Sarah Julia Fagan, All You Need To Know

Mother of Billie “Lady Day” Holiday, the renowned singer.

Sarah and Clarence had their daughter without living or marrying. Clarence left home after Eleanora’s birth to perform jazz guitar and banjo. Sarah was pregnant when her parents kicked her out of their Baltimore home at 19. She then relocated to Philadelphia. Eva Miller, her older married half-sister, offered to watch her child in Baltimore without parental aid.

About Sarah Julia Fagan

Billie moved to Harlem with her mother in early 1929. Florence Williams, 151 West 140th Street brothel owner, was well-dressed. Billie, 14, was one of the youngest prostitutes in town when she started working for $5 per hour. On May 2, 1929, the residence was searched and residents arrested. Sarah and Billie left the workhouse two months later.

Eleanora Fagan gave birth to Billie Holiday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 7, 1915. When she was born, her parents, Sarah Julia Fagan and Clarence Holiday were only 16 and 18 years old. Her talent may have come from her father, Clarence, a legendary jazz vocalist. Billie had an arduous life journey. Billie never had a father figure in her life.

SARAH FAGAN’S EARLY YEARS

Sarah Julia Fegan was born into a black household in an American nation. While in a Baltimore public school, she fell in love with Clarence Holiday, aged fourteen. Sarah became pregnant at 19 after falling in love with her next-door neighbour, Clarence. When Sarah gave birth to her daughter Billie, Clarence and Sarah neither lived together nor married.

Billie’s birth forced Clarence to leave his family behind so he could pursue his passion for jazz, banjo, and guitar. Because her parents abandoned her, Sarah had to go to Philadelphia to arrange for care for her baby in Baltimore with her older half-sister, Eva Miller. Sarah Julia Fagan was a black American citizen and the twelfth child in a seventeen-year-old family.

The life of Sarah Julia Fagan at home

At the start of 1929, Billie moved to Harlem with her mother. Florence Williams was a smartly dressed woman who ran a brothel at 151 West 140th Street. Although young, Billie, one of the town’s most youthful prostitutes, worked for $5 a session. On May 2, 1929, the house was stormed and the residents arrested. After serving two months in a workhouse, Sarah and Billie were released.

Billie Holiday was born to Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 7, 1915. Sarah Julia Fagan and Clarence Holiday were just 16 and 18 when she was born. Her father, Clarence, a legendary jazz musician, may have given her talent. The course of Billie’s life was anything but simple. Billie had no father figure in her childhood.

Career, Family, and Profession

Sarah wed Philip Gough when Billie was a year old, but the couple divorced when Billie was just five years old. Following the divorce, life got complicated, and her daughter encountered numerous obstacles.

Billie started skipping school at nine because she had trouble with African-American girls. At 10, she returned to school, but not without experiencing abuse and brutalization.

Sarah Julia Fagan and her daughter Julia began working as prostitutes for five dollars when things got hard in their lives. At fourteen years old, Sarah’s daughter was the youngest prostitute in the community.

The mother and daughter were detained at work and had to serve a seven-month jail sentence.

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Children of Sarah Julia Fagan

Sarah Julia Fagan had only one daughter, Billie “Lady Day” Holiday, who became well-known for her jazz musical talent, which she most likely inherited from her father.

Despite the obstacles and difficult upbringing, Billie became well-known as an African-American jazz vocalist. At eighteen, Billie began performing in nightclubs after receiving an invitation to join their band from John Hammond, who had heard her sing at a Harlem bar.

Between 1935 and 1939, she became well-known worldwide when she recorded music on Young’s piano. Billie also worked at the Society cafe, where she met Jimmy Monroe, her husband, a drug dealer.

Billie developed an addiction and began to sing depressing songs when Jimmy Monroe exposed her to opium and heroin. Most would say she became the goddess of evil and sad tunes later in her career.