During the early 1900s, the emergence of new forms of music such as blues and jazz brought a number of new musicians, many of them women . These performers, even when they were enormously successful, were constantly subjected to unfair scrutiny and judgment because of their gender and, sometimes, even because of their race. Examples of the trials and tribulations that female musicians during this period faced can be seen through the characters of Shug and Mary Agnes in The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Color Purple follows Celie, a poor but resilient woman in an unhappy marriage in the South who falls in love with Shug Avery, the beautiful people singer and former lover of Celie's husband. Throughout the novel, Shug has a very lucrative and successful music career and inspires another woman in the book, Mary Agnes, to also attempt a career in singing. However, even though Shug is more successful, she is continually seen as attractive before being talented, while Mary Agnes is also valued for her looks more than her singing ability. Female musicians in the early 1900s were forced to overcome sexism, racism, and the unfair reality of being seen in terms of their looks rather than their talent, issues that they commonly integrated into their music. An understanding of the difficulties singers faced during this time and the issues they typically included in their songs further illuminates how Shug and Mary Agnes channeled their frustration from constantly being judged and evaluated for their appearance and their race in their music. To prove their worth as musicians, performers not only had to demonstrate their talent, but also demonstrate good looks and sex appeal. Before jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald achieved mass fame, she booked an audition with Chick Webb, drummer and bandleader of the Chick Webb Band (Stone 41). When Ella was introduced to him, Webb refused to hear her sing, as she looked extremely disheveled from having lived on the streets for years (42). However, when others finally convinced him to give her a chance, Ella impressed the crowd at a local club, the Savoy, and within two weeks she was not only working for Webb, but also finding a manager. Although Ella was talented, Webb did not feel as if she would succeed as an artist, because as a woman, her appearance, which was not up to par, was as important as her singing abilities (45). Many other female musicians were also valued for their looks rather than their talent. Vibraphonist Marjorie Hyams, famous in the 1940s, realizes the injustices she faced in this regard as she looks back on her time as an artist (Dahl 79). Hyams recalls that as a female musician "you weren't really considered a musician" because "there was more interest in what you would wear" than how you performed (qtd. in Dahl 79). Hyam's frank interpretation of the qualities needed to be a successful female musician illustrates the stereotypical gender expectations these artists had to circumvent at the time (Dahl 79). Blues singer Mamie Smith's experiences concur with Hyams, as she notes that when she was beginning to perform and customers placed money for her on the table, she was told to pick it up "not with her hands but with her thighs" (qtd. in Dahl 119). The suggestions given to Smith to oversexualize his every action demonstrate that an important component to attracting public attention was an overt display of sensuality (Dahl 119). The difficulties that Fitzgerald, Hyams andSmith faced to succeed in the music business convey how women were seen as beautiful or sensual before they were seen as talented. The need felt by female musicians to maintain appearances to obtain work explains Shugtenta's constant desire to appear beautiful even in terrible situations. The first image readers receive of Shug appears on a poster for a concert she is giving, and Celie describes her as "standing over a piano, elbow bent, hand on hip" (Walker, 25). Celie also notes that Shug appears as if "nothing seems to trouble his mind" (25). Just as people were more interested in what Marjorie Hyams would wear or Smith's sexual actions than what they sang, Celie's portrayal of Shug, which also represents the ideas of the general public, emphasizes that Shug is not alone an artist, but also a beautiful and carefree woman. Celie's observations also reveal the importance of these qualities for female musicians to attract the attention of potential audiences. Likewise, when Celie first meets Shug, she is returning home from her tour and is extremely ill. Celie notes that Shug "looks so elegant," but upon closer inspection she realizes that he has "all this yellow dust caked on his face" and is also wearing "red rouge" lipstick (45). In the same way that Fitzgerald's managers expected her to look put together despite being homeless, even when Shug is on the brink of death, she is forced to keep up appearances as an artist by attempting to dress "fancy" and wear " powder". and "rouge" so that the potential audience will approve of it anyway. Celie's assessments of Shug's appearance shed light on the need for female musicians to always be attractive. African American women who hoped to become successful artists had an even more difficult time than white women, as they not only had to challenge gender stereotypes but also faced a racist industry and the low socioeconomic status that normally came with being black in this period. Early in her career, Ella Fitzgerald was not only poor as many African Americans were during that time, but she was a homeless teenager who relied on strangers or a deserted movie theater for both food and shelter (Stone 35 ). However, homelessness wasn't the only issue Fitzgerald was struggling with. Even after achieving success, Fitzgerald still felt the need to hide his speech and tried to improve his diction when singing to hide the fact that he had never received an education because his family could not afford to go to school (Stone 157). Fitzgerald's rise from poverty and his insecurities regarding his speech demonstrate the additional difficulties that black artists faced. The additional hardships that African American musicians have had to endure can be seen in the comparison between Shug and Mary Agnes. While Shug's dark skin sometimes hinders her ability to connect with an audience, Mary Agnes' white status lends her It allows you to have better opportunities as a musician. When Shug and her husband Grady discuss Mary Agnes' possible musical career, Mary Agnes admits that she feels like no one wants to hear her sing. Shug contradicts her and responds that if she "dressed Mary Agnes right" she would make "bitch money" (Walker 116). He then adds that Mary Agnes's “stringy hair and cloudy eyes” combined with her “yellow” complexion would have made men “crazy about her” (116). Shug's idea that Mary Agnes could make "bitch money" simply by dressing "the right way" indicates that being part white allows Mary Agnes to make.