Billie Holiday was one of the greatest jazz singers of all time, known for her improvisational skills and her raspy voice. She was born in 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Sarah Julia Fagan and Clarence Holiday, a professional guitarist who left his family to pursue a musical career. From a young age, Billie faced many obstacles. His parents' difficult relationship took a toll on his emotional state. She moved from Philadelphia to a poor neighborhood where she was raped by her neighbor. His destroyed home was just the beginning of his problems. When Billie began her musical career, she was not accepted by all audiences due to her race. Despite Billie's fame and success in the music industry, she faced discrimination from the community as she navigated her music career as an African-American woman struggling with substance abuse. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayBillie Holiday faced many hardships, even as a young girl. Her mother gave birth to her when she was a teenager and her father left the family shortly after. She grew up very poor and lived in a poor neighborhood where she was raped by a neighbor at the age of 10. Her mother responded to a situation by sending her to a very harsh reformatory where she was essentially punished for being raped. Victim blaming is still prevalent in our society, even though it was even more accepted in the 1920s. Even though she was a victim of rape, Bille was punished by the school because during that time women were held responsible for their attackers' crimes. She later stated that she has never fully recovered from this experience and that it continues to haunt her. Unfortunately, Billie was raped again when she was 14 and dropped out of school. Her traumatic childhood led her to become a prostitute until she was arrested. She then turned to music as a form of coping. This coping mechanism eventually turned into a career when he began earning money by performing. As she began to build an audience and develop fame, Billie Holiday struggled with discrimination on the basis of her race. As she toured the country sharing her music, she was not accepted by many audiences, particularly in the South. Segregation was widespread in the South during the 1930s-1950s when she toured. Despite his talent and fame, he was expected to use different bathrooms, stay in different hotels, and even eat at different restaurants than white people. These bathrooms, hotels and restaurants have never looked better and may be difficult to spot. He continued to tour the South even though discrimination was taking a toll on his well-being. Billie has also been discredited in the music industry due to her race. Not only was she discriminated against by white Southerners, but she was excluded from her own race. Bands made up of fellow African-Americans wouldn't always accept her. They wouldn't let her perform with them because they believed her skin wasn't dark enough. She was only allowed to perform with them if she wore makeup to make her skin appear darker. They even suggested that she paint a red dot on her face to look Indian. Because she was discriminated against by both whites and blacks, Billie began to face an identity crisis due to a lack of sense of belonging. Billie decided to respond to the discrimination she witnessed in the South by performing "Strange Fruit" in 1939. The song specifically addresses lynching,.