Editing Ella Fitzgerald (section)

==Early life and family==
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917, in [[Newport News, Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 11, 2015 |title=Biography |url=http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/about/biography |access-date=December 21, 2018 |website=Ella Fitzgerald}}</ref> She was the daughter of William Ashland Fitzgerald, a transfer wagon driver from [[Blackstone, Virginia]], and Temperance "Tempie" Henry, both described as [[mulatto]] in the 1920 census.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=4}} Her parents were unmarried but lived together in the [[East End (Newport News, Virginia)|East End section]] of Newport News<ref name="Whitaker 2011 p. 302">{{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=Matthew |url={{Google books|RSGhEUq5bp0C|page=302|plainurl=yes}} |title=Icons of Black America: Breaking Barriers and Crossing Boundaries |publisher=Greenwood |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-37643-6 |volume=1 |location=Santa Barbara |page=302 |oclc=781709336}}</ref> for at least two and a half years after she was born. In the early 1920s, Fitzgerald's mother and her new partner, a Portuguese immigrant named Joseph da Silva,{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=4}} moved to [[Yonkers, New York]].{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=4}} Her half-sister, Frances da Silva, was born in 1923.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=5}} By 1925, Fitzgerald and her family had moved to nearby School Street, a poor Italian area.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=5}} She began her formal education at the age of six and was an outstanding student, moving through a variety of schools before attending Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in 1929.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|pp=7, 13}}

She and her family were [[Methodists]] and were active in the Bethany [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]], where she attended worship services, [[Bible study (Christianity)|Bible study]], and Sunday school.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=6}} The church provided Fitzgerald with her earliest experiences in music.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=7}} Starting in third grade, Fitzgerald loved dancing and admired [[Earl Snakehips Tucker]]. She performed for her peers on the way to school and at lunchtime.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=6}}

Fitzgerald listened to jazz recordings by [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Bing Crosby]], and [[The Boswell Sisters]]. She loved the Boswell Sisters' lead singer [[Connee Boswell]], later saying: "My mother brought home one of her records, and I fell in love with it...I tried so hard to sound just like her."<ref name="nyobit">{{Cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=June 16, 1996 |title=Ella Fitzgerald, the Voice of Jazz, Dies at 79 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/16/nyregion/ella-fitzgerald-the-voice-of-jazz-dies-at-79.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626155432/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/16/nyregion/ella-fitzgerald-the-voice-of-jazz-dies-at-79.html |archive-date=June 26, 2023 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1932, when Fitzgerald was 15 years old, her mother died from injuries sustained in a car accident.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 11, 2015 |title=Biography |url=http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/about/biography |access-date=February 7, 2018 |publisher=EllaFitzgerald.com (Official website)}}</ref> Fitzgerald's stepfather took care of her until April 1933 when she moved to Harlem to live with her aunt.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=14}} This seemingly swift change in her circumstances, reinforced by what Fitzgerald biographer [[Stuart Nicholson (jazz historian)|Stuart Nicholson]] describes as rumors of "ill treatment" by her stepfather, leaves him to speculate that Da Silva might have abused her.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=14}}

Fitzgerald began skipping school, and her grades suffered. She worked as a lookout at a [[Brothel|bordello]] and with a Mafia-affiliated [[Numbers game|numbers]] runner.<ref name="rich">{{Cite news |last=Rich |first=Frank |date=June 19, 1996 |title=Journal; How High the Moon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/19/opinion/journal-how-high-the-moon.html |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> She never talked publicly about this time in her life.<ref name="ThisDay">{{Cite web |date=November 13, 2009 |title=Ella Fitzgerald is born |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ella-fitzgerald-is-born |access-date=February 7, 2018 |publisher=[[History (U.S. TV network)|History]]}}</ref> When the authorities caught up with her, she was placed in the [[Colored Orphan Asylum]] in [[Riverdale, Bronx|Riverdale]] in [[The Bronx]].<ref name="Bernstein">{{Cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Nina |date=June 23, 1996 |title=Ward of the State; The Gap in Ella Fitzgerald's Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/23/weekinreview/ward-of-the-state-the-gap-in-ella-fitzgerald-s-life.html |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> When the orphanage proved too crowded, she was moved to the [[New York Training School for Girls]], a state reformatory school in [[Hudson, New York]].<ref name="Bernstein" />