Born in St Matthews, Calhoun, South Carolina, United States
Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of
William Orrin (McDonald) Mcdonald
— married
9 Jun 1960 (to 26 Mar 1964) in Los Angeles County, California, USA
Mother of
[private daughter (1960s - unknown)]
Died
at age 81
in Weston, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States
Profile managers:
Scott Fulkerson 
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Biography
Eartha (Keith) Kitt is Notable.
Eartha (Keith) Kitt was a part of the Vietnam War Protesters Movement.
American singer, actress, dancer, comedian, activist, author, and songwriter known for her highly distinctive singing style. One of only a handful of performers to be nominated for the Tony Award (3 times), the Grammy Award (twice) and the Emmy Award (twice). Awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Eartha Mae Keith was born on 17 January 1927 in St Matthews, Calhoun County, South Carolina. She was at first raised by a woman named Anna Mae, who she assumed was her mother. But then Anna Mae moved in with a new boyfriend, and he rejected Eartha. "I do not want that yella gal in my house," she remembers him saying. "Yella", she explains, was a reference to her lighter skin.[1]
Unfortunately, in the 1930's South, this was looked upon often with anger and disgust from both sides of the fence, and she grew up in a very difficult situation. She was sent off to her "aunt" Rosa's to live. This cousin Rosa wanted nothing to do with raising a child, so even at the early age of 5 she was forced to work the cotton fields to provide for Rosa's family.
1930 CENSUS - Church Road, Limestone Township, Orangeburg, South Carolina, USA [2]
- Rosa Houser Head 30 South Carolina, Married, Negro, Laborer, Gen Farm
- Willie Houser Son 16 South Carolina, Negro, Single, Laborer, Gen Farm
- Almeda Keitt Cousin 18 South Carolina, Negro, Single, Laborer, Gen Farm
- Annie M Keitt Cousin 20 South Carolina, Negro, Single, Laborer, Gen Farm
- Essie M Keitt Cousin 3 yrs 3 mo South Carolina, Negro
Her real mother, she later learned, had been taken advantage of by the son of a white plantation owner and had given up Eartha out of shame. When she was about 8 years old, Anna Mae shipped her off to Harlem to stay with Aunt Mamie. Eartha eventually believed that Mamie actually was her birth mother.[1]
1940 CENSUS - New York City, New York, USA [3]
- Marie Wayde Head 48 South Carolina, Married, Negro
- Bernice Wayde Dau 18 Philadelphia, Negro
- Joyce Wayde Dau 17 Philadelphia, Negro
- James Wayde Son 15 New York, Negro
- Lother Thompson (f) Lodger 20 South Carolina, Negro
- Mannie Kitt (Mamie) Lodger 36 South Carolina, Negro, Maid in Private Home
- Eastha Kitt Dau 14 South Carolina, Negro
- Jacob Green Lodger 41 South Carolina, Negro, Laborer Park Maintenance
In New York, she found some measure of happiness, as she explored her talents in dancing and singing. By 1943, she had joined with the Katherine Dunham Troupe and worked with them until 1948. The late 1940's and 1950's saw her career take off, as she recorded a number of hits and began to appear on both television and the silver screen.
She married William (Bill) McDonald on 9 June 1960 in Los Angeles, California. He was a real estate investor who had fought in the Korean War and was an Army veteran. [4]They were the parents of 1 daughter and were divorced in March 1964.
While in the 1960's, she continued to appear in television, movies, and to sing in night clubs, Eartha's career was soon to take a huge hit. In 1968, she attended a luncheon at the White House and when responding to a question from Lady Bird Johnson, she made it very clear that she strongly opposed the Vietnam War and supported the hippies, their rebellious behavior, and understood their use of pot. From this incident, she was investigated and put on the government blacklist. For many years, she would struggle to find employment in the U.S. She went on to work mostly in Europe and Asia during this time.
In the early 1970's, she was on the television in England and performed on the stage in Europe. She was even nominated for a Tony Award for one such performance. By the late 1970's, she was able to resume some of her work in the U.S., performing on some voice-overs. By the 1980's, she had recorded a new hit song, and it appeared that her career had once more resumed after a brief break. By the 1990's, she was back in movies and television, and even worked a bit as a stand-up comedian.
By the 2000's, she continued to work, becoming the spokesperson for a MAC Cosmetics line and while her career was slowing down, she still made an appearance in a movie.
Eartha Kitt died at the age of 81 of colon cancer on 25 December 2008 with her beloved daughter at her side in Weston, Fairfield, Connecticut.[5]
Research Notes
- 1) -- There was a marriage license (#3976) taken out on November 23, 1933 in Saint Matthews, Calhoun, South Carolina for Annie Mae Keith, 23 years old, colored, of Calhoun county and Lonnie Sorgio, age 40, colored, of Calhoun county.[6][7]
- 2) -- The Find A Grave memorial for Eartha Kitt claims that her parents were Annie Mae Keith and Dr. Daniel Sturkey but gives NO sources or documentation of any kind.
