#BlackHistoryMonth - Etta Moten Barnett
This month I have been looking at different inventors and first African Americans to do stuff, and I came across an interesting first. The first African American woman to perform inside the White House, Etta Moten Barnett.
She was born in Weimar, TX in 1901 and studied at the University of Kansas where she was discovered as a singer. She was a soloist in the esteemed Eva Jessye Choir and later joined Broadway. Landing star roles in plays such as Porgy and Bess and Fast & Furious. After Broadway, she appeared in musicals such as Flying Down to Rio.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Moten to sing at his birthday party at the White House in 1933, making her a trailblazer for those after her. The following year she married Claude Barnett, founder of the American Negro Press. The Barnetts traveled as part of a U.S. delegation to Ghana and Etta was a cultural representative of the states at independence ceremonies across Africa.
In 1979 Mrs. Barnett was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and spent her retired years involved in civic organizations such as the National Council of Negro Women and South Side Community Art Center. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 102. Thank you Etta Moten Barnett for being a ground breaker in the musical arts.