Etta Moten Barnett

In Flying Down to Rio in 1933 Moten sang the Oscar-nominated "The Carioca" as a Brazilian singer with fruit in her hair, years before Carmen Miranda's famous headdress. Her Gold Diggers role as a widowed housewife is credited with helping break Hollywood's habit of casting Black women as servants. Before the movies she had married young and raised three daughters, then studied at Kansas and joined the Eva Jessye Choir. She starred as Bess in Porgy and Bess on Broadway from 1942 to 1945.

What the plaque says

Etta Moten Barnett Weimar native Etta Moten (1901-2004) was one of the most acclaimed African American women of the twentieth century. At an early age, she began singing in local African Methodist Episcopal churches where her father pastored. In 1916, she moved with her family to Kansas City, Mo., and later earned her degree in Voice and Drama at the University of Kansas. After moving to New York City in the 1930s, she came in contact with leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance, such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. After starring in several Broadway shows and radio programs, Etta made her way to Hollywood, where she had a breakthrough role in Gold Diggers of 1933. A show at the Fox Theatre in Washington, D.C. brought her to the attention of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who invited her to sing for the President the following night. On January 30, 1934, Etta Moten became the first African American woman to give a performance at the White House. She performed a set of songs requested by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt as part of the celebration of his birthday. Later that year, she married noted journalist Claude Barnett (1889-1967), who owned the Associated Negro Press. For decades Etta remained active in civil rights organizations such as the National Council of Negro Women and participated in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. As an award-winning entertainer, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and named by the Texas Women's Chamber of Commerce as one of Texas' 100 Most Influential Women. She retired to Chicago and devoted the rest of her life to fostering interracial and interreligious understanding. Etta died at the age of 102. She is remembered today for breaking color barriers in the entertainment industry and for furthering civil liberties. (2019)

Where it stands

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