#frediwashington #imitationoflife #1934 #blackboy #emperorjones #blackandtan #georgiaborn Fredi Washington sunrise 1903 sunset 1994. She was an actress, civil rights activist, and writer. She began her career as a dancer at the Cotton club in Harlem. She's most famous for her role as Peola in the Imitation of Life. What her character did was something she never desired to do, pass for white. She didn't believe in the concept of white supremacy. She was proud to be black. She and her sister Isabel are in the 4th pic, who went on to marry Adam Clayton Powell. She served as entertainment editor of the聽People鈥檚 Voice, which Powell established in 1942. She helped found the Negro Actors Guild of America in 1937. She was married twice first to Lawrence Brown a trombonist in Duke Ellington's orchestra, then to Dr. Hugh Anthony Bell, who she's in the last picture with. The Fredi Washington Collection at The Connecticut Historical Society includes photographs of Fredi, her family, and friends. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu6mqAphV8J/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=wbp5gc4nkd3n