![]() During a time of harsh segregation and overwhelming bias against African Americans, she embraced her heritage. Washington may have used her skin color to procure cool treats on the road, but she refused to use it for economic or social gain. Lithe and light-skinned, she was pale enough to “pass” as white in the color-obsessed South, and during the tour she took advantage of her skin color to slip into whites-only ice cream parlors and buy ice cream for the entire band. A gorgeous Black performer also traveled with the band-Frederika “Fredi” Washington. When Duke Ellington and his band toured the segregated South in the early 1930s, they encountered racism wherever they went. ![]()
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