both whites only in primarily black audiences,
while also backing some fifteen hundred people into their tent
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that they set up in more rural communities. Meanwhile, these
shows were so popular they were at times also broadcast
on radio and places like Atlanta and Memphis, most notably
for her purposes, though, this tour brought them to various
locales around the Mississippi's tributaries that were experiencing flooding round
about this time. In particular, Bessie's sister in law, Mount
Smith would years later recall how they quote came to
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this little town which was flooded, so everybody had to
step off the train into little rowboats that took us
to where we were staying, with the town in question
most likely being Nashville. According to Susan Scott Parrish's scholarship,
a see nearby Cumberland River had started overflowing its banks
on Christmas Day in nineteen twenty six, and it kept
rising until New Year's Day. Meanwhile, Bessie Smith's tour brought
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it to Nashville during that time, as she and her
trooper arrived in town somewhere between the twenty eighth and
thirtieth of December, the rising waters of the Cumbland would
flood some two hundred city blocks in Nashville, displacing some
ten thousand people as it did, most of them African American,
something that Bessie herself would have been familiar with, as
she had grown up in a low lying area in
West Chattanooga called Blue Goose Hollow that, due to its
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low lying nature, likely was known stranger to flooding. Regardless,
Bessie and her company would spend ten days in Nashville,
seeing these events firsthand, while also reading about them in
the paper and hearing about them over the radio. Plus,
while Bessie experienced the flood firsthand here, she had also
likely seen it in different stages and others stops shed
made on that tour, as majority of the places they
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visited put it up against the various rivers had fed
into the Mississippi that were actively flooding around that time,
so she would have likely also experien instance some places
the fearful anticipation of the flood, while in other places
she would have gone to see the aftermath and people
trying to rebuild. In Nashville in particular, though Bessie would
experience the lives with those who were displaced by the
flood as it was happening. It all started when they
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arrived in town and had to be taken from the
train by boat, with white passengers being taken to a
local theater while black passengers were taken to the top
floor of a local funeral home, an arrangement that the
star Bessie Smith would not except, as she told others
that she could not stay there. However, not even the
Empress of the Blues could rise above Jim Crow, so
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she would stay on the top floor of the funeral
home with the others, and it was here that Bessie
would hear the stories of the local black folk who
had been displaced by the flood. It was also during
this stay and that apparently some of the locals asked
her to sing a song called the Backwater Blues, but
this was not a tune that Bessie was familiar with.
It was likely some traditional country blue song that had
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its origins one of the other many floods that affected
this region and the African Americans who were for to
live on the land that was most likely to flood.
Bessie then, even though she could not perform this requested song,
would take this title and use it for the song
she would eventually write about this flood, a song that
she would begin writing shortly after returning home to her
Philadelphia rowhouse in February nineteen twenty seven. Indeed, her sister
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Maud Smith will remember when quote Bessie came to the
kitchen one day and she had a pencil on paper
and she started singing and writing. Bessie would call the
song that she wrote Backward her Blues, which was inspired
by the experiences she had and had heard about during
her last tour. It then wasn't long after initially writing
the song that Bessie would head up to New York
to record it on the seventeenth of February. Accompanying the
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empress on the blues for this track was pianist James P. Johnson. Notably,
this represented her first collaboration with the talented innovator who
had originated the technique known as the Harlem Stride piano style,
which is a jazz style that borrows heavily from the
jumping left hand techniques of rag time. However, instead of
the hand jumping back and forth, since this style was
played with more swing, and since Johnson introduced the occasional
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passing notes as he went, the hand looked more like
it was striding across the keys than jumping. Now, the
development and popularization of the Harlem stride style was an
outgrowth of the Harlem Renaissance, which was itself a byproduct
of the ongoing Great Migration, then more and less started
following the end of the First World War as Southern
blacks and increasing numbers left the South, and it's deeply
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ingrained in varying in your face brand of racism for
the North, where the racism was less overt and legally enforced.
