Edith Wilson

Edith Wilson ( Goodall; September 2, 1896 – March 31, 1981) was an American blues singer, vaudeville performer, and actress from Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.. An African-American who performed and recorded in the classic female blues style in the 1920s, Wilson worked in vaudeville and stage productions, first in Louisville and later throughout the U.S. and abroad. From the 1930s onward, she acted in radio plays and television, and from 1948 to 1966 represented the Aunt Jemima brand for Quaker Oats in personal appearances and on television. She remained an active performer until 1980.

Early career Blackbirds of 1926 on the London Pavilion roof. Front row (left to right): Florence Mills, Johnny Hudgins and Edith Wilson.

She was born Edith Goodall on September 2, 1896, in Louisville, Kentucky, one of three children to Susan Jones and Hundley Goodall, a teacher. (Her birthdate is often stated as ten years later, but this was due to vanity.) She hailed from a well-educated Louisville family who fully supported her career ambitions, and she went on to perform in concerts across the country.

Her first professional experience came in 1919 in Louisville's Park Theater. Danny, a pianist who had been trained at a conservatory in Charleston, South Carolina, encouraged Lena and Edith to sing not just blues but also other song forms. Together the trio performed on the East Coast in 1920–1921, and when they were in New York City Wilson was signed by Columbia, which recorded her in 1921 with Johnny Dunn's Jazz Hounds.

Amidst the African-American cultural emancipation of the Harlem Renaissance, her recording debut came with Perry Bradford's "Nervous Blues." That September, backed by Dunn's band, she cut sessions that marked the first recordings by an African-American blues singer on Columbia Records. She recorded 17 songs with Dunn in 1921 and 1922. In 1924 she worked with Fletcher Henderson in New York, where she was slated to sing with Coleman Hawkins, but Hawkins refused to perform because he wanted additional compensation. As Aunt Jemima, Wilson received the Key to the City of Albion, Michigan, on January 25, 1964. Over the years, however, the character came to be seen increasingly to be a (in)famous example of, the "Mammy" archetype, the loyal domestic servant of legend that originated during the days of slavery in the Southern United States. Throughout this period, the NAACP and other civil rights organizations campaigned against these racist portrayals of African-American life. Her last live show was at the 1980 Newport Jazz Festival. Unlike singers like Bessie Smith, Wilson never was a blues shouter, nor was she a country blues singer. Instead, she belonged to the cabaret blues tradition, alongside contemporaries like Ethel Waters and Alberta Hunter, and she remained one of that style's foremost performers for nearly six decades.