These women were not only powerful musicians, they raised awareness about prejudice, racism and inequality within jazz music and beyond. They challenged stereotypes, broadened perceptions, improved situations and celebrated the women around them.
Women have contributed throughout the many eras of jazz history as performers, composers, songwriters and bandleaders. Yet, when we read the history books, we ignore them.
In April 1941, the Piney Woods all-female jazz band, known as the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, turned professional and severed its ties with Piney Woods. The term "International" in their name was attributed to the different races represented in the group, including Latina, Asian, Caucasian, Black, Indian and Puerto Rican.
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm performed to predominantly black audiences in theaters across the United States, including the Apollo in Harlem, the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C., and the Regal Theatre in Chicago. They quickly achieved notoriety with African American audiences, with a show at the Howard Theater setting a new box office record of 35,000.
Throughout the 1940s, the group featured some of the best female musicians of the era. Despite the band's talent level, they faced gender and racial discrimination.
Their Powerful LegacyIn the early 20th century, jazz orchestras featured only one "female vocalist," believing that this was the only place for women in jazz. Women rarely stood on the bandstand and rarely composed arrangements and compositions.
Yet, The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was able to overcome these obstacles and show that women had a place on stage. Although there is still much to change in jazz, these women showed the possibilities. Unfortunately, in their day, few critics took the all-female group seriously, so they were largely ignored by the press.
They were rediscovered by scholars in the 1960s and 1970s, but it was not jazz historians who championed them, but women's studies departments. Their story is part of a shift in the discourse of jazz history. Because of the discrimination they have faced, few female instrumentalists have been recorded, resulting in a lack of memorization of their history.
In addition, The International Sweethearts of Rhythm waged a racial battle. At a time when whites and blacks in South America were forced to live in strict segregation, these women ate, slept, worked and played together - their racial differences were a strength. Jazz pianist and bandleader Earl Hines called the International Sweethearts of Rhythm "the first female riders of freedom."
In 2012, the compilation album International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Hottest Women's Band of the 1940s was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry because it is "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."