Barnett, Etta Moten

Etta Moten Barnett

African American singer and actress Etta Moten Barnett (1901–2004) was perhaps best known for her signature performance in the title role of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. But her long and fascinating life was filled with other remarkable accomplishments, such as being the first African American performer to sing at the White House and breaking color barriers in Hollywood. She later became active in civic pursuits, represented U.S. presidents in Africa, and was a noted patron of the arts.

Sang Her Way Through School

Barnett was born on November 5, 1901, in Weimar, Texas. She was the only child of Ida Norman Moten and the Reverend Freeman F. Moten. Her father was an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister and her mother was a schoolteacher. Because young ministers were frequently transferred, Barnett went to various elementary and secondary schools in Texas, California, and Kansas. Her vocal talent evidenced itself early on, and she was singing in the church choir (as well as teaching Sunday school) by the age of ten. Barnett's mother constructed a pink and white box so that her daughter would be tall enough to comfortably participate, and Barnett remembered it fondly in a 1942 interview cited by Jet. "To this day, I can't remember anything quite so wonderful as standing on that box singing hymns out over the heads of people."

Barnett continued to sing as a teenager, both in school and church choirs. During that time, she also made her professional debut with the Jackson Jubilee Singers. The group consisted of a pianist, four male singers, and two female vocalists, and traveled to small towns on the Chautauqua circuit in the summers. It was an excellent way for Barnett to develop her instrument and earn money for college simultaneously.

College, however, was put on hold, as Barnett married Curtis Brooks when she was just seventeen. The couple moved to Oklahoma and had four children (one died at birth) before Barnett spurned convention by divorcing her husband six years later. Even more astonishing for the time, she left her children with their doting grandparents in Kansas City and enrolled as one of only 150 African American students out of the 6,000–member student body at the University of Kansas at Lawrence.

In order to help finance her studies, Barnett reunited with the Jackson Jubilee Singers in the summers and conducted a church choir on the weekends back in Kansas City. At the university, she studied drama and voice, along with education (as a sort of insurance). She had her own radio program at school, and formed a vocal quartet. And despite the obstacles and racism that African Americans faced in those days, Barnett's talents were encouraged and much admired. Her senior recital drew a crowd of 1,000 people and resulted in an invitation to join the prestigious Eva Jessye Choir in New York City. So after Barnett received her BFA in 1931 at the age of 30, she headed for the Big Apple.

Broke New Ground

On her way to New York, Barnett stopped in Chicago, Illinois. There, she met the founder of the Associated Negro Press, Claude Barnett. He had many connections through his work with the wire service, and was very helpful to her throughout her career. Barnett later recalled to the Hannibal Courier–Post, "My whole life has been about good friends, and being in the right place at the right time. And the newspapers were very good to me because Claude Barnett was a fine and very well–liked man. Wherever I went, I had letters of introduction to somebody." The couple married in 1934.

Her future husband was not her sole admirer, however. Only two weeks after Barnett's arrival in New York, Eva Jessye (the choir director) commended the young singer's talents to Broadway. Barnett first appeared in the short–lived Fast and Furious, and then was cast in Zombie. Zombie ran for two months in New York before going on the road. The show closed in California in 1932, and Barnett was poised to make her mark in Hollywood.

Barnett began her Hollywood career dubbing vocals for such established actresses as Barbara Stanwyck and Ginger Rogers. Then, she made a splash with her groundbreaking appearance in Gold Diggers of 1933. Barnett was cast as an attractive war widow, rather than a domestic worker, an unprecedented event for a black actress of the time. (She did not initially receive screen credit for the role, however). Delighted to witness the toppling of a despised stereotype, black audiences lined up to see the picture and the African American press hailed Barnett as "The New Negro Woman."

Barnett's next movie was 1933's Flying Down to Rio, in which Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared together for the first time. Barnett sang "The Carioca," which was nominated for an Academy Award, and received her first screen credit. Indeed, her popularity was such that the studio often gave her top billing when the film was shown in African American neighborhoods. Both movies gave Barnett the prominence that earned her a place on the lecture circuit, and even attracted the attention of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1934, she broke boundaries once again when she became the first African American woman to perform at the White House, singing "Forgotten Man" from Gold Diggers of 1933, at Roosevelt's birthday party.

Although her color kept Barnett from becoming a legitimate studio star in the 1930s, she undoubtedly had the requisite charisma, talent, and looks. As good friend Dorothy Johnson explained to the Hannibal Courier–Post, "Etta had a flair for the dramatic. She had such a carriage and stage presence that if she walked into a room and you didn't know her, you would say, 'Who is that?' " Thus, despite the limitations that rampant racism presented, Barnett's prestige and popularity continued to increase.