- Eartha herself in 2 television interviews emphatically stated that she did NOT know the correct identity of her father so it's fair to say, that no one else would have had more knowledge that her!
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://theweek.com/articles/515391/kitts-uncertain-lineage
- ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SPZQ-5S2 : accessed 15 October 2021), Essie M Keitt in household of Rosa Houser, Limestone, Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 33, sheet 5B, line 88, family 89, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2208; FHL microfilm 2,341,942.
- ↑ "United States Census, 1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K3YG-N6J : accessed 30 Sep 2014), Eastha Kitt in household of Marie Wayde, Assembly District 21, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-1840, sheet 4B, family 89, NARA digital publication of T627, roll 2668.
- ↑ California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985 index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V6XK-6D5 : accessed 30 Sep 2014), William O Mcdonald and Eartha Kitt, 09 Jun 1960; citing "California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985," Ancestry.com; Los Angeles, California, Center for Health Statistics, Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
- ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JGG8-N3P : 12 January 2021), Eartha Kitt, 25 Dec 2008; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
- ↑ "South Carolina, County Marriage Licenses, 1911-1951", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZKZV-XRMM : 8 September 2021), Annie Mae Keith in entry for Lannie Sorgio, 1933.
- ↑ "South Carolina, County Marriage Licenses, 1911-1951", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZKZV-XRW2 : 8 September 2021), Annie Mae Kitt in entry for Lonnie Sorgio, 1933.
SEE ALSO:
WATCH:
- Eartha Kitt: My Family)
- Eartha Kitt: Discussing Birth Certificate Finally Discovered When She was about70 years old)
PERFORMANCES:
- Singing Santa Baby 1953
- Singing "C"est si bon" 1953
- St Louis Blues - Singing - 1958
- Singing "La Vie en Rose - early 2000s"
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Featured Eurovision connections: Eartha is 37 degrees from Agnetha Fältskog, 28 degrees from Anni-Frid Synni Reuß, 31 degrees from Corry Brokken, 18 degrees from Céline Dion, 29 degrees from Françoise Dorin, 29 degrees from France Gall, 33 degrees from Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, 31 degrees from Lill-Babs Svensson, 25 degrees from Olivia Newton-John, 38 degrees from Henriette Nanette Paërl, 37 degrees from Annie Schmidt and 16 degrees from Moira Kennedy on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
K > Keith | K > Kitt > Eartha Mae (Keith) Kitt
Categories: Singers | USBH Notables, Needs Genealogically Defined | African-American Notables | American Actors | Stage Actors | United States, Authors | Dancers | Comedians | Songwriters | Emmy Award Winners of the 21st Century | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Tony Award Nominees of the 20th Century | Tony Award Nominees of the 21st Century | Grammy Award Nominees of the 20th Century | US Black Heritage Project Managed Profiles | United States of America, Notables | Notables | Activists and Reformers
A lot of your information you are reporting here about Cousin Ms. Eartha Kitt is not Accurate. I don't know where you got it from, but quite a few things are NOT accurate. This post needs to be updated with Accurate Truthful information, NOT here say, opinions, gossip and inaccurate information. DO YOUR RESEARCH!
Ms. EARTHA KITT the International icon and star that she is deserves Our respect and completely accurate TRUE researched and documented information that is shared about her Life, Outstanding Biography, Career & Accomplishments.
There are many interviews, books, articles and resources that you can find with information out there that can supply you accurate truthful information.
Here attached below is an interview that I saw recently where Ms. KITT shares some of the Life Trauma that she experienced. It also explains who her parents where. Further, It also explains that when she moved to New York, Her relative the woman that she was living with in New York later revealed to her that SHE was her REAL MOTHER. What ever relative that died in South Carolina, she was NOT her Mother.
They waved the baby over the deceased relative to ward off voodoo?? Where did you get that outrageous information?
Ms. KITT's mother was raped by the Son of her Boss a white man in 1926 that owned the cotton plantation that her mother and her family worked on. Because she was an illegitimate born child out of that traumatic experience, Her Mother was further harassed and Ms. Eartha was discriminated against because of how she came into the world. Her mother abandoned her because she was a child and product of rape and she left and ran away to New York.
Ms. Eartha knew who her Mother was, but unfortunately her father never revealed himself. The church sent word to her Mother in New York and made arrangements for her to move to New York to live with her Mother because she was being abused by her Family in South Carolina.
Ms. Kitt also explains that she believes her Father that man that raped her Mother was of German descent because she had received letters from distant relatives from Germany telling her that they were related to the plantation owners where her Mother worked in South Carolina.
Watch the Interview. There are so many more interviews out there than you can watch that will provide you with ACCURATE information.
https://fb.watch/8DGMdCD2I9/
BLESSINGS!!
BRIAN MCGEE SERRANO FAMILY HISTORIAN
edited by Brian (Mcgee Serrano) McGee Serrano
I was also not trying to compete with Wikipedia on every aspect of her life, but at least encapsulate the high points. If I've misstated or overlooked something, I'd ask that someone more knowledgeable to please help and clear up any misunderstandings. Thanks.