Tennessee

Singer-Songwriter

b. April 7, 1951

“Truth is not the enemy, and whatever does not kill us sets us free.”

Janis Ian is a folk singer-songwriter and lifelong activist. She has won three Grammy Awards and been nominated for 10.

Born in Farmingdale, New Jersey, to a liberal Jewish family, Ian grew up on a farm. She began playing piano at age 2 and guitar at age 10.

In 1965, at age 14, Ian wrote “Society’s Child” (“Baby I’ve Been Thinking”). The song was released the following year and reached No. 14 on the Billboard 100. Even so, Ian was harassed both on- and offstage for its lyrics, which depict an interracial relationship. In 1967 she was nominated for her first Grammy for Best Folk Performance.

In 1975 Ian performed on the premiere episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The following year she won two Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Female Vocalist, and was nominated for three more.

Ian married an abusive man in 1978 and divorced him five years later. She moved to Nashville “penniless, in debt, and hungry to write.”

In 1992 Ian came out as a lesbian and started her own label, Rude Girl Records. After a nine-year music-industry hiatus, she released the album, “Breaking Silence” (1993). It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album.

Ian became a columnist in 1994. She wrote for The Advocate until 1997 and for Performing Songwriter until 2001. In 1998 she and her future wife founded The Pearl Foundation in honor of Ian’s mother. Since its inception, the organization has donated more than $1.2 million in college scholarships to support returning students.

Ian’s mother, Pearl, put her lifelong dream of attending college on hold when she married at age 18. When Ian was 15, Pearl was diagnosed with MS. Ian then convinced her mother to return to school and paid for her tuition. Ian insists “the proudest thing” she ever did “was sending her to college.”

In 2001 Ian began publishing her science fiction short stories online. She was one of the first recording artists with a personal website and controversially maintained that “free Internet downloads are good for the music industry and its artists.”

In 2002 Ian’s debut song, “Society’s Child,” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2008 her hit single “At Seventeen” was also inducted. Ian’s autobiography, “Society’s Child” (2008), earned her a 2009 Grammy (Best Spoken Word) for the audiobook. She was nominated again in 2016 for her reading of the lesbian classic, “Patience and Sarah.”

Ian has been honored by the New York State Senate and the Human Rights Campaign. She lives in Nashville with her wife.

Groundbreaking Congresswoman

b. February 14, 1972

“We need elected officials who are honest and work for the people.”

Angie Craig is the first openly lesbian mother elected to Congress and the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Minnesota.

Born in West Helena, Arkansas, Craig was raised in a mobile home park by a single mother. Her family struggled to pay bills and lacked health insurance. Craig worked two jobs to get through college. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Memphis and took a job as a local news reporter.

Beginning in 1997, Craig and her partner, Debra Langston, faced a heartbreaking struggle to adopt a child, whom they named Joshua. The couple lived in Tennessee, a state generally hostile to homosexuality with no provision for gays and lesbians to adopt jointly. The couple’s ensuing three-year legal battle led to an unprecedented ruling, allowing them to adopt Joshua and making it easier for other same-sex couples to adopt in the state. Although Craig and Langston separated in 2006, they continued to share custody of their son.

Craig moved to Minnesota looking for a “more open and accepting” community. Professionally, she advanced through the ranks to lead a workforce of 16,000 for a major Minnesota manufacturer. As a business leader, she used her position to advocate for marriage equality in the state.

Life experiences inspired Craig to fight injustice through politics. In 2016 she ran as a Democrat for Congress against a conservative anti-LGBT talk show host. She lost by fewer than 7,000 votes. In 2018 Craig defeated her former opponent in a rematch, becoming the first openly gay Minnesota Congressperson.

Craig has worked on initiatives around health care affordability, educational access and support for rural communities. She authored the State Health Care Premium Reduction Act and co-sponsored an act aimed at lowering prescription drug costs. She introduced the bipartisan Feed Emergency Enhancement During Disasters (FEEDD) Act to provide farmers with additional emergency flexibility.

Craig has denounced the Trump administration’s anti-LGBT adoption waivers. In 2019 she introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which sought to end anti-LGBT discrimination in foster care and adoption.

Craig lives in Eagan, Minnesota, with her wife, Cheryl Greene. They have four children.

Singer

b. Unknown: July 1892 or April 15, 1894
d. September 26, 1937

"It's a long old road, but I know I'm gonna find the end." 
    
Details of Bessie Smith's childhood, including the year of her birth, vary. Both Smith's parents died before her ninth birthday. As a child, she and her brother performed as a musical duo on the streets of Chattanooga, Tennessee to support themselves.

