Talk:Ma Raineyの英語

Birthdays were not always remembered as easily as they are now, people did not carry identification, most African-American births were not recorded, and calendars were not as popular as they are now. At times, the mother and other family members would try to recollect such information to the best of their memories. The closer to one's birth a census was taken, the more accurate the information should be considered. The mother or father was often more accurate than the children, who years later, did not always remember, or, sometimes, they recalled the 'right' information' for the 'wrong' child. Bessie Smith's mother's report to the 1900 census should be considered more accurate than Bessie's sister gave in the 1910 census. After all, she gave birth to her. In the case of Ma Rainey, the first document to report her birthdate was the 1900 census. It states September, 1882. Although this date is not confirmed by any other document, this document is more reliable than later documents that were not confirmed by any earlier document. Later documents are more often based on educated guesses. Every ten years, regardless of ethnicity, a person's age changes frequently. Women's birthdays tended to make them younger rather than older. The date commonly given for Ma Rainey is April, 1886. This is two months before her sister Lizzie's birth as given in the 1900 census. In the 1910 census taken on April 25 (the day before her commonly listed birthday), Gertrude Raney is listed as 25. This indicates a birth year of 1884 or 1885, a date that does not confirm 1882 or 1886. I have seen several cases when the census date was later listed as a birthdate. The reason for the discrepancy in the birth year is not known, but it was common for people, not only women, to lose years as time went on. The reason for the discrepancy between April and September signifies that the family made their best educated guess, or that on the date of the 1910 census (April 25, 1910), Gertrude chose to celebrate her unknown birthday the next day and kept that day. Not coincidentally, Bessie Smith was given the birthdate of April 15 when the census was taken on April 16, 1910. Sometimes census takers assigned birthdates to people with unknown birthdates. While it is quite possible that neither September 1882 or April 1886 were accurate, the first document (the 1900 census) should not be discounted. It was not manufactured by a census taker but given by her mother. The greatness of these two blues artists requires that historical dates are not assigned arbitrarily. --Daviddaniel37 11:50, 16 March 2008 (UTC)