Angela Davis's "I Used to be Your Sweet Mama,"

Step 1:
Start by reading Angela Davis's "I Used to be Your Sweet Mama," a chapter from Blues Legacies and Black Feminism.

Step 2:
Watch my short, 19-minute lecture on this African American female blues singers and the Harlem Renaissance.

Here's the link to watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGAcjvSDPFM

Step 3: Inspirational History!
Watch this excellent video about Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star.

Step 4:
Watch my online lecture combing a discussion of the Great Depression and World War II.

Part 1:

Here's the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/xMGKfQu08mQ

Part 2:

Here's the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/igcymFAjYio

Guiding questions:

As always, take notes during the online lectures. These questions are here to guide you through the main ideas, to help you focus. You do not have to answer all of them as you go (there are a lot this week, I realize), but answering them will help you do better on the qui.z!

How did Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and other women blues artists challenge the gender roles of the 20's? In what ways did blues contradict and challenge the mainstream ideological notion that a women’s “place” was in the domestic sphere?
What did blues musicians like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey say about sexuality in their music? What do their songs tell you about lesbianism and homophobia in the black community?
Why did hostility toward working women increase during the Great Depression?
In what ways did the New Deal policies of Franklin Roosevelt's administration institutionalized gender and race-based discrimination?
What was UCAPAWA? What was Mexican American women's role in UCAPAWA?
How did women who served in the military during World War II challenge traditional gender and sexual norms?
How did the employment of white women in factories during World War II compare to that of women of color?
How did the zoot suit subculture influence the lives of young Mexican American women during World War II?
Lastly, how were the lives of Japanese American women disrupted during World War II?

Sample Solution