Dorothy Dandridge
         

Dandridge was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Cyril Dandridge, a cabinetmaker and minister and Ruby Dandridge (née Butler), an aspiring entertainer. Dandridge's parents separated shortly before her birth. Ruby Dandridge soon created an act for her two young daughters, Vivian and Dorothy, under the name of "The Wonder Children." The daughters toured the Southern United States or five years while Ruby worked and performed in Cleveland. During this time, they toured non-stop and rarely attended school.

With the start of the Great Depression, work dried up, as it did for many of the Chitlin' circuit performers. Ruby Dandridge moved to Hollywood, where she found steady work playing domestics in small parts on radio and film. "The Wonder Kids" were renamed "The Dandridge Sisters" and booked into such venues as the Cotton Club and The Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. Dandridge's first on-screen appearance was a bit part in a 1935 Our Gang short. In 1937 she appeared in the Marx Brothers feature A Day at the Races.

In 1940, Dandridge played a murderer in the race film Four Shall Die. All of her early parts were stereotypical African-American roles, but her singing ability and presence brought her popularity in nightclubs around the country. During this period, she starred in several "soundies", film clips designed to be displayed on juke boxes, including "Paper Doll" by the Mills Brothers, "Cow Cow Boogie", "Jig in the Jungle", "Mr. & Mrs. Carpenter's Rent Party." Source: Wikipedia

                           Ethel Waters   
  

Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American blues and jazz vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, rock and roll and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her best-known recording was her version of the spiritual, "His Eye is on the Sparrow", and she was the second African American ever nominated for an Academy Award. Source: Wikipedia



                    Fredi Washington                  
 

Fredi Washington (1903-1994), was a fair skinned, green eyed black actress who had early success in the Broadway play, Black Boy.  Her most famous role, however, was that of Peola, a black girl passing for white, in the film Imitation of Life (1934).  Ironically, Fredi found that Life imitated Art, because she was unfairly accused of denying her black ancestry in real life, as she had done on screen.  Many acting opportunities were denied her because she could not be accepted for who she was; instead she was limited to stereotypical mulatto roles or denied roles because she was not dark enough.  In reality, Fredricka Carolyn Washington fought to be who she was - a black actress who became a civil rights activist.  She co-founded the Negro Actors Guild of America and stressed the need for more realistic roles for people of color in film and theater. She worked with the NAACP to secure greater participation in the arts for African Americans.  She also became a theater critic for the Harlem paper, The People’s Voice.  Fredi Washington chose to live her true life – rather than limit herself to an imitation of life.