Smith was barnstorming the South, performing her act under a canvas tent for Black audiences or in segregated theaters. One sweltering night in July, it took her to the heart of Concord’s Black ...

"The Empress of the Blues" gave voice the listeners' tribulations and yearnings of the 1920s and '30s. A new 10-CD box set collects the complete... The Mythic Power Of Bessie Smith Vocalist Bessie ...

Miche Braden stars as Bessie Smith, the legendary “Empress of the Blues,” who blazed the trail for a century of performers from Aretha Franklin to Adele. Mixing classics like “Need a Little Sugar In ...

Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, was the first African American superstar, an artist that mingled regal dignity with sensuality. We’ll sample her recorded legacy, talk with critics and hear ...

SHREVEPORT, La. - One man’s dream to honor civil rights activist Bessie Smith with a community-created public art piece is became reality on Saturday. “Today we’re at Bessie D. Smith Park over in ...

BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS: (Singing) We're gonna rock around the clock tonight. We're gonna rock, rock, rock till broad daylight. SHAPIRO: Or does rock 'n' roll owe a debt to lesser-known musical ...

The Bessie Smith Cultural Center is the recipient of the prestigious FBI Director's Community Leadership Award. The FBI Director's Community Leadership Award is a recognition bestowed upon individuals ...

After several years of painstaking work, the Family of Christ Presbyterian Church is inviting the public to the opening reception of the Bessie Smith House, a historic Greeley structure now restored ...

Miss Bessie Smith Scholarship Pageant 2020 made history by having the first virtual pageant and the same young contestant, Anijah Norman winning the title of both Miss Bessie Smith 2020 and the Spirit ...

On this day, 100 years ago, Columbia Records held a recording session with a singer named Bessie Smith. The country at large didn't know her then, but soon found out because she was launching a career ...

The Makar of Scotland, their poet laureate, from 2016 to 2021, Jackie Kay discusses growing up Black and adopted in an all-white section of Glasgow. Her imaginary family included Bessie Smith. She ...