Скачать или смотреть Gladys Bentley: The Harlem Renaissance Icon Who Defied Gender, Race, and Respectability

Long before the words gender nonconforming, queer visibility, or intersectionality entered the mainstream, Gladys Bentley was living them—out loud and on stage.

Towering, fearless, and unforgettable, Gladys Bentley rose to fame during the Harlem Renaissance as a blues singer and pianist who shattered expectations. Dressed in her signature white tuxedo and top hat, Bentley performed bawdy, improvised songs in Harlem speakeasies, flirting openly with women and captivating audiences of every background. She was unapologetically Black, proudly queer, and boldly masculine in an era that punished all three.

From rent parties and underground clubs to major stages like the Apollo Theatre and Harry Hansberry’s Clam House, Bentley became one of the most documented queer Black entertainers of the early 20th century. At the height of her fame, she was among the highest-paid Black women in America—living in luxury, recording music, and bending the rules of gender and class wherever she went.

But shifting politics, the Great Depression, and mid-century repression forced Bentley into the shadows. Her later years tell a sobering story of survival, conformity, and loss—yet her impact never disappeared.

This episode of Unheralded honors Gladys Bentley not just as a performer, but as a pioneer who lived decades ahead of her time. Her story reminds us that visibility itself can be an act of resistance—and that some legends were simply too bold for their era.

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Gladys Bentley
Harlem Renaissance
Unheralded history
Queer Black history
LGBTQ history
Black queer icons
Gender nonconforming history
Lesbian history
Jazz age history
1920s Harlem
Blues history
Queer pioneers
Hidden history
African American history
Women in music history
Drag and gender expression history
Old Hollywood LGBTQ
Harlem speakeasies
Queer resistance
Forgotten icons