Rhythm Born of Back-Breaking Labor
The lives of Ma Rainey's slave predecessors continued to beat out a rhythm as they performed backbreaking labor in the sweltering sun of the southern portion of the United State's cotton and cane fields. A pattern was developed, especially in the cotton fields that today is called "call and response." A leader would sing out, or call, a line of a song then the other workers would respond. The process set up a rhythm to work by. All of these musical variations surely made a lasting impression on the young girl who became Ma Rainey.
Ma Rainey's Theatrical Grandmother
As hard and work-filled as life was for the Pridgetts, there was also a theatrical influence. One of Gertrude's grandmothers had been on the stage in the years following the American Civil War. The town of Columbus, itself, was a regular stop on the minstrel circuit. Theater also presented itself in Columbus in the form of the Springer Opera House.
Ma Meets Pa Rainey
It was there, at the Springer Opera House that, in 1900, Gertrude, at the age of fourteen, began her singing career in a talent show called The Bunch of Blackberries. It is believed that Gertrude continued to perform after that show because sometime during the next few years a minstrel show manager took notice of her. The man was William 'Pa' Rainey and on February 2, 1904, eighteen-year-old Gertrude Pridgett became Mrs. Rainey as well as the star of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels.
Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith
While staring in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels Ma Rainey took under her wing an eleven-year-old girl, Bessie Smith, who went on to become one of the highest-paid singers in the United States.
Although Gertrude had no children, and was a bit young for the title, she soon became known as Ma Rainey. But according to the folks that knew and worked with her the name fit her well. She treated people as if they were her own children and was always doing nice things for them.
Black Blues Are Born: Call and Response in Cotton and Cane continues with Ma Rainey and Louis Armstrong: New Orleans and Storyville.
Previous: Ma Rainey: Mother of the Blues.
Recommended Reading:
Harriet Tubman: Black Moses.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Man of Peace and Equal Rights.
