Name: Billie Holiday Birth Date: April 7,1915 Death Date: July 17,1995
Early life: Born Eleanora Fagan, Holiday was born into poverty Working by the age of six She did not have her mother or father to support her through all of her accomplishments
Interesting facts:
She was raped when she was ten years old After rape she was sent to a home By fourteen years old was sent to jail for prostitution
John L. Costley is making a Black History Hall of Fame. Explain why your person does deserve to be included into the Black History Hall of fame?
My person deserves to be included into the Black History Hall of Fame because she is one of the African American singers who had many accomplishments through some difficult times in her life. She had many accomplishments, but still had a terrible life for example “Billie Holiday was the pre-eminent jazz singer of her day and among the most revered
vocalist of the century.” Also two years later, in 1935, Holiday recorded four songs, including “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” and “Miss Brown to You,” that would become hits. That same year, she appeared with Duke Ellington in the film Symphony in Black. The following year, she began working with Lester Young, who gave her the nickname “Lady Day.” She went on to tour with Count Basie in 1937 and with then Artie Shaw in 1938. Her appearances with Shaw’s orchestra made her one of the first AfricanAmerican women to sing with a white orchestra. That
same year she also scored a hit with “I’m Gonna Lock My Heart,” which reached Number Two on the pop chart. “ This is why I say my person Billie Holiday should be in the Black History Hall of Fame she represents for African American singers who had a difficult life growing up, but still became successful and had many accomplishments.