cover image Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920's

Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920's

Daphne Duval Harrison. Rutgers University Press, $22.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-8135-1280-8

Throughout the 1920s, in tents, theaters, dance halls and cabarets, and on ``race'' records, black American women captivated large audiences with their singing of the blues. ``Harrison examines the subjects and texts of their songs, the toll these performers paid for their right to be heard, and what they did to transform a folk tradition into a popular art,'' said PW. (July)