HBO’s “Bessie,” a biopic premiering Saturday that stars Queen Latifah as the blues singer Bessie Smith, is a thoughtful and at times stirring example of how a film can add texture to a ...

Residents attending Enid Chautauqua on Friday, June 13, 2025, learned about the trials and tribulations of the “Empress of ...

Residents attending Enid Chautauqua on Friday, June 13, 2025, learned about the trials and tribulations of the “Empress of ...

After the KKK slunk away from the tent they were trying to sabotage in Concord, Bessie Smith returned to her show and kept on singing. Smith was a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, born in 1894.

Singer Bessie Smith's recording career lasted only 10 years, but during that time she created a body of work that helped shape the sound of the 20th century. Her first single, "Downhearted Blues ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) As the undisputed “Empress of the Blues,” Bessie Smith’s voice is a cornerstone of American music history. Her raw emotion, unwavering strength, and uncompromising style ...

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 ...

If Bessie Smith were alive today, she’d likely be singing the blues about North Carolina. A state advisory panel has recommended against approval of a highway historical marker for the night the ...

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 ...

Queen Latifah played blues singer Bessie Smith in HBO’s “Bessie” in 2015. The movie briefly dramatized the incident in Concord where Smith stared down the KKK. Handout TNS In his application ...

She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, ...