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Staging Intersectionality: Power And Performance In American Cultural Texts, 1855-2019, Alexandra Reznik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores a diverse array of cultural texts, from literary representations to live performances, from the antebellum period to the contemporary moment,that highlight African-American women singer-celebrities navigating entertainment industries in the United States. Focusing on significant figures from the nineteenth century to the present including Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (the first prominently known Black woman singer in the antebellum period), Pauline Hopkins (the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century novelist and soprano), Sissieretta Jones (a twentieth-century soprano singer), and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (a contemporary singer-celebrity, songwriter, and producer), this study re-imagines the archive of Black singer-celebrities by centering Black women’s performances and …