One might assume that the sister of legendary Cab Calloway would stand in a mighty long shadow. Not Blanche Calloway. She basked in her own spotlight. For a time, her nightclub gigs earned Blanche more income than her little brother. She worked with Eubie Blake, and was accompanied by Louis Armstrong on two recordings. Her time with Andy Kirk’s Clouds of Joy Orchestra taught her much about the music business. 
She used that knowledge to make history. Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys was the first big band led by a woman … and an African-American woman, at that. Over the course of its run, the Joy Boys featured such future jazz legends as Ben Webster, Cozy Cole, Bennie Moten, Andy Kirk, and Chick Webb. Newspapers hailed Calloway and Her Joy Boys one of the top ten Black bands in the country.
This success, however, didn’t come easy. She was arrested for knowingly using a whites-only restroom. She spoke her mind and wrote provocative lyrics to her music. And after several years of playing to segregated audiences, and fighting the singer-dancer stereotype of women in jazz, the gigs dried up.
Later years saw her enter the political arena. In 1958, she made history again, becoming the first African-American precinct voting clerk and the first Black woman to vote in Florida. She was active in the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1964, she stood with other African American women at the Hague in support of the NATO Women’s Peace Force.
“Soundtrack to the Struggle” is hosted by Hollis Monroe. Produced by Ron Adkins. Executive Producer is Dennis Green.
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