Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (August 12, 1907 -January 18, 1960) 52 yrs

Gladys Alberta Bentley was an American blues singer, pianist, and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance. Her career skyrocketed when she appeared at Harry Hansberry’s Clam House in New York City in the 1920s, as a Black lesbian, cross-dressing performer. Bentley’s performances appealed to Black, white, gay, and straight audiences alike, and many celebrities attended her shows. Langston Hughes reaction to Bentley’s career success, ’Miss Bentley was an amazing exhibition of musical energy – a large, dark, masculine lady, whose feet pounded the floor while her fingers pounded the keyboard – a perfect piece of African sculpture, animated by her own rhythm.’ She was revolutionary in her masculinity. She did not try to ‘pass’ as a man, nor did she playfully try to deceive her audience into believing she was biologically male. Instead, she exerted a ‘black female masculinity’ that troubled the distinctions between black and white and masculine and feminine”