African American Studies Commons^™

Hope, Bertha, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Bertha Hope

Interviewer: Dr. Mark Naison

Summarized by Alice Stryker

Bertha grew up in Los Angeles California to parents who had a background in music and the music business. Her parents met when her father casted her mother as a dancer for the production “Showboat.” While her older sisters were young, they and her mother traveled around with her father, who was on a concert tour. The family settled in Los Angeles and her father’s connections to the music industry grew.

She got the majority of her music training in public schools. She was very talented and learned many …