Fredericka Carolyn "Fredi" Washington (December 23, 1903 – June 28, 1994) was an American stage and film actress, civil rights activist, performer, and writer. Washington was of African American descent. She was one of the first Black Americans to gain recognition for film and stage work in the
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the Eighteenth Amendment to ...
and
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Owens Thompson, Florence Thompson shows the effects of the Great Depression; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central Uni ...
.
Washington was active in the
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...
(1920s–1930s). Her best-known film role was as Peola in ''
Imitation of Life'' (1934). She plays a young light-skinned Black woman who decides to pass as white. Her last film role was in ''
One Mile from Heaven
''One Mile from Heaven'' is a 1937 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Lou Breslow and John Patrick. The film stars Claire Trevor, Sally Blane, Douglas Fowley, Fredi Washington, Joan Carroll and Ralf Harolde. The film w ...
'' (1937). After that she left Hollywood and returned to New York to work in theatre and
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
activism.
Early life
Fredi Washington was born in 1903 in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...
, to Robert T. Washington, a postal worker, and Harriet "Hattie" Walker Ward, a dancer. Both were of African American and European ancestry.
Washington was the second of their five children. Her mother died when Fredi was 11 years old.
[Nzinga Cotton. "Fredi Washington: Active Promoter of Rights for Black Entertainers", ''New Nation'' (London, UK), June 16, 2008, p. 21.] As the oldest girl in her family, she helped raise her younger siblings, Isabel, Rosebud, and Robert, with the help of their grandmother.
After their mother's death, Washington and her sister Isabel were sent to the
St. Elizabeth's Convent School for Colored Girls in
Cornwells Heights, near
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
[Johnson, Frank William . "Acclaimed Actress Fredi Washington, 90, Has Passed Away", '']Philadelphia Tribune
''The Philadelphia Tribune'' is the oldest continuously published African-American newspaper in the United States.
The paper began in 1884 when Christopher J. Perry published its first copy. Throughout its history, ''The Philadelphia Tribune ...
'', August 12, 1994, p. 4D.
While Washington was still in school in Philadelphia, her family moved north from Georgia to
Harlem, New York
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan ...
. Washington graduated from
Julia Richman High School in New York City.
[ Bourne, Stephen]
"Obituary: Fredi Washington"
''The Independent'' (London, UK), July 4, 1994.
Career
Early entertainment career
Washington's entertainment career began in 1921 as a chorus girl in the Broadway musical ''
Shuffle Along''. She was hired by dancer
Josephine Baker
Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...
as a member of the "Happy Honeysuckles", a cabaret group.
Baker became a friend and mentor to her. Washington's collaboration with Baker led to her being discovered by producer
Lee Shubert. In 1926, she was recommended for a co-starring role on the Broadway stage with
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...
in the play ''Black Boy.''
She quickly became a popular, featured dancer, and toured internationally with her dancing partner, Al Moiret.
Washington turned to acting in the late 1920s. Her first movie role was in ''
Black and Tan'' (1929), in which she played a
Cotton Club dancer who was dying. She acted in a small role in ''
The Emperor Jones'' (1933) starring Robeson. Washington played
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...
's love interest in the musical short ''
Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho
''Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho'' (also known as ''Hi-De-Ho'') is an American musical film, musical short film directed by Fred Waller and released by Paramount Pictures in 1934. The film stars jazz bandleader Cab Calloway and actress Fredi Washington ...
'' (1934).
''Imitation of Life''
Her best-known role was in the 1934 movie ''
Imitation of Life''. Washington played a young light-skinned
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
woman who chose to
pass as white to seek more opportunities in a society restricted by legal and social racial segregation. As Washington had visible European ancestry, the role was considered perfect for her, but it led to her being typecast by filmmakers.
Moviegoers sometimes assumed from Washington's appearance—her blue-gray eyes, pale complexion, and light brown hair—that she might have passed in her own life. In 1934, she said the role did not reflect her off-screen life, but "If I made Peola seem real enough to merit such statements, I consider such statements compliments and makes me feel I've done my job fairly well."
She told reporters in 1949 that she identified as Black "...because I'm honest, firstly, and secondly, you don't have to be white to be good. I've spent most of my life trying to prove to those who think otherwise ... I am a Negro and I am proud of it."
''Imitation of Life'' was nominated for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
for Best Picture, but it did not win. Years later, in 2007, ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine ranked it as among "The 25 Most Important Films on Race."
["The 25 Most Important Films on Race: 'Imitation of Life](_blank)
''Time'', February 2007. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
Activism
Washington's experiences in the film industry and theater led her to become a
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
activist. In an effort to help other Black actors and actresses find more opportunities, in 1937 Washington co-founded the
Negro Actors Guild of America (NAG), with
Noble Sissle
Noble Lee Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical ''Shuffle Along'' (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry".
Ea ...
,
W. C. Handy,
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...
, and
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...
.
The organization's mission included speaking out against stereotyping and advocating for a wider range of roles.
Washington served as the organization's first executive secretary.
She was also deeply involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, known as the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
. While working with the NAACP, Washington fought for more representation and better treatment of Black actors in Hollywood; because of her own success, she was one of the few Black actors in Hollywood who had some influence with white studio executives.
In addition to working for the rights and opportunities of Black actors, Washington also advocated for the federal protection of Black Americans. She was a lobbyist for the
Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill
The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill (1918) was first introduced in the 65th United States Congress by Representative Leonidas C. Dyer, a Republican Party (United States), Republican from St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States House of Representatives ...
