Fredi and Isabel Washington
SubjectPortrait of
Fredi Washington
(American, 1903 - 1994)
Original OwnerOriginally owned by
Fredi Washington
(American, 1903 - 1994)
PhotographerPhotographed by
Unknown
Date1940-1950
MediumPhotography; gelatin silver print on paper
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (image height x width): 6 1/4 x 4 3/8in. (15.9 x 11.1cm) or smaller
Sheet (height x width): 7 x 5in. (17.8 x 12.7cm) or smaller
Sheet (height x width): 7 x 5in. (17.8 x 12.7cm) or smaller
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineThe Newman S. Hungerford Museum Fund
DescriptionPortrait of Fredi Washington and her sister Isabel Washington. Fredi wears a dark suit jacket, black button-down shirt, and flat silver earrings. Isabel wears a tweed jacket, dark (possibly silk) shirt, and a brooch pinned to the neck of her shirt. The women appear to be pictured in a home; the back end of a door frame is visible in the far right corner of the photograph.
Object number2001.22.16
NotesSubject Note: Isabel "Belle" Geraldine Washington was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1908. She was a younger sister of American film actress Fredi Washington. Isabel also lived and danced in Harlem, New York at the renowned Cotton Club, and married pastor and politician Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. between 1933 and 1934 at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City. Isabel lived between Oaks Bluff, Massachusetts and Harlem, and worked in special education. Isabel died in May 2007. (Dixon 4/14/2020)
Subject Note: Fredericka Carolyn "Fredi" Washington was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1903 and died in Stamford, Connecticut in 1994. Fredi began her career as a dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem during the 1920s. She appeared in Black and Tan, a short film featuring Duke Ellington and his orchestra, in 1929 and went on to career in motion pictures. She is most famous for her portrayal of Peola in Imitation of Life (1934). Fredi helped found the Negro Actors Guild of America in 1937 and served as Entertainment Editor of the People's Voice, established in 1942 by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who married Fredi's sister. Fredi was also active in the NAACP. She played opposite the great African-American actor Paul Robeson on several occasions, most notably in the film version of The Emperor Jones in 1933, but also in a 1926 production of Black Boy, at the Stamford Theater. Fredi's first husband was Lawrence Brown, a trombonist in Duke Ellington's orchestra. After they divorced in 1951, she married a Stamford dentist, Hugh Anthony Bell, and moved to suburban Greenwich. Bell died in 1970. In 1975, Fredi was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; in 1979, she received a CIRCA Award for lifetime achievement in the performing arts. She was 90 years old when she died of pneumonia in 1994. (Finlay 12/29/10)
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