Dorothy Dandridge And Norma Jeane Baker
The two beautiful icons Dorothy Dandridge and Norma Jeane Baker have many similarities, yet they are not equally recognized. Norma Jean Baker was well known for her acting, modeling, and singing. Dorothy Dandridge was recognized for the same, as well, even though it was harder for her in the entertainment industry because she was African American. Both women made a historic breakthrough in the entertainment business for women like them to follow. These influential and talented women accomplished many things during their lifetime while overcoming many struggles along the way. However, Dorothy Dandridge’s legacy is diminished by her race, which, in a sense, was her handicap.
This paper will analyze the life of Norma Jeane Baker and Dorothy Jean Dandridge, while illuminating the similarities and differences among them. Additionally, highlighting the hindrances Dorothy faced acquitting her of the status that Norma achieved. Norma Jeane Baker, also know as Marilyn Monroe, was in and out of foster homes during her early childhood. She was born in 1926 to a mentally unstable mother and an unknown father. She started her career singing and modeling, and later became one of the country’s most well known sex symbols. Marilyn left California to pursue
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Both women accomplished many things in their careers. They have made it acceptable for women to be who they are, and who they want to be. Dorothy Dandridge will always receive recognition for being the first African-American woman nominated for an Academy Award. Marilyn Monroe will always be acknowledged for being a part of the breakthrough for women and sexual empowerment. They have many similarities and differences and are two exquisite women. They will always be remembered for their hard work, talent, and dedication in what they loved most, show
Gender, race, and class are apparent in every movie, work of art, and book, even if the piece is not directly about those subjects. “Norma Rae” depicts the journey of a young woman from textile worker to union leader. Her gender, class, and wounds she had experienced affected her entire life. Norma successfully overcame issues in her society and became a liberated woman, something most women in her position were not able to do. Norma encountered many obstacles and still managed to triumph and change her place in the world.
Dorothy was just as famous as them but nobody gives her any recognition for her contribution to Hollywood. It’s of course because of her race. As a result, of the racial discomfort in the 60’s she couldn’t get as famous as Marilyn or Audrey. Like Betty Grable said, “Dorothy was the right person in the right place at the wrong time.” Racism was at an all-time high in the 60’s so of course even though Dorothy was a star she was shown some discrimination. At certain venues, she was not allowed to eat even though she was a performer. This contributed to her not being famous because she was not treated as an equal so, she was definitely not equal to white actresses. Dorothy also became involved with many white celebrities, one being a heated affair with Carmen Jones director, Otto Preminger.Her interracial relationships were not widely accepted in the 60’s, the first one only getting married in 1970, so Dorothy may have been looked as a harlot, weakening her chances at being a legendary star. Dandridge also had trouble finding strong leading roles that highlighted her beautiful melanin skin. In her demise she needed money so she was forced to either play small disrespectful and cliche roles or starve, she had no choice! Without powerful leading roles she was definitely not going to be as famous as other icons of the 60’s. It was not fair at all that Dorothy
Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia on March 24th, 1912 and died on April 20, 2010 at the age of 98 (Williams, 2013). The racism she witnessed and personally went through as a child encouraged her to become who she grew up to be (Height, 2003). She said “I am the product of many whose lives have touched mine, from the famous, distinguished, and powerful to the little known and the poor” (Height, 2003, p. 467). Dorothy Height was an advocate for women’s rights and civil rights because she heard many cases about African American women being violated, abused, and raped in jails and in public (McGuire, 2010). Height had a dual agenda to end racism and sexism which led her to earn 20 honorary degrees and more than 50 awards in her later life (Crewe, 2013). Dorothy Height was not in the media’s public eye during the Civil Rights Movement but later on she became known.
a major film studio. She was also an accomplished jazz singer. Recording songs such as: “The Lady and Her Music” and “The Best Things in Life Are Free.” Lena was a strong advocate of equal rights. he was a member of the NAACP, the National Council of Negro women and the Urban League. I think that she is a great pioneer of equal rights because she did it on her own terms and was not as forceful as some of the other advocates. She achieved equal rights and respect because of her grace, elegance and talent.