, which the NAACP supported. It was passed by the House but lost in the Senate, which was dominated by the
Solid South
The Solid South was the electoral voting bloc for the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the aftermath of the Co ...
.
Later work
Washington played opposite
Bill Robinson
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid black entertainer in the United States during the first half of the 20 ...
in Fox's ''
One Mile from Heaven
''One Mile from Heaven'' is a 1937 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Lou Breslow and John Patrick. The film stars Claire Trevor, Sally Blane, Douglas Fowley, Fredi Washington, Joan Carroll and Ralf Harolde. The film w ...
'' (1937), in which she played a light-skinned Black woman claiming to be the mother of a "white" baby.
Claire Trevor plays a reporter who discovers the story and helps both Washington and the white biological mother (
Sally Bane) who had given up the baby.
[Overview: "One Mile from Heaven (1937)"](_blank)
''The New York Times''. Retrieved May 31, 2013. According to the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in 2013: "The last of the six Claire Trevor 'snappy' vehicles
llanDwan made for Fox in the 1930s tests the limits of free expression on race in Hollywood while sometimes straining credulity."
Washington appeared in the 1939
Broadway production of ''
Mamba's Daughters'', along with Ethel Waters and
Georgette Harvey. She later became a casting consultant for the stage productions of ''
Carmen Jones'' (1943) and
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...
's ''
Porgy and Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' ( ) is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play ''Porgy (play), ...
.''
Leaving Hollywood for radio
Despite receiving critical acclaim, she was unable to find much work in the Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s. Studios preferred Black actresses with darker skin, who were usually typecast as maids, cooks or other servants. Directors were also reluctant to cast a light-skinned Black actress in a romantic role with a white leading man; the film
production code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as th ...
prohibited suggestions of
miscegenation
Miscegenation ( ) is marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities. It has occurred many times throughout history, in many places. It has occasionally been controversial or illegal. Adjectives describin ...
. Interracial marriage was illegal in the South and many other states.
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
directors did not offer her any romantic roles.
[Courtney, Susan]
"Picturizing Race: Hollywood's Censorship of Miscegenation and Production of Racial Visibility through Imitation of Life"
, ''Genders'', Vol. 27, 1998. Retrieved May 21, 2013. As one modern critic explained, Fredi Washington was "...too beautiful and not dark enough to play maids, but rather too light to act in all-Black movies..."
Washington had a dramatic role in a 1943 radio tribute to Black women, ''Heroines in Bronze'', produced by the
National Urban League
The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for Afri ...
, but there were few regular dramatic radio programs in that era with Black protagonists. She wrote an opinion piece for the Black press in which she discussed how limited the opportunities in broadcasting were for Black actors, actresses, and vocalists, saying that "...radio seems to keep its doors sealed
gainstcolored artists."
In 1945 she said:
"You see I'm a mighty proud gal, and I can't for the life of me find any valid reason why anyone should lie about their origin, or anything else for that matter. Frankly, I do not ascribe to the stupid theory of white supremacy
White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
and to try to hide the fact that I am a Negro for economic or any other reasons. If I do, I would be agreeing to be a Negro makes me inferior and that I have swallowed whole hog all of the propaganda dished out by our fascist-minded white citizens."[Earl Conrad; "Pass or Not To Pass?" (June 16, 1945), ''The Chicago Defender''.]
Writer
Washington was a theater writer, and the entertainment editor for ''
The People's Voice'' (1942–1948), a newspaper for African Americans founded by
Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a Baptist minister and politician in New York City. He was married to her sister
Isabel Washington Powell.
Personal life
In 1933, Washington married
Lawrence Brown, the trombonist in
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life.
Born and raised in Washington, D ...
's jazz orchestra. That marriage ended in divorce.
In 1952, Washington married a Stamford dentist, Hugh Anthony Bell, and moved to
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...
.
She was a devout
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
Death
Fredi Washington Bell died, aged 90, on June 28, 1994. She died from pneumonia following a series of
stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
s at St. Joseph Medical Center in Stamford, Connecticut.
Legacy and honors
*In 1975, Washington was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
*In 1979, Washington received the CIRCA Award for lifetime achievement in the performing arts.
*In 1981, Washington received an award from the Audience Development Company (AUDELCO), a New York-based nonprofit group devoted to preserving and promoting African-American theater.
Filmography
*''
Square Joe'' (1922), her film debut
*''
Black and Tan'' (1929)
*''
The Emperor Jones'' (1933)
*''
Imitation of Life'' (1934)
*''
Ouanga'' (1936)
*''
One Mile from Heaven
''One Mile from Heaven'' is a 1937 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Lou Breslow and John Patrick. The film stars Claire Trevor, Sally Blane, Douglas Fowley, Fredi Washington, Joan Carroll and Ralf Harolde. The film w ...
'' (1937)
References
External links
*
*
*Th
''People's Voice'' Research and Editorial Files (1865-1963)are available for research use at the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...
.
*Erin Blakemore
"The Fair-Skinned Black Actress Who Refused to 'Pass' in 1930s Hollywood" ''History'', January 26, 2021.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Fredi
1903 births
1994 deaths
20th-century African-American actresses
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from Savannah, Georgia
African-American Catholics
American film actresses
American stage actresses
Catholics from Connecticut
Catholics from Georgia (U.S. state)
Deaths from pneumonia in Connecticut