This timeline was created to compliment the March 24, 2016 discussion, Mothers of Invention. Presented as part of Apollo Live Wire, the discussion looked at the blues and gospel origins of Rock & Roll, the trend of the hidden influences in American pop culture, and the hidden histories of black female identity and cultural appropriation. The conversation was curated and led by singer/songwriter Tamar-kali.;xNLx;;xNLx;In addition to Rainey, Smith, Douglas, Tharpe, and Thornton, the timeline recognizes other women who were their contemporaries and/or who impacted the scope and trajectory of music during the early to mid 20th century.;xNLx;;xNLx;Far from conclusive, this timeline is just one of many rungs on the ladder to full appreciation of the contributions of African American women to music and culture.;xNLx;;xNLx;The conversation continues...
Ma Rainey is born in Columbus Gerogia as Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett
Bessie Smith is born in Chattanooga Tennessee
Cox was born Ida Prather on February 26, 1896 in Toccoa, Habersham County, Georgia
Memphis Minnie is born in Algiers Louisiana as Lizzie Douglas.
Victoria Regina Spivey is born October 15, 1906 in Houston, Texas
Rosetta Tharpe was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas as Rosetta Nubin
Mamie Smith is the first African American woman to record a record. On February 14, 1920, Mamie Smith cut "That Thing Called Love" and "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down" on Okeh Records, in New York City, after African-American songwriter and bandleader Perry Bradford persuaded Fred Hagar. The record marked the first time that a black blues singer was recorded; the musicians however were all white.
In 1923, Rainey signed a contract with Paramount Records.
In 1923, Smith signed a contract with Columbia Records. "Down Hearted Blues" sold over 800,000 copies
Ida Cox's 1924 recording "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues" is seen as a feminist call to women to move away from being male-defined and male-dependent as stated in The Feminist Classroom: Dynamics of Gender, Race, and Privilege by Frances A. Maher and Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault published in 1994
