Portrait of Gladys Bentley (photo)

Gladys Bentley (1907 – 1960) was an American blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance. Aside from her musical talent and success, Gladys Bentley is a significant and inspiring figure for the LGBT community, for African Americans, and a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. She also was revolutionary in her masculinity: "Differing from the traditional male impersonator, or drag king, in the popular theater, Gladys Bentley 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";