For each and every notable image of Dorothy Dandridge’s signature red lips, Josephine Baker’s trademark pixie cut or Lena Horne’s classic, natural glamour, there were dozens – hundreds even – of lesser-known Black female entertainers who helped define many of the sought-after beauty trends we use today.
These trailblazers set foot in Hollywood when it was seriously hostile to women of color. But despite facing impossible odds, they bravely overcame just about every racist and oppressive obstacle to show the world never-before-seen art, talent and beauty.
While their names aren’t nearly as well-known as some of their more famous contemporaries, the influence of these artists’ work and the beauty trends they helped to cement resonated throughout the 20th century and beyond. And considering how the resurgence of their beauty aesthetics is having a moment in popular culture right now, it’s time these unsung leading ladies finally gain their due.
Ahead are six of the world’s most praiseworthy, well-deserving Black female stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Adelaide Hall
(Oct 20, 1901 – Nov 7 1993)
While jazz enthusiasts may already know Hall’s incredible vocal range and exceedingly expansive catalog of music (she entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2003 as the world’s most enduring recording artist; she released material for over eight consecutive decades), the American-born, UK-based singer’s sleek hair, arched brows and crimson-colored bow lips helped to establish the flapper trend when she began her stage career in 1921.
Etta Moten Barnett
(November 5, 1901 – January 2, 2004)
It’s quite interesting, ironic even, how despite Etta Moten Barnett’s exalted beauty (her love for 1950’s pin-up makeup and precision haircuts were common), her legacy hails from radio. Her distinctly smooth, rich voice narrated the radio show I Remember When in the 1950s and ‘60s and is regarded by historians as one of the first programs created by and for Black women that reached a widely diverse audience as well.
Nina Mae McKinney
(June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967)
Dubbed the “Black Greta Garbo” in Europe, a comparison that actually minimized the acclaimed, striking beauty’s looks, Nina Mae McKinney was one of the first Black movie stars in the world. She worked internationally during the 1930s and in the post-war era in film, television and theater after launching her career on Broadway and in Hollywood.
Edna Mae Harris
(September 29, 1914 – September 15, 1997)
Sometimes credited as Edna May Harris, she was an incredibly gorgeous and popular film actor in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She mainly starred in films with all-Black casts. Her impressively long eyelashes and bouncy, flirtatious hair are two beauty trends many still sport to this day.
Pearl Bailey
(March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990)
Blessed with the most coveted bone structure (those high cheekbones and artfully-defined eyebrows were everything!), Bailey was a classic Hollywood beauty. However, her uncanny ability to use exaggerated hair and makeup (she was unrecognizable at times) to completely transform into the characters she played set the stage for many similar acts to follow.
The mega-star boasted a decades-long career as a singer, stage and film actor. In the early ’70s, she even hosted her own cabaret show on ABC.
Paula Kelly
(October 21, 1942 – February 8, 2020)
When actor-musician Paula Kelly arrived on the entertainment scene in the mid-1960s, Black culture had already made an indelible mark on America. This tall, graceful pioneer
kept the momentum going with not only becoming one of the first Black female artists to make a successful transition from Broadway to movies and television (using the musical film Sweet Charity as the flyover) but the essentials from her beauty arsenal such as pastel eyeshadow, chic afro hairstyles and precisely-winged eyeliner still inspire us today.
