Was ma.rainey gay

But what’s truly amazing is that her lyrical content directly referenced her own lesbian and bisexual tendencies. Keep in mind that as recently as the ’80s, gay, white artists such as George.

Ma Rainey was nothing if not a pioneer, especially for the s. The black woman faced not only racist and sexist hindrances over the course of her career, but it is also widely believed that she was bisexual.

However, it must be noted that many of her songs did speak of love affairs with men, and she was married to a man, Will Rainey, which might suggest Rainey was harbouring bisexual feelings. On top of that, the song also includes the gender-bending lyric, “It’s true I wear a collar and tie.”.

In “ Blues the World Forgot, Part II ” an anonymous male interlocutor warns Rainey that there’s a policeman standing on the corner. In response, she hams it up over a jaunty trumpet: “Tell the.