Fredi Washington

Fredi Washington

Fredericka Carolyn "Fredi" Washington (December 23, 1903 – June 28, 1994) was an American stage and film actress, civil rights activist, performer, and writer. Washington was of European and African American descent, being one of the first people of color to gain recognition for their film and stage work back in the 1920s and 30s. Washington was active in the Harlem Renaissance (1920s–1930s), her best known role being "Peola" in the 1934 version of the film Imitation of Life (1934), in which she plays a young light-skinned woman who decides to pass as white. Her last film role was in One Mile from Heaven (1937), after which she left Hollywood and returned to New York to work in theatre and civil rights activism.

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