Miss Fredi as she was fondly called was an actress, writer and dancer who wowed audiences on the screen and on Broadway.

She was picked for her most famous role Peola, in the movie, “Imitation of Life” because of her visible European ancestry. Her blue-gray eyes, pale complexion and light brown hair made her quite suitable for that role. These features made audiences feel she would be her movie character in reality. She defended herself in 1934 in an interview emphasizing how proud she was of her African ancestry and how well she interpreted the character. After that movie though, other roles she got were similar. She was stuck.

That movie is recorded as one of the twenty-five most important films on race.

She was in a dilemma. Too white and beautiful to play roles as a black, too black to play romance roles with a Caucasian.

After her last movie in 1937, she went back to New York immersed in activism and theatre.