Eartha Kit was born on January 17 1927 on a cotton plantation in South Carolina. She was raised by a woman called Anna Mae, who she believed was her mother. The singer later said that her father was the white son of the plantation owner. Named Eartha after the year’s good crop, she lived with Anna Mae in grinding poverty until her mother met a new husband who rejected the mixed race child. Eartha Kitt was sent away to poor relations, saying later: “If you’re mulatto you’re not black enough to belong to the blacks and not white enough to belong to the whites. Eartha Kitt was then sent to live with Mamie Kitt in Harlem, New York City. She was told that Mamie was her ‘aunt’, but in later life came to believe that she was in fact her biological mother who had abandoned her from “shame”.
That’s just the beginning of an amazing story that ended when Eartha Kitt passed away this Christmas. For more information on her incredible journey, click here.
For a selection of Eartha Kitt’s works from iTunes, please visit the sidebar on HarlemCondoLife.com
