Feisty Female Friday: Eartha Kitt

The FFF this week is Eartha Kitt.

Eartha Mae Kitt was born in SC. Her mother was a sharecropper of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent and was just 14 years-old when she was born. She never knew the identity of her white father.

At the age of eight Eartha left the cotton fields of SC and moved to Harlem to live with an aunt. A teacher helped her enroll in the NY School of Performing Arts but at 15, she quit high school to work in a Brooklyn factory, living in friends' homes, and in the subways. At 16, she had sung and danced her way out of poverty and into the spotlight performing with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe on a European tour, soloing at a Paris nightclub, and becoming the toast of the Continent. Eartha performed all around the world, learned to sing in 10 languages, later released best-selling albums and books, and was a star both on stage and screen. Her most famous role was as Cat Woman in the 1960s Batman television series. She is one of a handful of performers nominated for Grammy, Emmy and Tony Awards.

Eartha was also an international civil rights advocate and refused to perform for segregated audiences. When on tour, she always met with youth groups and later became a spokesperson for UNICEF. During a White House meeting on juvenile delinquency, she voiced her opposition to US involvement in the Vietnam War. Within days, the CIA compiled a dossier on her and was subsequently blackballed in the US. She never regretted speaking out and faced criticism for touring South Africa during apartheid. Her integrated performances weakened the system, she said, as she raised money for black schools and spoke with the children there.

Eartha returned to the US and was invited to the White House by President Carter. She spent the next decades earning more accolades and continuously working until passing at the age of 81 at her home Connecticut.