Porgy and Bess Until Denmark

Legend has it that George Gershwin wrote the role of Bess in his Broadway musical, Porgy and Bess, with Barnett in mind. Whether or not this was the case, he certainly auditioned her for the part in 1935. As the part was written for a soprano, contralto Barnett thought it too high for her. Jet quoted her recollection of the time as, "[Gershwin] told me I was Bess, that I had the verve and the looks he wanted." Nonetheless, Barnett did not play Bess in the original production.

Luckily for posterity, Barnett changed her mind about the role when Porgy and Bess was revived on Broadway in 1942. The part became the one for which she was most famous, and she played it on the Great White Way, and then on tour, until 1945. (After her 1943 performance at the Kansas City Music Hall, her alma mater awarded her its prestigious Citation of Merit). The show was not without its cost, however, as Barnett had a cyst removed from her throat in 1947, and later blamed the strain of singing the soprano role for having damaged her voice.

In addition to Porgy and Bess, Barnett kept busy throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s. Other Broadway shows included Sugar Hill and Lysistrata. She also performed in concerts and music festivals all over the United States and in such countries as Canada, Argentina, Brazil, England, and many African nations. Additionally, she stayed active on the lecture circuit, speaking at many black colleges and universities. Barnett's musical career finally wound down in 1952, when she gave her last formal recital in Denmark. But the trailblazing performer was a very long way from retirement.

Happily Married

Barnett's second marriage was a long and active one. Ebony quoted her referring to the match as "a 33–year legal love affair." Claude Barnett was distinguished and highly connected, and the couple forged an activist partnership that blossomed even more as her stage career declined. One of their special interests was Africa, and they made many trips to the continent, both in a private capacity and as representatives of the United States. Among their official visits were trips to the independence ceremonies of Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, and Lusaka, and a journey to the 1960 inauguration of Ghana's first president. Along the way, they began to compile what was to become one of the largest and finest privately owned collections of African artifacts in the world.

As her husband's health began to fail in the mid–1960s, Barnett started to spend more time closer to their Chicago home. She hosted a radio program entitled "I Remember When with Etta Moten," occasionally sang locally, and immersed herself in such civic outlets as the Chicago Lyric Opera, the DuSable Museum of African–American History, and the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Claude Barnett passed away in 1967, but his saddened widow had miles to go before she slept.

Ever Active

After her husband's death, Barnett continued to be active in civic pursuits and as a patron of the arts. She also maintained her interest in Africa and became more involved in women's issues. Moreover, she remained on the lecture circuit, gave poetry readings, and taught master classes in vocal music. Among the myriad organizations that she belonged to were the Links (a service organization for African American women), the African–American Institute, the Field Museum, and the National Council of Negro Women. Nor did Barnett's tireless efforts go without notice. Her many awards included a 1973 citation for her contributions to Afro–American music (Africana Center at Atlanta University), a 1988 citation for service to Africa (African–American Institute), and honorary degrees from Atlanta University (1976), Spelman College (1983), the University of Illinois (1987), Pennsylvania's Lincoln University (1989), and North Carolina Central University (1989).

Slowing down did not appear to be in Barnett's character. She traveled extensively well into her late 80s and did not give up wearing high heeled shoes until she was 95. Her 100th birthday party was a huge gala that drew over 400 admirers, including author Studs Terkel and singer Harry Belafonte. At that time, she gave her optimistic take on the future to Ebony's Joy Bennett Kinnon. "Honey, I know I've seen so many changes. I know we're heading in the right direction—and I'm willing to wait." When Kinnon asked about the key to Barnett's beauty and longevity, the indefatigable lady cracked, "You have to choose a good grandma and grandpa."

Thus, Barnett's death on January 2, 2004 at 102 was met less with grief, than with a celebration of her life's great value. Her surviving daughter, Sue Ish, told Jet, "She had a full 100 years. She did everything. She often said, 'Life does not owe me one thing.' She didn't miss out on anything. She lived such a full life." Belafonte addressed Barnett's legacy two years earlier for Jet, saying, "She gave Black people an opportunity to look at themselves on a big screen as something beautiful, when all that was there before spoke to our degradation. In her we found another dimension to being Black in our time. She is a true shining star."

Books

Notable Black American Women, Book 1, Gale Research, 1992.

Periodicals

Daily Variety, January 8, 2004.

Ebony, December 2001; March 2004.

Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), January 12, 2004.

Jet, December 3, 2001; January 26, 2004.

Star–Ledger (Newark, NJ), January 8, 2004.

Online

"Etta Moten Barnett, Singer with Style," African–American Registry, http://www.aaregistry.com/african–american–history/2351/Etta–Moten–Barnett–singer–with–style (December 17, 2004).

"Kansas City Diva's Music Revived Years Later, Hannibal Courier–Post, February 6, 1998, http://www.hannibal.net/stories/020698/kcdiva.html (December 17, 2004).