Hazel Scott

Hazel Scott (1920 - 1981)

Trinidadian-American jazz and classical pianist and singer;

a child prodigy, she was trained at Julliard and

enjoyed an active and successful jazz career

throughout the 1930s and 1940s;

in 1950, she became the first black American to host her own TV show;

an outspoken critic of racial discrimination and segregation,

she was blacklisted during 1950s McCarthyism and

lived as an ex-pat in France for 10 years;

although she continued to perform occasionally in Europe

and in the United States, her career never recovered

and her talent fell into obscurity;

now being rediscovered via PBS's 2025 American Masters

documentary entitled The Disappearance of Miss Scott.