A Black History Moment: Bad as She Wants to Be
by Rev. Irene Monroe | Article Date: 02/03/2011 8:10 PM
A Black History Moment: Bad as She Wants to Be
http://shewired.com/Article.cfm?ID=26613Gladys Bentley (1907 -1960), was born in Philadelphia, and ran away from home as a teenager. Like many African Americans of her generation, she traveled north to the black metropolis known as Harlem. Bentley survived by playing piano and by inventing and singing scandalous lyrics to the tunes of popular melodies.
Bentley, a 250-pound African-American lesbian (who today we would consider transgender), was known as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player" and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs."
Her fall from the entertainment spotlight, however, is a cautionary tale about what can happen to us during a repressive political era when both church and state are our enemies.
