Eartha Kitt

Eartha Mae Kitt was a singer, actress, dancer, and activist who refused to be one thing — and did everything with a purring, electrifying intensity that made her impossible to ignore. Her recording of "Santa Baby" is a holiday standard. Her portrayal of Catwoman on the 1960s Batman series was iconic. And her 1968 confrontation with Lady Bird Johnson at a White House luncheon — where she spoke out against the Vietnam War and made the First Lady cry — was one of the most courageous acts of political dissent by any entertainer of her era.

Born on a cotton plantation in South Carolina in 1927, Kitt was the daughter of a Black mother and likely a white father — a fact that made her an outcast in her own community. Sent to live with an aunt in Harlem at eight, she found her way to dance, studying with Katherine Dunham's company and touring internationally before turning to cabaret and film.

The White House incident effectively ended her American career for a decade. The CIA opened a file on her, nightclubs refused to book her, and she was forced to work primarily in Europe. She returned triumphant in the 1980s, rebuilding her career and performing until shortly before her death at 81. She never apologized for speaking truth at the White House. She never had to.