Etta Moten Barnett (November 5, 1901 – January 2, 2004) was an American actress and
contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
vocalist, who was identified with her signature role of "Bess" in ''Porgy and Bess''.
She created new roles for
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
women on stage and screen. After her performing career, Barnett was active in Chicago as a major philanthropist and civic activist, raising funds for and supporting cultural, social and church institutions. She also hosted a radio program in Chicago and represented the United States in several official delegations to nations in Africa.
Biography
Early years
Etta Moten was born in
Weimar, Texas
Weimar ( or, by many non-locals, ) is a city in Colorado County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,076 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Texas-German belt region and was founded and named by German emigrants after the city of Weimar ...
, the only child of a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
minister, Rev. Freeman F. Moten, and a teacher, his wife, Ida Norman Moten.
[ She started singing as a child in the church choir.
Etta's family put great importance on education, as her parents made sure she was enrolled in good schools no matter where they moved.] Etta attended Paul Quinn College's secondary school in Waco, Texas.[“World War Looms.” ''The Rise and Fall of the Associated Negro Press: Claude Barnett's Pan-African News and the Jim Crow Paradox'', by GERALD HORNE, University of Illinois Press, Urbana; Chicago; Springfield, 2017, pp. 51–64. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt1ws7w2c.6. Accessed 22 Nov. 2020.] She then attended Western University, a historically black college
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
(HBCU) in Quindaro, Kansas
Quindaro Townsite is a former settlement, then ghost town, and now an archaeological district. It is around North 27th Street and the Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks in Kansas City, Kansas. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Pla ...
, where she studied music. To pay her tuition, she joined a quartet on Topeka's WREN radio, performed on the Chautauqua circuit, and spent summers with the Jackson Jubilee Singers. She completed her education at the University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
, where she earned a B.A. in voice and drama in 1931. She became the first student to present a recital in the campus's newly constructed Hoch Auditorium. Moten became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...
sorority, which provided a network throughout her career.
Career
Etta Moten Barnett's first job began at Lincoln University. She received a teaching contract, which was short lived when her father informed her that should we be moving to New York. Moten moved to New York City, where she first performed as a soloist with the Eva Jessye
Eva Jessye (January 20, 1895 – February 21, 1992) was an American conductor who was the first black woman to receive international distinction as a professional choral conductor. She is notable as a choral conductor during the Harlem Renaissa ...
Choir. Jessye was a groundbreaking collaborator with Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassic ...
and George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
. In 1931, she performed in ''Fast and Furious ;'' a musical revue written by Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...
. Moten was cast in the Broadway show ''Zombie''.
She performed in two musical films released in 1933: ''Flying Down to Rio
''Flying Down to Rio'' is a 1933 American pre-Code RKO musical film famous for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond received top billing and the leading roles. Among the fe ...
'' (singing " The Carioca") and a more substantial role as a war widow in the Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berke ...
musical ''Gold Diggers of 1933
''Gold Diggers of 1933'' is a pre-Code Warner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics), staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It stars Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline ...
'' (singing the emotive "My Forgotten Man" with Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell (born Rose Joan Bluestein; August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years.
Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on ...
). Also in 1933 she dubbed the singing of Theresa Harris
Theresa Harris (December 31, 1906 – October 8, 1985) was an American television and film actress, singer and dancer.
Early life
Harris was born on New Year's Eve 1906 (some sources indicate 1909) in Houston, Texas, to Isaiah and Mable Harris ...
in ''Professional Sweetheart
''Professional Sweetheart'' is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic comedy directed by William A. Seiter from a screenplay by Maurine Watkins. It stars Ginger Rogers in her first film for RKO Radio Pictures, with Norman Foster, ZaSu Pitts and Fran ...
''. Up until this point, the representation of black women in movies was limited to maids or nannies (the Mammy archetype). Moten made a breakthrough with her roles in these movies and is generally recognized as the first black woman to do so.
On January 31, 1934, Moten became the first African American to perform at the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
in the 20th century, the first in over 50 years since Marie Selika Williams
Marie Selika Williams (c. 1849 – May 19, 1937) was an American coloratura soprano. She was the first black artist to perform in the White House.
Biography
She was born Marie Smith in Natchez, Mississippi, around 1849. After she was born her fa ...
performed for President Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor ...
and First Lady Lucy Webb Hayes
Lucy Ware Hayes ( née Webb; August 28, 1831 – June 25, 1889) was the wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes and served as first lady of the United States from 1877 to 1881.
