page_title: Etta Moten Barnett
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Etta Moten Barnett / Biography / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Etta Moten
context_page_description: Etta Moten Barnett was an American actress and contralto vocalist, who was identified with her signature role of "Bess" in Porgy and Bess. She created new roles for African-American women on stage and screen. After her performing career, Barnett was active in Chicago as a major philanthropist and civic activist, raising funds for and supporting cultural, social and church institutions.
context_section_description: Moten moved to New York City, where she first performed as a soloist with the Eva Jessye Choir. Jessye was a groundbreaking collaborator with Virgil Thomson and George Gershwin. Moten was cast in the Broadway show Zombie.
  On January 31, 1933, Moten became one of the rare black stars to perform at the White House since Marie Selika Williams performed for President Rutherford B. Hayes and First Lady Lucy Webb Hayes in 1878. She performed in two musical films released in 1933: Flying Down to Rio (singing "The Carioca") and a more substantial role as a war widow in the Busby Berkeley musical Gold Diggers of 1933 (singing "My Forgotten Man" with Joan Blondell).  Also in 1933 she stood in for Ginger Rogers by dubbing her singing in Professional Sweetheart.
  Gershwin discussed her singing the part of "Bess" in his new work Porgy and Bess, which he had written with her in mind.  She was concerned about trying a role above her natural range of contralto. In the 1942 revival, she did accept the role of "Bess", but she would not sing the word "nigger", which Ira Gershwin subsequently wrote out of the libretto. Through her performances on Broadway and with the national touring company until 1945, she captured Bess as her signature role.
  She stopped performing in 1952 owing to vocal problems. After her husband, Claude Barnett, died in 1967, she lived in Chicago, where she became active in the National Council of Negro Women, the Chicago Lyric Opera and the Field Museum. She was also active in the DuSable Museum, and the South Side Community Art Center.
  In addition to activities with civic organizations, Moten Barnett served as a board member of both The Links, a service organization for African-American women, and her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. She was also active in International Women's Year activities and events in the 1980s.
caption: Etta Moten
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