Gladys Bentley (1907-1960) was a blues singer who rose to fame during the Harlem Renaissance. She began her career in the 1920s performing in Harlem clubs while dressed as a man and singing raunchy lyrics. However, due to rising McCarthyism in the 1950s, Bentley changed her act and image, dressing as a woman and writing about becoming a woman again in an autobiographical article. She underwent hormone treatment and married a man in an attempt to save her career, but was never able to regain her previous musical popularity before her death in 1960.