Talk:Ma Rainey

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 20 January 2021 and 30 April 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Eliza7784. Peer reviewers: Mickeyssurfboard.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 00:23, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 19 August 2020 and 3 December 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): ILG.MF.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 03:02, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Sexuality?
She's listed in the LGBT categories, but do we know this? Ie. is there any information from her personal life, or evidence that the narrator of "Prove It On Me" and "Bull Dyker's Dream" is her, at all? (I'd love it if the LGBT community could claim her! But I am also a stickler.) Roscelese (talk) 02:24, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
 * I found confirmation in a book on her (Mother of the Blues by Sandra R. Lieb) - I'll leave this up in case anyone else is wondering! Roscelese (talk) 21:28, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Confirmation of what exactly? Do you have the book? It would be great if you could use it to add to the article. I've added to the article a bit using that source, but only had access to some of it via google books. If you have more info, please add it!-- Beloved Freak  22:11, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't have it in real life - like you, I only have the limited preview on Google Books. Roscelese (talk) 17:54, 6 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Ah, ok! Feel free to add anything you think is missing though, I was fairly quickly limited to how much of that book I could see, so you might have more access.-- Beloved Freak  17:56, 6 June 2010 (UTC)
 * In case anybody is still interested, the legend of Ma's sexuality is based on the report of (1) an incident where Ma was caught fooling with chorus girls while they were scantily clad (2) her comic song Prove It On Me Blues in which she pretended to be a cross-dressing man-hater. (She didn't record "Bull Dyker's Dream".) She may have been bisexual, but the evidence isn't there (as far as I know). What is well documented is that her sexual preference was for young men. Some years ago, I corrected an inaccurate account. (And yes, I do have Sandra Lieb's book.) My accurate account has since been deleted. A pity, since it cross-referenced two young Black intellectuals she made a pass at. DavidCrosbie (talk) 03:05, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Her flirtations with young men were, at one time, a well-known part of her legacy, and she was also married to a man. The fact that her documented interest in younger men has been deleted from Wikipedia, while the LGBT portions of her sexuality have persisted would almost seem to be programmatic on the part of editors who do not wish to see her presented as pan-sexual. 75.101.104.17 (talk) 23:29, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

I read that it was rumored she and Bessie Smith had a relationship together. Bessie Smith is a woman so that would coincide with the rumor she was of the LGBTQ community. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ILG.MF (talk • contribs) 23:53, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

See See Rider
One spot in the article says 1924, another says 1925. ???? 198.53.137.96 (talk) 06:11, 17 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Not that I can see. She recorded it in 1924.  The '1925' in the second column of the table is a matrix number, not a recording date.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:57, 17 February 2015 (UTC)
 * I altered the reference in the legacy section. The song was definitely recorded in 1924, and it was not written by her. Bill Broonzy claimed he learned it in 1908. I can cite on both, tho both are documented in the main wikipedia article See See Rider GeePawHill (talk) 05:22, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

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Unclear sentences
Under "Recording Career" it states "From the late 1910s, there was an increasing demand for recordings by black musicians." Then it says, "In 1920, Mamie Smith was the first black woman to be recorded."

So how could there be an *increasing demand* for recordings in the late 1910's (ie, 1917, 1918, 1919), if the *very first* recording was made in 1920? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:643:8104:730:45C0:C4A3:CB98:7237 (talk) 00:32, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

There were male African-American musicians prior to 1920. Kaltenmeyer (talk) 11:43, 21 December 2020 (UTC)


 * Hi all, I am a student who was assigned this page to help edit and improve it. I agree that the sentence above is unclear. I think that the clarity could be achieved by laying a little heavier on the fact that it wasn't until 1920 that women were starting to be recorded but there were men already having their music recorded 10 years prior. The intro section of the wiki page has some choppy sentences that I feel need to be revisited as well. Specifically, "Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (born Gertrude Pridgett, 1882 or 1886 – December 22, 1939) was one of the early African-American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of blues singers to record." Considering it is the first sentence for the page I feel it should read better than it does. I am also suggesting the removal of a sentence found in "Personal Life and Death" reading, "She had at least two brothers and a sister, Malissa Pridgett Nix, with whom Gertrude was later confused by some writers." due to its confusing wording, and lack of elaboration. I was unable to follow up the source to verify or get clarity on the meaning. What do you think of these proposed edits? Eliza7784 (talk) 20:30, 1 March 2021 (UTC)Eliza7784

Legacy and Honors
Hi all, I am a student editor who has been asked to edit and add to this wiki page. There is no mention of the museum that was founded in 2007 in the house that she built for her mother. I think this would be a good place to include at least a sentence about it. Here is my specified proposed addition to the page, "There was a museum opened in Columbus in 2007 to honor Ma Rainey's legacy. It is in the very house that she had built for her mother and later lived in until her death in 1935. " What do you think of this addition? Eliza7784 (talk) 20:41, 1 March 2021 (UTC)Eliza7784

birth date
If the 1900 census indicates she was born in 1882 why is this date not used? I thought census data was more reliable than hearsay.