Looking For A Bluebird

I was intrigued by the reference photograph for this painting from the moment I saw it. After I researched it and found out more about Florence Mills, I was even more fascinated.
Florence Mills came to fame in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s. When she was offered an opportunity to perform in the Ziegfield Follies where she would have been the only black performer on stage, she declined. Instead she took a role in an all-black production. She took the role, she said, to “give my people the opportunity of demonstrating that their talents are equal.”