We'll talk more about the Great Migration and the impact
the flood had on it later in the series, but
for now, it's important to understand that many of these
migrating African Americans ultimately came to settle in major northern cities,
where they formed communities, both because we were limited and
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where they could go, and because such communities offer protection
and familiarity. Among the most notable of these places was Harlem,
where amidst the larger African American community, was a smaller
community of poets, musicians, dancers, and artists who consciously made
the decision to not imitate the dominant way European art styles,
but to instead celebrate these styles that had been cultivated
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in their communities in the South for decades. As for
Bessie singing, jazz guitarist Denny Barker would note that her
style was firmly rooted in church traditions, as he noted
that coming from the South and having a background in
churches down there, one can readily recognize thee quote similarity
between what she was doing and what those preachers and
evangelists from there did and how they moved people. Indeed,
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Bessie's father had been a Baptist clergyman, so she more
than likely grew up in and around the musical traditions
of Black Southern churches with their hymns, their spirituals, and
their shounds, all of which she combined with more secular
traditions like these songs sung by the washerwomen like her
mother and her sister, these songs performed in minstrel shows,
and of course the music of the bluesmen to create
her own signature style. Now Backward Blues would be released
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by Columbia Records on the twentieth of March, meaning it
was already out when the first of the levies along
the Mississippi started to fail a month later, a reality
that has led some to play so now that Bessie
Smith's Backwarder Blues wasn't technically about the nineteen twenty seven
Mississippi flood, but instead about the backward flooding that had
preceded it. But again, those rivers are all connected, so
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as far as I'm concerned, it's the same flood. She
was just singing about it before it struck the Mississippi
in earnest, so a month after its initial release, when
the federal government in the nation as a whole finally
took notice of the disaster, her song was right there,
winning to personalize the tragedy and bring it right into
the public's homes. Indeed, an ad by a so called
race records distributor that appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier would
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declare that quote Backwinter Blues brings to your mind the
heart raining scene of thousands of people made homeless by
the mighty flood. It wasn't long then, after the flood
became national news that Backward Blues became a best seller,
as reportedly, orders for the song reached nearly twenty thousand copies. Indeed,
as the Baltimore Afro American would point out in mid
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June of that year, Bessie Smith's Backward Blues and also
her cover Muddy Water in Mississippi Moan were among the
best selling records of that week. As the paper would
note that quote, owners of record shops attribute the present
popularity of these records to the publicity given to the
Mississippi River floods, which are laying waste to many former
haunts of record buyers. Yet, not only was Bessie Smith's
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Backwarter Blues a huge hit in its own right, but
it would also going to become her most covered song
as he likes of Viola McCoy, Kitty Woods, and Lonnie
Johnson would all record their own versions of the track. Now,
Bessie Smith's Backward Blues was obviously a part of a
traditional blue songs about floods because Black Southerners in particular
were forced to live in low lying lands near rivers.
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Lands said due to flooding, were especially fertile and greatful
growing count but which also left these communities especially vulnerable
these disasters. Then had predictably created a tradition of songs
within the style of African American music that focus specifically
on their trials and tribunations. The blues, after all, is
about how tough life can be, so of course the
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flooding that readily plagued their communities would be featured within
this style of music. The thing was, this time the
flood was so huge and all encompassing that it caught
the nation's attention, doing so in part because it wasn't
just the black communities who were suffering, as white people
too felt the wrath of mother nature, which in some
ways helps to explain backwarter blues run away popularity. Plus's
(39:22):
flood also happened to coincide with the first time that
the blues was really being recorded and released commercially due
to the rise of quote unquote race records. As a result,
the traditional blues flood songs was for the first time
being presented to a mass audience, with Bessie Smith's Backward
Blues being there the right time to present to people
all across the country, both black and white, the experience
(39:43):
of those suffering from the flood while it was still
