Sister Rosetta Tharpe Analysis

I really enjoyed Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Documentary. Initially, I was shocked because the opening scene is a black woman in a what people would consider now a conservative dress jamming out with her guitar. That is an image that we do not see a lot of in popular media. When I think of guitarists I think of mostly white males (with the exception of Jimi Hendrix) like Keith Richards and Jeff Beck. I am by no means a rock and roll follower or know of many bands under the genera, so what I am saying could be wrong but just from my experience growing up in America I only really hear of guitarists being white males, so when I saw a black woman jamming it was exciting. As Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s biographer states, “she had a major impact on artists
like Elvis Presley … We do not think about the black woman behind the white man” (Cite). It is interesting in how in this day and age we do not hear about Sister Rosetta and her impact on music but yet, so many different artists are influenced by her music like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and many other performers. Rosetta originally started preforming when she was 6 years old at a church, which is not where many rock stars start out. Then she started preforming at nightclubs as a singer and then began to experiment with more risqué lyrics. Sister Rosetta preformed at church and at nightclubs, and was satisfied having that balance. (do you mean she didn’t desire stardom? If so, do you want to add a sentence like that?) This documentary makes me question what other performers, unconsciously or consciously are inspired by minorities in their fields? Why do these minorities seldom receive the respect and admiration they deserve? Is it also complicated by Sister Rosetta being a female in a male dominated industry?