In 1912, Smith joined a traveling troupe. While with the troupe she met blues singer Ma Rainey, who became Smith's friend and mentor. Smith's extraordinary talent as a blues singer, coupled with her vivacious personality, quickly landed her a solo act in Atlanta, Georgia. She entered the Eastern Seaboard vaudeville circuit and over the next ten years her popularity soared.

In 1923, Smith was signed to Columbia Records. She quickly became the highest paid African American entertainer of her time, earning up to $2000 per week during the height of her career. Her first recording, "Down-Hearted Blues," catapulted her to national success.

Smith toured the country recording over 160 songs accompanied by some of the greatest jazz instrumentalists of her time, including Louis Armstrong. From slow blues to jazz standards, Bessie Smith consistently produced original work, demonstrating her broad range and versatility. Columbia Records upgraded her unrivaled status as "Queen of the Blues" to "Empress of the Blues."

Five years after signing with Columbia Records, Smith's career began to decline during the Great Depression. Her last recording, featuring Benny Goodman, took place in 1933.

Although she never received the same level of acclaim bestowed on her during her early career, Bessie Smith continued to perform in clubs up until her death. She died shortly after a car accident in 1937.

Actor 

Cherry Jones is a theater, film and television actor best known for her role as president of the United States on the FOX series “24.” A Broadway veteran, Jones is considered one of America’s foremost stage actors. She has received two Tony Awards. 

Jones grew up in the small town of Paris, Tennessee. Her mother taught high school and her father owned a flower shop. “I came from a very loving family where I knew I had their unconditional love no matter what,” Jones says. 

With her sights set on acting, Jones enrolled at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, where in 1978, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 1980, Jones became a founding member of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she played a wide range of roles. 

In the mid-1980’s, Jones moved to New York and performed in Broadway productions including “Angels in America,” “The Night of the Iguana” and “A Moon for the Misbegotten.” In 1995, she received a Tony Award for her role in “The Heiress” and made headlines by being the first award winner to publicly thank her same-sex partner. 

In 1998, Jones narrated a documentary film about the history of the gay rights movement, “Out of the Past.” 

On the silver screen, Jones appeared in “The Horse Whisperer” (1998), “Cradle Will Rock” (1999), “Erin Brockovich” (2000) and “The Perfect Storm” (2000), among others. 

In 2001, Jones costarred with Brooke Shields in the Lifetime Television movie “What Makes a Family,” based on the true story of a lesbian couple and a custody battle. “I’m more proud of that than anything I’ve ever done. There’s so much social worth to that film,” Jones says.

Jones is an outspoken advocate of gay rights. In 2004, she received GLAAD’s Vito Russo Media Award for her contribution toward eliminating homophobia.

In 2005, Jones was honored with a second Tony Award for her portrayal of Sister Aloysius in “Doubt.” After receiving the award, Jones thanked and kissed her partner, actress Sarah Paulson. 

In 2009, Jones received an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a drama series for her role on “24."

Rabbi         

b. March 14, 1960

“I believe God made me just as I am. That is all I need to know, that I am exactly who God created me to be!”

One of the first openly gay rabbis, Denise Eger served as rabbi for the world’s first gay and lesbian synagogue. She is the first female and the first openly gay president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.

Eger was raised in Memphis, Tennessee. Active in her synagogue, she taught religious school from the time she was 12. She studied opera as a teen, intending to be a voice major in college.

Eger received a bachelor’s degree in religion from the University of Southern California and a master’s degree from Hebrew Union College (HUC) - Jewish Institute of Religion. In 1988, she was ordained a Reform rabbi.

Following ordination, she served as the first full-time rabbi at Congregation Beth Chayim Chadashim, the first gay and lesbian synagogue. In 1991, Rabbi Eger cofounded West Hollywood’s LGBT-welcoming Congregation Kol Ami, which means “all my people.”

Rabbi Eger was the founding president of the Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Interfaith Clergy Association. She worked with the Central Conference of American Rabbis to pass the resolution that allowed Reform rabbis to officiate at same-sex commitment ceremonies.

A noted speaker on Judaism, spirituality and LGBT and family issues, Rabbi Eger is a frequent commentator on radio and television.  She has written extensively for periodicals, including the Los Angeles Times, The Advocate, the Huffington Post and The Jewish Journal. She has also contributed to a number of books, among them “Twice Blessed: On Being Lesbian, Gay and Jewish,” “Positively Gay,” and “Lesbian Rabbis: THE FIRST GENERATION.”

In 2008, Rabbi Eger officiated at the first legal wedding of a lesbian couple in California. The National Women’s Political Caucus named her one of its 12 Remarkable Women in 2010. The Human Rights Campaign presented her with the Community Equality Award in 2011.

Rabbi Eger lives with her son in Los Angeles.