happening in addition to being timely, Bessie's song, unlike Lonnie
Johnson's Broken Levy Blues, which was recorded a year later,
does not focus on the device of racial issues involved
in the flood, like having the police round the black
men to force in the work on the lefees. Indeed,
the narrator in Bessie's song, who identifies herself as just
(40:05):
a poor old girl in the funnel line, assigns no
blame for the disaster. It's just an act of nature,
as she sings, quote when it rained five days in
the sky turned dark as night, then trouble's taken place
in the low lands at night. She then wasn't focused
on black people being forced to live in low lying
land or the failed policies of the Mississippi River Commission. Instead,
(40:26):
this was just the weather, a theme which you would
follow up later, as she added quote when a thunder's
enlightning and the wind begins to blow, there's thousands of
people ain't got no place to go. There's no human
antagonist in this song. Then it's just people reacting to
a natural disaster. Bessie's Backward a Blues and is a
song of personal woe and suffering, as after describing the
(40:47):
whether that was the cause of this disaster, she sings quote,
I woke up this morning, can't even get out of
my door. There's enough trouble to make a poor girl
wonder where she's gonna go. This song, then, isn't just
about rain or flooding. It's about what affects this disaster
is having on people, namely the way this flood is
taking away people's homes, a theme that Bessie follows up
(41:09):
on as she sings quote, I went up and stood
on some high, old lonesome hill, then look down where
I used to live. She had started the day off
with the water at her door, and now she had
been forced to flee to high ground because she couldn't
live there anymore. Indeed, the full scope of this personal
disaster is made clear when she sings quote backwarter blues
Donet called me to pack my things and go because
(41:31):
my house fell down and I can't live there no more.
The floodwaters and hadn't just driven Bessie's narrator from her home,
but had destroyed it completely. This song then made this
massive disaster whose scope was hard to comprehend personal as
while we can talk about how many acres were flooded
or the number of people who were displaced, It's really
more than likely this kind of individual tale of woe,
(41:54):
this personal tale of losing one's home, that has a
greater impact. Bessie Smith then threw her music made this
disaster more personal and easier to understand. In doing so,
she also put a black face on this disaster as
while Backwater Blues, unlike Lonnie Johnson's Broken Levy Blues, doesn't
explicitly deal with how the standard racism and oppression was
(42:15):
worsened by the flood, it still made African Americans a
part of the story. As keep in mind, the mainstream
white presses coverage of this disaster was primarily about whites
and how they had been affected. African Americans mean, while
had been a side note at best, and most typically
were just presented as comedic relief assorts, they were a
people whose troubles and suffering wasn't treated seriously in the
(42:37):
mainstream reporting. Backwater Blues then, even though it did not
address Jim Crower any of the ongoing social problems as
related to the flood, since it was a song written
and performed by a black woman and a distinctly African
American style of music. It spoke of black pain and
misfortune and thus brought it to the forefront in a
way that the national press refused to Bessie Smith's backwater
(42:59):
blues and went on, I want to become one of
the best known blue songs of all time. As he
became the soundtrack of the flood in saying that, we
also kind of get a feel for the type of
person Herbert Hoover was as he went at one point
state what a quote great oversight it was at a
white composer. Quote didn't write a plaintive dirt which the
Negro refugees might sing in the camps mass There had
(43:20):
been numerous blues songs written about the flood, with Bessie's
being particularly popular, and yet it apparently did not rise
to the notice of Herbert Hoover. This apparent lack of
serious care when it came to African Americans and their
experiences during this disaster from the man who was heading
up the relief efforts will be an ongoing through line
for the rest of the series. However, up next, I
(43:41):
think we will take a slight detour down to New
Orleans to look at the tale of how the rich,
beggers and businessmen of that city decided to, in an
effort to save themselves, dynamite levies elsewhere, destroying nearby communities
in the process. A tale of greed and naked self
interest at the cost of others, but when they will
have to for now remain a story for another time.
(44:06):
Thank you for listening to Distorted History. If you would
like to help out, please rate and review the podcasts
and tell your friends if you think they'll be interested.
If you would like ad free in early episodes, I
set up such a feed over at patreon dot com
slash Distorted History. By paying ten bucks a month, you
will gain access to the special ad free feed available
on Spotify or likely through your podcast app as long
(44:27):
as it uses an RSS feed. I will continue to
post sources on koffee and Twitter, though, as it's just
a convenient place to go to access that information regardless.
Once again, thank you for listening and until next time.
(45:03):
VLA
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