In honor of Women’s History Month, which feels more symbolic each day we tread deeper into the strange dystopia of an unraveling democracy, we remember the female pioneers of music and celebrate the work they were able to achieve despite the odds stacked against them.
Before delving in, it’s worth noting how many freedoms we take for granted that were simply inaccessible to women until just a few years ago:
American women were not granted the right to wear pants in public until 1910. Women were not elected to Congress until Jeannette Rankin was sworn into the House of Representatives in 1917. However, women still would not receive the right to vote until 1920’s Ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Black women waited 45 more years to be granted the same right.
President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law in 1963 with the aim of prohibiting sex-based wage discrimination; however, the pay gap still exists today, with women reportedly earning only 83.6% of their male counterparts in the same workplace as of 2023. The pay gap is larger for minority and disabled women.
Birth control was not approved by the Food and Drug Administration until 1960, but women could not obtain it without a man until 1972.
Women could not initiate divorce until 1969, and legal protection against domestic abuse was not secured for women until 1994.
Before 1974, women needed their husband’s permission (or a male co-signer) to open a bank account, apply for a credit card or obtain a home loan. They could not open their own business without a man until 1988.
PERSEVERE: Sissieretta Jones earned international fame before women (or people of color) had equal rights.
Looking Back
For Inspiration
Facing every possible adversity, here are just two unsung heroes among dozens, hundreds, thousands of incredible women so bold and inspired to pave the way for music as we know it today.
Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones, sometimes referred to as “The Black Patti” in reference to Italy’s Adelina Patti, became the highest-paid African American performer of her time (1887-1915). Her father, an educated minister, had formerly been a slave. He moved their family to Rhode Island, where Jones would become a trained opera singer and go on to achieve international fame.
Jones was the first black singer to perform at Carnegie Hall (then called the Music Hall of New York). She’d also been considered by the Metropolitan Opera, which rescinded the offer due to her race. She sang for the British royal family and four consecutive U.S. presidents. Until her performance for Theodore Roosevelt, she was made to enter the White House building through the back.
After traveling the world, she returned home to New England and put together a show-stopping act she called the Black Patti Troubadors, comprised of 40 choral singers and 40 dancers, jugglers and comedians. The revue featured vaudeville compositions, musical sketches and a series of acrobatic performances. They performed throughout the U.S. and Canada and made Jones the highest grossing black performer of her time.
She retired in 1915 to care for her dying mother and, afterward, dedicated the rest of her own life to her church and caring for her two adopted children and various other homeless children. When she passed away to cancer in 1933, she had fallen into poverty and was buried without a gravestone. One was finally erected in her memory in 2018.
RISE ABOVE: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, born to cotton pickers, laid the groundwork for rock ’n’ roll as we know it. (Photo by James J. Kriegsmann)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, aka the Godmother of Rock ’n’ Roll, often goes uncredited for the massive impact she had on music through her influence on Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Tina Turner, to name a few.
She was born Rosetta Nubin in 1915 to a family of cotton pickers in Arkansas. Both her parents were singers in the Church of God in Christ, and her mother was also a mandolinist. Their Pentecostal religion encouraged singing and dancing in praise. Tharpe was a prodigal guitarist and singer by the age of 6, and accompanied her mother in religious gospel performances all over the South, billed as a musical “miracle.”
She and her mother settled down and became established performers in Chicago before later relocating to New York City, where she garnered overnight fame after recording “Rock Me,” “That’s All,” “My Man and I” and “The Lonesome Road” for Decca Records. She joined Lucky Millinder’s swing band, and regularly appeared with the Jordanaires and Cab Calloway. Her fame was controversial, especially among the gospel community, as she performed her spirituals for larger and larger secular audiences in such venues as Harlem’s Cotton Club, the Apollo Theater and Carnegie Hall.
Controversy arose from her spiritual music paired with her sensual and driving playing style. Told she “played like a man,” she was not helped by the fact that guitar playing in general was reserved for men at the time. Although she married several times (adopting her stage name from her first husband), her queer relationship with jazz vocalist Marie Knight also drew speculation.
Every aspect of Tharpe’s life and career would break barriers and guide the music of generations to come.
‘EMBRACE’: LBI’s Michaelina Petti is taking nothing for granted. She just released her first single, all about having gratitude for the gifts life gives us.
Looking Forward
In Hopefulness
Local artist Michaelina Petti, known as front-woman of family project The Pettis, just dropped her first single, “Embrace,” which can be streamed on all platforms.
The Pettis exploded on the LBI scene back in 2019 as a father-daughter duo featuring Michaelina (then just 17) on guitar and vocals alongside her dad, Neal, on lead guitar.
She shared with The SandPaper back in 2021 how an out-of-body, near-death experience in 2018 had sparked divine inspiration in her that has certainly made its way into her music and visual art.
Since then, Michaelina has gone on to blossom artistically and professionally, becoming a licensed Realtor and, all the while, developing her skill as a writer, performer and visual artist.
The band has followed suit, as well, with her younger brother Gianni joining in on bass, plus the addition of John Cancellieri on drums.
“Embrace” was written by Petti for her partner, but she explained the sentiment is “embracing everything in the present moment,” encouraging listeners to show up to their lives with open arms.
“Fundamentally, the whole message of the song is embracing the people you have when you have them, and embracing the things life gives you,” she shared. “I think everybody has that special person in their life, whether it’s a friend or their mom, dad or partner … maybe it’s even multiple people.”
Petti feels it’s part of the human condition to wonder where that special person is in their life. “And then you find that person and you’re present in that beautiful relationship, but then you start to ponder,” she continued. “All of us are living on borrowed time, so, how does that materialize later down the line?” The key is embracing everything, right now, she said.
‘Embrace’ cover art by Michaelina Petti.
“Embrace” never once uses the word “embrace” in its lyricism, but the feeling is there. The single actually ties into another tune on Petti’s upcoming album, Witherspoon Avenue (out May 15), which The Pettis recorded at Charlie Berezansky’s Rival Sound Studios.
They’ll celebrate the release of the album with a special show at the Lizzie Rose Music Room on May 15, with Coyote Jack opening.
In the meantime, listeners can expect another song out in April, with release yet to be determined, as it depends on when Petti is finished with painting the cover art.
“I love that aspect of it so much,” she said, referencing bringing a visual element to her musical endeavors. “I’m often doing a lot of commissions for people, so it’s very fun and exciting and cool to experiment with my own art.”
The cover art for “Embrace” is a portrait of her partner, for whom the song was written. “The next couple covers are pretty surrealist in comparison to the first one,” she said, expressing her excitement to bring them to life.
Petti was pleased to share her first single has grown fairly quickly and without much effort. “It’s been nice to hear all the really good feedback, and knowing people resonate with it so deeply has been encouraging,” she said.
As always, fans are encouraged to like, follow, stream, and add songs to personal playlists. These small actions boost engagement for independent artists.
And, of course, go support them live. The Pettis are playing next at Joe Pop’s Shore Bar from 5 to 8 p.m. on April 5. Check them out!
Stay up to date with Petti at michaelinapetti.com and check out thepettis.com to see where the band is playing next.
