Lucille Bogan (born Lucile Anderson; April 1,1897 – August 10, 1948) was an American classic female blues singer and songwriter, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson. Lucille was one of ‘the big three of the blues’, along with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.
She was involved in prostitution and bootlegging. She married/lived with at least one man. She insisted on being a woman, free, black, and herself; in a society constrained by the oppression of whites, and the male chauvinism of both race. Like Charlie Patton from the Mississippi Delta she was her own person and did her
own ‘thing’ against seemingly, insurmountable odds. Read more (PDF)
