#ada smith

[makingqueerhistory]

Bricktop — Making Queer History

To wrap up Black History Month, we are going to do another two-part article looking at a woman who was the center of the night scene in Pari

Originally named Ada Smith, she would go by the name Bricktop for most of her life. A woman who was the center of the night scene in Paris during the ’20s, Bricktop was a talented woman in her own right and fostered the talent of the people around her. Making connections with some of the most incredible rising stars of her day. Although she was a force of nature who created one of the most well-known meeting places for artists and socialites at the time, she often gets left out of discussions about the lost generation.

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[ladiesalmanack]

Ada Bricktop Smith (1894-1984)

Ada 'Bricktop' Smith was an African-American Jazz singer, dancer and entertainer. She owned famous nightclubs in Paris (the renowned 'Chez Bricktop' in Pigalle), Mexico city and Rome.

She started her career when she was 16, performing in Vaudeville circuits and in Harlem at Barron's Exclusive Club. Her career was a very enduring one and she performed across the world well into her eighties. She wrote her autobiography, Bricktop by Bricktop, published in 1983 by Welcome Rain Publishers. She also broadcast a radio programme in Paris from 1938 to 1939, for the French government.

She was dedicated throughout her life to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the largest and oldest American civil rights organisation, formed in 1909 to advance justice for African Americans. According to Josephine Baker's son, Jean-Claude, a homosexual himself, and as recorded in his own mother's biography, titled Josephine - The Hungry Heart, Baker and Bricktop were lovers for a time, early in their careers.

[tiny-fandoms-quotes]

Ada: I'm having a midlife crisis.

Susan: You’re eleven.

[swifty-the-rake-deadblog]

SAVE HER FROM THE GREEN

[yourdailyqueer]

Ada "Bricktop" Smith (deceased)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Bisexual

DOB: 14 August 1894  

RIP: 1 February 1984

Ethnicity: Irish, African American

Occupation: Dancer, jazz singer, club owner, actress

Note: She has been called "...one of the most legendary and enduring figures of twentieth-century American cultural history."

[blackqueernotables]

Ada "Bricktop" Smith: Cabaret performer, vaudevillian actress, and Parisian saloon owner. 

[quietflorilegium]

"You can know things all you like, and someday you might believe them."

Ada Smith, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, “The War I Finally Won”

[makingqueerhistory]

[Image description: MQH 2021 written in large letters using watercolour textures that are green, yellow, orange, and red]

[Image description: Stylized portrait of Sappho over watercolour texture, in black text: You may forget but let me tell you this: someone in some future time will remember us.-Sappho”]

[Image Description: Open calendar to August with some dates filled in with blurry text, top half with stylized portrait of Ada Smith over watercolour texture, with blurry quote in black text beside]

[Image Description: Open calendar to June with some dates filled in with blurry text, top half with stylized portrait of Fannyann Eddy over watercolour texture, a quote in blurry black black text]

MQH 2021 Calendar

Do you share a birthday month with Langston Hughes? How about Bricktop? Spend 2021 learning about more queer figures from history through their own words.

Each month includes a quote and portrait, important birth and death dates, and relevant events.