Ella Scatted Her Way to the Top of teh World

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Ella Scatted Her Way to the Top of the World

The early 1900's was a violent and horrible time to look back at. Americans have came a long way since then. America couldn't have gone through a more rough time. From racism and discrimination to the Great Depression. At the time African Americans were looked down upon by some people of different races. Hate crimes were common as well as discrimination in restaurants and other public places. A common quote from the time was “Separate but equal”, which was not at all true. There were many people that worked to end the racism and hate amongst some Americans. One of these many people that was able to change the way blacks were looked at by some was Ella Fitzgerald, the popular Jazz singer born in 1918. Ella was able to change the way blacks were treated and looked at by her beautiful voice and positive outlook on everything life had to offer her. From performing in places people of her time would never have imagined to getting an award from President Ronald Reagan himself, The Queen of Jazz did it all. Ella Fitzgerald changed the face of African American outlook through singing multiple genres, having fans of all races, and accomplishing many goals that blacks were never expected to accomplish.

One of the first ways she changed the outlook on African American music was by singing different genres. She brought life and soul to every song she even muttered. This all began when she was dared to do a contest around age 16. That's when everyone knew she was going far and the world was going to know her name. She was one of the first female Jazz singers (David Norman). She sang a numerous amount of genres, although she's mainly remembered for jazz. Fitzgerald also performed scat, pop,...

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...harts for seventeen weeks” (David Norman). That one album changed he life along with thousand or even millions of other peoples lives. As an old woman Fitzgerald said “I just want to smell the air, listen to the birds, and hear Alice laugh.” Ella Fitzgerald did much more than that. She left her footprints on Earth forever.

Woodard 5

Works Cited

Baugham, Judith. American Decades. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web.

Contemporary Black Biography Vol. 18. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Print

David, Norman. The Ella Fitzgerald Companion. West port: Praeger, 2004. Web.

“Ella Fitzgerald.” The official site of the first lady of song. n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014

Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale, 1992. Web

Pendergast, Sara and Tom. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. Print

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