Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

In Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Ma says, “You sing [the blues] ‘cause that’s a way of understanding life.” What are some other popular genres of music that have helped audiences think about life? How do these genres help them understand life or see it in a new way?

Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to include excerpts of song lyrics in written answers or to play excerpts of songs during discussion.

• “The Painful Birth of Blues and Jazz” by Stephanie Hall explains the origin of blues and jazz.
• “What Is the Blues?” focuses on the origin of blues.

Short Activity

Listen to “Crazy Blues” as sung by Mamie Smith, with lyrics provided here. As you listen, respond to the music and lyrics in the form of drawing, journal writing, or narrative writing (by personifying the blues in a first-person monologue).

Teaching Suggestion: If needed, provide students with an entry point into creative writing with a prompt, such as, “That’s right, call me Blues, but I ain’t no sky blue, no robin’s egg blue, no baby blue.