Hazel Scott

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Recently in class, we watched a video reflecting on the life of Hazel Scott. She was an African American singer and pianist. With the peak of her career being in the prime-time of racial segregation in America, not only was Hazel Scott a talented musician but was also a prominent civil rights activist. Hazel Scott paved the way for African Americans in the entertainment industry and in Hollywood. 

Hazel Scott started her career after attending Julliard through her broadway primer in the 1938 musical Sing out the News.   After that, she landed a gig performing at a club. By the 1940s Hazel Scott was a known household name. She traveled the country playing for audiences, but Hazel Scott had one condition. She would not play in front of a segregated audience. 

Considering the time in America a segregated audience would not be uncommon. This was during the almost five-decade-long period after Plessy v. Ferguson that legalized segregation in America. So Hazel Scott demanding her audiences to be non-segregated was a request that went against the social norm of the time. Scott stated, "Why would anyone come to hear me, a Negro, and refuse to sit beside someone just like me?” 

By the time Scott made it to Hollywood, she had a reputation proceeding her. She was seen as a woman with strict standards. Scott appeared in multiple films in her time in Hollywood; again under strict conditions. Scott refused to play any role that represented a servant. She refused to wear a maid costume and would not appear on screen without her jewelry. She wanted to appear in these films playing the role of herself. 

During her last film, she completely stopped production of the film for multiple days because of the costumes that the other African Americans were set to wear. She refused to act in her scene until the women got different costumes. Eventually, to continue production, the director gave in allowing the women to wear colorful floral dresses just like the white women on screen. 

This was a prominent time for Hazel Scott as she firmly stood up for what she believed in. She did not agree with the portrayal of black women as servants on screen. Because of her actions that was the last movie she ever played in, but that was not the end for Hazel Scott. 

She served as an untraditional activist. She demanded equality and desegregation throughout her career and used her platform to influence others both white and black. She was the first African American television host and achieved a lot in her life. 

Source: 

- https://www.wrti.org/arts-desk/2021-02-05/looking-back-at-the-extraordinary-life-of-hazel-scott 

- In class video 


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