I don’t feel a particular need to do anything special for Black History Month. After all at That Black Girl Site, we are news 365 days a year. But I do think it is a great time to start a new feature called That Black Girl of The Week. Because sometimes the sisters, we love, admire or want to know more about aren’t front and center in the news. Hell, sometimes they’re off everyone’s radar altogether. Such is the case with Florence Ballard, whose contribution to Motown has been reduced to a tragic footnote. Or wishful thinking if you watched Diana Ross discussing Florence’s departure from the group on “Inside The Actor’s Studio” a couple of years ago. 

And for a lot of people who weren’t alive during the Supreme’s reign in the  Motown heyday (this is their 50th anniversary after all), their only frame of reference for Florence might be the character Effie in Dream Girls, which won Jennifer Hudson an Academy Award—which was loosely based upon her. 

But understand this: her leaving didn’t end with “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”. Apparently though the scene where the replacement is all primed and ready was not so far off the mark. According to Ballard (in the interview below), Cindy Birdsong had been prepped for an entire year and was even brought in to study a performance in person (how humiliating).

Without Ballard, however, there would be no Supremes— since she co-founded the orginal group the Primettes. She sung lead until Gordy’s eye on Ross changed all that. And because her voice was so strong she was made to stand far away from the mike so she wouldn’t overpower the others (see the video below).

But she didn’t take any of this lying down. Ballard was a thorn in Berry Gordy’s side because she didn’t want to be controlled. She apparently fought him to the end. However, she also had some serious issues of her own. Many trace her chronic depression and alcohol problems to her refusal to deal with a rape which occurred when she was a teenager. 

Florence Ballard is celebrated much because her story runs counter to the American Dream that was realized for black artists through Motown. But her talent , contributions to R&B music and her story, although it is doesn’t have a happy ending, should never be forgotten. Read more about her in Peter Benajminson’s book The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard (Lawrence Hill Books 2008).

Here an audio interview with Florence, a journalist’s account of how she was treated by Motown, and a video that include her daughters, as well as ones her singing the lead of “Buttered Popcorn” and “Save Me A Star.”