Frederika “Fredi” Washington, a Black performer traveled with Duke Ellington and his band in the early 1930s. Lithe and light-skinned, she was pale enough to “pass” as white in the color-obsessed South, and during the tour she took advantage of her skin color to slip into whites-only ice cream parlors and buy ice cream for the entire band. Washington may have used her skin color to procure cool treats on the road, but she refused to use it for economic and social gain. #BlackHistoryMonth To lear