Hayes was the first First Lady to have a college degree. She was a ...
in 1878. Moten performed ''The Forgotten Man'' from her movie ''Gold Diggers of 1933'' for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
at his birthday celebration.[Barford, Mary Florence, "INTIMACY AND AUTONOMY: TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE QUEST FOR SELF-REALIZATION" (2015). Open Access Dissertations. 1088. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1088] The song echoed Roosevelt's campaign promise that he would remember the "forgotten man."
Etta Moten Barnett crossed over decades before that music-industry phrase existed. Disturbed by subtle but persistent racial discrimination, Etta persevered, believing she had to be “twice as good to get anywhere at all.”
Gershwin discussed her singing the part of "Bess" in his new work ''Porgy and Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', itse ...
'', which he had written with her in mind. She was concerned about trying a role above her natural range of contralto. In the 1942 revival, the part of Bess was rewritten. She did accept the role of "Bess", but she would not sing the word "nigger", which Ira Gershwin subsequently wrote out of the libretto. Through her performances on Broadway and with the national touring company until 1945, she captured Bess as her signature role.[
She stopped performing in 1952 owing to vocal problems after doctors found a cyst on her vocal chords that required surgery. After her husband, Claude Barnett, died in 1967, she lived in Chicago, where she became active in the ]National Council of Negro Women
The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African-American women, their families, and communities. Mary McLeod Bethune, the f ...
, the Chicago Lyric Opera
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria C ...
and the Field Museum
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
. She was also active in the DuSable Museum
The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, formerly the DuSable Museum of African American History, is a museum in Chicago that is dedicated to the study and conservation of African-American history, culture, and art. It was founded in ...
, and the South Side Community Art Center
The South Side Community Art Center is a community art center in Chicago that opened in 1940 with support from the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project in Illinois. Opened in Bronzeville in an 1893 mansion, it became the first blac ...
.
In addition to activities with civic organizations, Moten Barnett served as a board member of both The Links
The Links is an American invitation-only social and service organization of prominent Black women in the United States. Founded in 1946, it is the largest nationwide organization of Black women in the USA. Members include multiple prominent wome ...
, a service organization for African-American women, and her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...
. She was also active in International Women's Year
International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established.
Hist ...
activities and events in the 1980s.
Cultural missions
In the 50s and 60s Moten Barnett hosted a radio show in Chicago called ''I Remember When''. Dozens of recordings of ''I Remember When'' are available at the Library of Congress and at the Schomburg Library in New York City. According to historian Angela Tate, Moten Barnett's program, which covered a wide range of cultural issues, was perhaps the first "Black woman’s radio broadcast created for Black listeners that also had a broader audience."[
The United States government appointed her to be a representative on cultural missions to ten African nations. Etta's marriage to Claude Barnett gave her the opportunity to travel to Africa. Claude, as the head of the Associated Negro Press, along with Etta and other members of the organization visited the continent frequently to gain African news information for the ANP to include in their issues. On March 6, 1957, Moten Barnett interviewed Dr. ]Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
in Accra, Ghana
Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
, where they were both attending the celebration of Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
's independence from Great Britain—she as the wife of Claude Barnett, a prominent member of the official U.S. delegation headed by Vice President Richard Nixon; and King, fresh from the Montgomery Bus Boycott, as a man interested in the liberation of oppressed people globally, but with no official place in Ghana's Independence Day festivities. The recording of this conversation, conducted in a Ghanaian radio studio where Moten Barnett was gathering recordings for her Chicago broadcasts, is also available at the Library of Congress and the Schomburg Library.
Personal life
About 1918 she married Curtis Brooks, who had been a teacher of hers in high school. They had three daughters: Sue, Gladys and Etta Vee, but divorced after six years of marriage.
In 1934, while living and working in New York, Moten married a second time, to Claude Albert Barnett
Claude Albert Barnett (September 16, 1889 – August 2, 1967) was an American journalist, publisher, entrepreneur, philanthropist, civic activist, Pan-Africanist, and founder of the Associated Negro Press (ANP). He started the first international ...
, the head of the Associated Negro Press
The Associated Negro Press (ANP) was an American news service founded in 1919 in Chicago, Illinois by Claude Albert Barnett. The ANP had correspondents, writers, reporters in all major centers of the black population in the United States of Americ ...
in Chicago. The two were happily married for 33 years, until his death in 1967.
Etta Moten Barnett died of pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
at Chicago's Mercy Hospital in 2004, aged 102.
