Happy Birthday to jazz superstar Billie Holiday (b. April 7, 1915, in Baltimore, MD), whose life embodied hope in the face of adversity for Black Americans and especially Black women. Federal authorities exerted racism and sexism by disproportionately targeted Holiday for her use of narcotics. A declassified internal FBI memo highlights this targeted treatment, stating: “THE SOURCE STATES THAT BECAUSE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF HOLIDAY IT HAS BEEN THE POLICY OF HIS BUREAU TO DISCREDIT INDIVIDUALS OF THIS CALIBER USING NARCOTICS.” Despite this, she rose to the top of the American music scene. In a July 1949 feature in Ebony magazine, Holiday herself reflected on the obstacles she overcame. She stated: “My comeback has been a great success in a public way . . . What most of my fans don’t know, however, is that behind the footlights I’ve been subjected to some of the worst torment any human can endure. Few people know about this aspect of my comeback. There have been barriers placed in the way of my return to the profession and obstacles thrown up to prevent my living again as a free citizen in this great democracy of ours.”
Recommended reading to learn more:
Citations: Farah Jasmine Griffin, If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery (New York: The Free Press, 2001), xiii, https://archive.org/details/ifyoucantbefreeb0000grif; FBI Agent Kimball, internal memo, January 25, 1949, 1-2, https://vault.fbi.gov/billie-holiday/billie-holiday-part-01-of-01/view; Billie Holiday, “I’m Cured For Good Now,” Ebony, July 1949, 26, https://archive.org/details/sim_ebony_1949-07_4_9; William P. Gottlieb, “[Portrait of Billie Holiday, Carnegie Hall, New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948],” photograph (New York, NY, c. 1946-1948), public domain, https://www.loc.gov/item/gottlieb.04261/.
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