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Bessie Smith

American blues singer (1892–1937)
Person human Q93349
Bessie Smith
Carl Van Vechten · Public Domain · Wikimedia
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Summary

Bessie Smith was born on April 15, 1894[1], in Chattanooga[2]. She died on September 26, 1937[3], in Clarksdale[4]. She worked as a street artist[5], musician[6], singer[7], dancer[8], and mime artist[9]. She ranks in the top 0.64% of human entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (8,194 views/month, #6,394 of 1,000,298).[10]

Key Facts

  • Place of burial: Mount Lawn Cemetery[11]
  • Country of citizenship: United States[12]
  • Ethnic group: African Americans[13]
  • Occupation: entertainer[14], recording artist[15]
  • Award received: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award[16], Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[17], National Women's Hall of Fame[18]
  • Influenced by: Ma Rainey[19]
  • Sex or gender: female[20]
  • Sexual orientation: bisexuality[21]
  • Movement: Harlem Renaissance[22]
  • Genre: blues[23], jazz[24], classic female blues[25]
  • Record label: Columbia Records[26]
  • Commons category: Bessie Smith[27]
  • Cause of death: traffic collision[28]
  • Family name: Smith[29]
  • Given name: Bessie[30]
  • Topic's main category: Category:Bessie Smith[31]
  • Commons gallery: Bessie Smith[32]
  • Manner of death: accidental death[33]
  • Instrument: voice[34]
  • Described by source: Notable Black American Women[35], Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians[36], Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era[37]
  • Languages spoken, written or signed: English[38]
  • Nickname: Empress of the Blues[39]
  • Name in native language: Bessie Smith[40]

Why It Matters

Bessie Smith has Wikipedia articles in 25 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[41] She is known by 19 alternative names across languages and contexts.[42]

FAQs

Where was Bessie Smith born?

Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga[2].

Where did Bessie Smith die?

Bessie Smith died in Clarksdale[4].

What did Bessie Smith do for work?

Bessie Smith worked as a street artist[5], musician[6], singer[7], dancer[8], and mime artist[9].

What awards did Bessie Smith receive?

Honors received include Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award[16], Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[17], and National Women's Hall of Fame[18].

Related Entities

Columbia Records United States

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [2] ↑ . Catalog of the German National Library. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . Library of Congress Authorities. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  3. [20] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  4. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [21] ↑ . thisisbiscuit.co.uk. thisisbiscuit.co.uk. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  6. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [6] ↑ . Catalog of the German National Library. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  8. [7] ↑ . Catalog of the German National Library. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  9. [8] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  10. [9] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  11. [14] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  12. [15] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  13. [11] ↑ . Find a Grave. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  14. [22] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  15. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [25] ↑ . rateyourmusic.com. rateyourmusic.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  18. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [18] ↑ . womenofthehall.org. womenofthehall.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  21. [13] ↑ . Notable Black American Women. wikidata.org.
  22. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [28] ↑ . BlackPast.org. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  25. [1] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  26. [3] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  27. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [19] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  30. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [33] ↑ . BlackPast.org. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  33. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [38] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  38. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  39. [40] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [10] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [41] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [42] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Bessie Smith. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/bessie-smith
MLA “Bessie Smith.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 17 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/bessie-smith.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_bessie-smith_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Bessie Smith}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/bessie-smith}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-17}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Bessie Smith — https://4ort.xyz/entity/bessie-smith (retrieved 2026-10-17)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 1d ago · OKA bot bot · 2026-10-17 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbeditentity-statements-multiple-properties-update:0||2 */ source for place of birth, source for place of death from Store norske leksikon ([[Wikidata:Requests for permissions/Bot/OKA bot 2|OKA bot"
  2. 9d ago · Epìdosis · 2026-10-08 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Wikipedia languages → ['als', 'an', 'ar', 'arz', 'azb', 'bar', 'bg', 'ca', 'commons', 'cs', 'cy', 'da'
    Sitelink count → 57
    Nlb authority id (belarus) → SEK-ar6746743
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Nlb authority id (belarus): SEK-ar6746743, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/289805|batch #289805]]"
  3. 8w ago · Mahirtwofivesix · 2026-08-19 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Babelnet id → 00010096n
    P14750 → AA6F-4064-381E-23CF-6B81
    Arabic ontology lexical concept id → 151061462
    "/* wbeditentity-statements-multiple-properties-update:0||4 */ added/modified IDs mapped to WordNet 3.1"
  4. 13w ago · Susmuffin · 2026-07-16 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Harper's tag → bessie-smith
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ Harper's tag: bessie-smith, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/289910027|bessie smith (#289910027)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/7915|Harper's tag]"
  5. 14w ago · Jzana · 2026-07-06 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Familysearch person id → LRBZ-GTG
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Familysearch person id: LRBZ-GTG"
  6. 18w ago · Jindřich Rubeš · 2026-06-12 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Svkkl authority id → p0098581-Smith-Bessie-asi-18941937
    Influenced by → Ma Rainey
    Described by source → Notable Black American Women, Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era
    Occupation → street artist, musician, singer +4
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Svkkl authority id: p0098581-Smith-Bessie-asi-18941937, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/259497|batch #259497]]"
  7. 18w ago · YULdigitalpreservation · 2026-06-08 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Movement → Harlem Renaissance
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Movement: Harlem Renaissance"
  8. 21w ago · Lesko987a · 2026-05-18 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Local thumb → —
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/32144|batch #32144]]: P2949 Update Qualifiers"
  9. 24w ago · ZI Jony · 2026-05-01 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Start of work period → +1912-00-00T00:00:00Z
    Elnet id → a1278297x
    Work period end → —
    End of work period → +1937-00-00T00:00:00Z
    + 32 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbremoveclaims-remove:1| */ Facebook page id: Bessie-Smith/112325122116167, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/257116|batch #257116]]"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.