Legacy and honors
* 1943 – University of Kansas, citation of merit
* 1958 – National Association of Business and Professional Women, citation for service
* 1973 – African Center of Atlanta University, citation for contributions to Afro-American music
* 1974 – WAIT, citation for contributions to City of Chicago
* 1979 – Inducted into Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc. (BFHFI), was founded in 1974, in Oakland, California. It supported and promoted black filmmaking, and preserved the contributions by African-American artists both before and behind the camera. It also sponso ...
, noted as: Actress, Concert Artist
* 1983 – Candace Award
The Candace Award is an award that was given from 1982 to 1992 by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW) to "Black role models of uncommon distinction who have set a standard of excellence for young people of all races". Kandake, Candace ...
from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women
The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. (NCBW) is a non-profit volunteer organization for African American women. Its members address common issues in their communities, families and personal lives, promoting gender and racial equity.
His ...
* 1988 – African American Institute citation for service to Africa
* 1993 – Order of Lincoln
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing contributions made by living Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the ''Order of Lincoln'', the highest award given ...
from the State of Illinois[
* 2001 - Inducted into the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, University of Kansas]
; ''Honoris causa'' degrees:
* 1976 – Atlanta University
Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Founde ...
* 1983 – Spelman College
Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman re ...
* 1987 – University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
* 1989 – Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
Lincoln University (LU) is a public state-related historically black university (HBCU) near Oxford, Pennsylvania. Founded as the private Ashmun Institute in 1854, it has been a public institution since 1972 and was the United States' first deg ...
* 1989 – North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from b ...
Work
Stage
* ''Fast and Furious'', musical revue (1931)
* ''Zombie'', a play (1932)
* ''Porgy and Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', itse ...
'', musical revival (1943)
* ''Lysistrata
''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', "Army Disbander") is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponne ...
'', Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...
' comedy, with an all-black cast (1946)
Filmography
* ''Ladies They Talk About
''Ladies They Talk About'' is a 1933 pre-Code American crime drama directed by Howard Bretherton and William Keighley, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, and Lyle Talbot. The film is about an attractive woman who is a member of a ban ...
'' (1933) as Singing Inmate (voice, uncredited)
* ''Gold Diggers of 1933
''Gold Diggers of 1933'' is a pre-Code Warner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics), staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It stars Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline ...
'' (1933) as 'Remember My Forgotten Man' Singer (uncredited)
* '' Bombshell'' (1933) as Singer (scenes deleted)
* ''Flying Down to Rio
''Flying Down to Rio'' is a 1933 American pre-Code RKO musical film famous for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond received top billing and the leading roles. Among the fe ...
'' (1933) as The Colored Singer
* ''Professional Sweetheart
''Professional Sweetheart'' is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic comedy directed by William A. Seiter from a screenplay by Maurine Watkins. It stars Ginger Rogers in her first film for RKO Radio Pictures, with Norman Foster, ZaSu Pitts and Fran ...
'' (1933) (dubbed singing voice for Theresa Harris
Theresa Harris (December 31, 1906 – October 8, 1985) was an American television and film actress, singer and dancer.
Early life
Harris was born on New Year's Eve 1906 (some sources indicate 1909) in Houston, Texas, to Isaiah and Mable Harris ...
)
* ''Operator 13
''Operator 13'' is a 1934 American pre-Code romance film directed by Richard Boleslawski and starring Marion Davies, Gary Cooper, and Jean Parker.
Based on stories written by Robert W. Chambers, the film is about a Union spy who impersonates a ...
'' (1934) as Slave at Medicine Show (uncredited)
* ''The Green Pastures
''The Green Pastures'' is a play written in 1930 by Marc Connelly adapted from ''Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun'' (1928), a collection of stories written by Roark Bradford. The play was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930. It had th ...
'' (1936) as Angel (uncredited)
* '' A Day at the Races'' (1937) as Black Singer (uncredited)
* '' Born to Sing'' (1942) as Soloist – 'Ballad for Americans' (uncredited) (final film role)
References
Further reading
*
*Vernon, Ann (1997). ''Etta Moten Barnett: A Kansas City Tribute.''
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, Ettamoten
20th-century African-American women singers
20th-century American women opera singers
African-American women opera singers
American centenarians
American operatic contraltos
Deaths from cancer in Illinois
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
People from Weimar, Texas
Singers from Texas
University of Kansas alumni
1901 births
2004 deaths
African-American Methodists
Actresses from Texas
African-American actresses
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American stage actresses
African-American centenarians
20th-century American actresses
Classical musicians from Texas
Women centenarians
20th-century Methodists
Members of The Links
Radio personalities from Chicago