According to American National Biography, Marilyn Monroe was formerly known as Norma Jeane Mortenson. She was an American actress and model. Her mom, Gladys Pearl Baker was a flapper, and was unstable and was not ready for a child so she had financial problems with Marilyn Monroe. After Monroe's birth, Baker placed monroe with Ida and Albert Bolender. They raised their foster kids with a strict Christian perspective. When her mom felt stable enough and decided to take Monroe back and live in Hollywood, until she had a psychotic breakdown and was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. After her breakdown Baker spent the rest of her life in and out of institutions and
Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortenson on August 1, 1926. Her mother was emotionally unstable, Marilyn soon given up for adoption. At age 16 she married and later married and divorced 3 times after. Her career took off around the year 1944 and by the year 1949 she began posing nude for calendars. Monroe placed under the care of her physician Dr. Ralph Greenson whom she also had affairs with placed under care of him
Marilyn Monroe, Norma Jeane Mortenson. A devious soul but a pure heart, a black past, but a bright future; she became one of the most idolized figures in society. Norma was definitely not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and she never sugar coated her life to the media. She was straight forward which made her heavily known for her quotes such as “I learned to walk as a baby and I haven’t had a lesson since.” (Marilyn Monroe). This was the beginning to her life story as a hero. This may not seem inspiring or heroic to many by the lack of knowledge a person may have on Norma. In the depths of her quotes lay a deep, heartfelt life though. For this quote may seem sensational and comical to the ear, but Marilyn was transferred to many foster homes not really having a parent that would show her the way. What a good role model would do though, and what Norma courageously has shown society, is that when life knocks you down, get up and hit life back twice as hard. Norma Jeane Mortenson, married Jim Dougherty, and started working. Soon she created the character Marilyn Monroe, she dyed her hair blonde, wore short dresses, and she became the momentous and inspirational character that everyone saw through television, newspapers, and photos. She was one of the greatest actors, singers, and models of the nineteen forties and fifties. But like every hero they suffer and create their own demise. Jeane, Marilyn Monroe, is a shakespearean tragic hero, because like every hero she must fall.
During the early 1900’s, women and slaves in the United States were fighting for their freedom in society. These brave slaves and women stood up against the laws of that time to earn their rights. Many of these activists became well known during this time, and now in textbooks. One woman stood up for the rights of both women and people of color, Sojourner Truth was born into slavery and escaped after the fight for abolitionism had begun. Sojourner had seen the hardships of being a woman and a slave in her long life. Experiencing prejudice from being a slave and a woman, Sojourner Truth spoke out with enthusiastic speeches on woman rights and slavery in conventions
The 1900’s were filled with many great people but the women of that era were often forgotten. Marilyn Monroe changed every person's expectation of what a woman was supposed to be like in the 1900’s. She was a model, singer, and an American actress, best known for her “blonde bombshell” roles in films. Years later she's still remembered as one of the biggest sex symbols during the 1950’s. Marilyn Monroe was a strong woman who impacted the world through her passion for women’s rights, her successful career, and her everyday fashion sense.
Who were these women, and how did the experiences in their life shape who they were? This essay will argue that these women’s identities can be surmised by the way in which they handled the different responsibilities and experiences that they were exposed to in the aftermath of slavery. These responsibilities and experiences formed who they were; only by looking at the identities of these women can their lives be studied and explored. In this essay the southern black woman’s occupational identity, sexual identity, family identity, and gender identity will be examined. There are, of course, many more specific aspects of these women’s identity, but these are the ones that furnish the clearest and most specific view of what these women were about. It is through these four aspects of the southern black women’s identity a picture of them can be drawn. One will be able to recognize the hardships they overcame and the effort they put forth in order to be seen as citizens of the United States of America.
* Robinson, V. Roberts and M. S. Barranger. "Hansberry, Lorraine Vivian: (1930-1965)". Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Black Women In America. New York: Carlson Publishing Inc., 1993. 527-8.
Norma Jean, most famously known as Marilyn Monroe was a famous actress in Hollywood that was one of the biggest sex symbols to come by in the 1900’s. Marilyn Monroe did not start out as an actress or one of the world’s biggest sex symbols, she began her career as a model. Monroe began work in a weapons factory in Burbank, California, where she was later discovered by a photographer. She was married to her first husband Jimmy Dougherty who was a marine. Jimmy had been deployed for some time and when he returned in 1946, Monroe had a fruitful career as a model, and she also changed her name from Norma Jean Baker to Marilyn Monroe in preparation for an acting career (Cinnamon,
Eudora Welty was born in 1909, in Jackson, Mississippi, grew up in a prosperous home with her two younger brothers. Her parent was an Ohio-born insurance man and a strong-minded West Virginian schoolteacher, who settled in Jackson in 1904 after their marriage. Eudora’s school life began attending a white-only school. As born and brought up under strict supervision and influence, at the age of sixteen she somehow convinced her parents to attend college far enough from home, to Columbus, Mississippi and then to Madison, Wisconsin. After graduation in 1930, she moved to New York to attend Columbia Business School. While living in New York, Harlem Jazz theatre occupied her more than her class did. She returned to Jackson in 1931 following her father’s untimely death, where she worked for a local radio station and also wrote articles for a newspaper. Later she worked as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration in 1935. As a part of her job she traveled by car or by bus through the depth of Mississippi, and saw poverty of black and white people, which she had never imagined before. This time photography became her passion. She was somehow influenced by black and Southern culture as seen in her novel or short story called “Some Notes on River Country” or “A Worn Path”.
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1st, 1926 to Gladys Baker. She was illegitimate, so the name Mortenson was assigned by the hospital. At twelve days old, she was taken away from her mother and placed in the care of Ida and Albert Bolender where she would remain for the next seven years. At the age of two, she was nearly smothered to death by a foster grandparent, and at the age of six Monroe was not the only foster child that the Bolender’s took in; there were often three of four other children in the household. During her seven years in the Bolender’s care, Monroe had 13 foster siblings come and go. The Bolender’s we...
Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: a Radical Democratic Vision. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2003. Print.