Bessie Smith stands at a bar in a bar singing a blues song. She is wearing a black dress with spots on it and a hat and she is an African American or Black woman. She has her hand on a glass mug of beer and the bartender is smoking behind the bar. Next we see a crowd seated at tables in a nightclub. The camera pans across the people over to a large band which is playing. They are a jazz or blues band with instruments such as guitar, drums, trumpet, saxophone, and bass. The band cannot be heard because the woman is still singing at the bar. The camera shows some of the crowd singing with her, then she is shown swaying drunkenly at the bar and singing. All the people appear to be Black or of African American descent.