ABSTRACT
Swishing her pantalooned gown, she crossed her eyes exuberantly” – evoking the same theatrics that had, so early in her career, captivated her Parisian audiences and catapulted her to superstardom. Holt, like Baker, was a theatrical performer, but Holt’s signature medium in the club circuit was her voice. In the photograph of Baker’s and Holt’s 1951 reunion, the angle obscures Baker’s facial reaction, as her head tucks behind Holt’s, but Holt is shown in a moment of hearty laughter as Baker pulls her close. Frozen in frame is an uplifting and affectionate display between two Black women who were still in the prime of their careers, with Baker commanding the stage and Holt steering the newspaper columns. Holt landed in Paris by way of Chicago’s Black classical concert scene and the Midwest’s wider communities of respectable Race men and women. Like their male counterparts, Race women existed in a distinctly middle- to upper-class demographic.
