American singer and actress Ethel Waters was BOTD in 1896. Born in Chester, Pennsylvania, she was raised by her grandmother and had a turbulent childhood, enduring poverty and sexual abuse. She married at 12, leaving the marriage when it became abusive, and moved to Philadelphia. She began a singing career at 17 after being persuaded to sing at a nightclub, touring for many years on the Black vaudeville circuit and in carnivals. After a brief period performing in Atlanta in competition with Bessie Smith, she moved to New York City, where her career took flight during the Harlem Renaissance. She recorded a series of hits, including Stormy Weather and her signature song Am I Blue?, making her the highest-paid Black musical artists of the early 1920s, recording with Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. She performed at the Cotton Club during the 1930s, and appeared on Broadway in a series of popular musicals and revues, including Africana, Blackbirds, Rhapsody in Black and As Thousands Cheer. As the vaudeville circuit dwindled, she moved to Hollywood, appearing in Vincente Minnelli’s all-Black musical film Cabin in the Sky. In 1939, she starred in The Ethel Waters Show, becoming one of the first African-Americans to appear on television. In the 1940s, she starred in the films Cairo and Pinky, the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination. She returned to Broadway in 1950 to star in Carson McCullers‘ play The Member of the Wedding, later appearing in the film adaptation. Later that year, she became first African-American actress to star in a TV drama, Beulah, but left the show after a year, complaining about the degrading representation of Black characters. Married three times, she had a long-term relationship with the dancer Ethel Williams, living together in Harlem where they were called “The Two Ethels”. Her memoir His Eye Is on the Sparrow was published in 1951, becoming a bestseller. Later in life, she joined the Christian Evangelical movement, touring and performing with the preacher Billy Graham on his crusades. She died in 1977, aged 80.