Dear Friends,
Shoga Films Foundation would like to draw your attention to a documentary uncovering the LGBT history of the Harlem Renaissance for Black History Month: T’AIN’T NOBODY’S BIZNESS: QUEER BLUES DIVAS OF THE 1920S http://www.shogafilms.com/taint-nobodys-bizness/ The 1920s saw a revolution in technology, the advent of the recording industry, which created the first class of African-American women to sing their way to fame and fortune. In their lives and music, blues divas presented themselves as strong, independent women who lived hard lives and were unapologetic about their unconventional choices in clothes, recreational activities, and bed partners. Blues singers disseminated a Black feminism that celebrated emotional resilience and sexual pleasure, no matter the source. Unique within musical genres, urban blues occasionally treated subjects of lesbianism and homosexuality. Bisexuals themselves, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith sold records that were daring in their references to sissy men and mannish women. As straight-up lesbians, Alberta Hunter and Ethel Waters pursued careers that catapulted them well beyond the confines of African-American culture. And within the sophisticated, Jazz Age ferment of the Harlem Renaissance, cabaret singer Gladys Bentley actually traded on her image as a “bulldagger.” Through a mix of archival photographs, artwork, publicity ephemera, silent movies, blues recordings, narration by the well-known lesbian writer, Jewelle Gomez, “Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness” presents the lives of these sexual/social pioneers in an enlightening and entertaining historical context. Subject Areas: Black and African American Studies Women’s Studies Gender/Queer Studies American Studies Other releases of Black LGBT interest can be found at Shoga Films Foundation: www.shogafilms.org Thanks, Robert Philipson Sales Manager Shoga Films Foundation 510-500-5348 [email protected]
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