Bessie Smith did not have any biological children. However, she adopted a son named Jack Gee Jr., after her marriage to Jack Gee. Following her death in 1937, the details of her adopted son’s life are not widely documented.
Bessie Smith, often referred to as the “Empress of the Blues,” was a prominent blues singer during the 1920s and 1930s. Despite her fame and the legacy she left in the world of music, her personal life, particularly concerning her adopted son, remains relatively obscure to the public.
Smith married Jack Gee, a security guard, in 1923, and the couple later decided to adopt a child, whom they named Jack Gee Jr., after his adoptive father. The marriage between Smith and Gee was tumultuous, marked by infidelity and financial disputes, and they eventually separated.
After Bessie Smith’s tragic death from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1937, her estranged husband, Jack Gee, took custody of their adopted son. There is little information available about Jack Gee Jr.’s life after his mother’s death. It is known that he was still a child at the time of her passing, but his later years, including his career, personal life, and the impact of his mother’s legacy on him, have not been well-documented or made public.
The lack of information about Jack Gee Jr. is not uncommon for the children of celebrities, especially during that era, as the media did not always follow the lives of the offspring of famous individuals as closely as they might today. As a result, the story of Bessie Smith’s son remains largely untold, and he is remembered primarily in connection with his legendary mother’s remarkable career and contribution to the blues genre.