Welcome back to the next chapter of BOSSIP's Black History Hidden Gems, our weekly Black History Month series dedicated to uncovering overlooked Black figures, moments, and milestones. This series spotlights stories that history nearly erased, but legacy refused to forget. Recognizing Black achievement during Black History Month is not only about honoring triumph, but about reclaiming narratives of resilience, intellect, and humanity that were, in some cases, deliberately buried. Visionary virtuoso Hazel Scott's talent blazed trails across Broadway, film, and her own landmark TV show before Oprah was even born. Yet her name isn't remembered with peers like Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne. Scott's epic career was cut short for confronting Hollywood and the U.S. government about segregated crowds, racist portrayals of Black people, and political persecution a decade before the Civil Rights Movement.

Source: iOne / creative services A Piano Prodigy Becomes A Star Born in Trinidad on June 11, 1920 to West African scholar R.

Thomas Scott and classically trained pianist Alma Long Scott, it seems that Hazel Scott's meteoric rise to the top of entertainment and liberation movements was destiny. By the age of three, she became a local legend for playing piano by ear. According to PBS's American Masters, Scotts moved to Harlem, New York, in 1924 at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Scott's mother took her to audition at Juilliard at eight, half the prestigious school's minimum age. She improvised Rachmaninoff to compensate for hands too small to reach all of the keys, convincing Walter Damrosch to grant her a special admission and scholarship. At 13, Scott followed her mother's musical footsteps to play in Alma Long Scott's All-Girl Jazz Band. By 16, Scott hosted her own radio show on WOR, where she flexed complex classical piano performances. She shared the stage with the Count Basie Orchestra and made her 1938 Broadway debut in "Sing Out the News." During her gig at Manhattan's Yacht Club, the 18-year-old perfects a signature style to "Swing the Classics" with jazz's speed and syncopation. Hazel Scott Finds Her Big Break And Musical Home At The Café Society At the innovative Café Society, the first desegregated nightclub in the U.S., Billie Holiday gave Scott her big break to replace the "Strange Fruit" singer as headliner. Her star continued rise at one of the hottest and most progressive venues in the country. Scott's first album, "Swinging the Classics," became a critically acclaimed and record-breaking success in 1940. This fame and fortune became leverage to fight for equality as she continued to climb. With fans like Paul Robeson, Sinatra, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, and Eleanor Roosevelt, Scott had the power to demand in her contracts that she never perform for segregated crowds. Scott famously cancelled an Austin, Texas show when she saw the venue wasn't integrated. "Why would anyone come to hear me, a Negro, and refuse to sit beside someone just like me?" she asked Time magazine. Breaking Down Barriers In Hollywood Scott didn't change when Hollywood came calling. Despite being a newcomer, Scott turned down four film roles as a singing maid. While the industry reduced Black actors to servants, villains, and prostitutes, the triple threat's contract stipulated she would only play herself. While Hattie McDaniel couldn't find reprieve from segregation long enough to collect her historic Academy Award, Scott demanded final approval of her song selection and supplied her own elegant wardrobe. Scott became the first Afro-Caribbean woman in major Hollywood roles like I Dood It (1943), Broadway Rhythm (1944), and Rhapsody In Blue (1945). Big screen success didn't last long after filming The Heat's On (1943). Scott and Lena Horne were the only Black stars on an all-white cast, where rampant racism compelled the outspoken advocate to take a stand. Scott halted production for three days over a performance where Black women dressed in dirty aprons sent their men off to war. She called it unrealistic and demanded a wardrobe true to the pride of her people. She won the battle, but a studio executive vowed that the prolific pianist would never book another film again. Hazel Scott Makes History With Her Own TV Show & Makes An Enemy Of The U.S. Government After marrying progressive pastor-turned-New York Councilman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in 1945, Scott stopped performing at nightclubs and Café Society. The power couple welcomed a son, Adam Clayton Powell III. She went on a 35-week national tour, still demanding forfeiture for any bookings at segregated clubs, including the Jim Crow South. According to PBS, Martin Luther King Jr. later told Scott her performance was "the first time I sat in a non-segregated audience in the south was at one of your concerts." In 1950, Scott became the first Black broadcast TV host with the "Hazel Scott Show" on the Dumont Television network. No recordings of her show survived, but it w