Was this ever common, other than Kingfish’s wife Sapphire?
More background:
There was once a commonly repeated factoid that musician Billy Preston was the son of actress Ernestine Wade, who played Sapphire Stevens on “Amos ‘n’ Andy.” Ms. Wade herself wrote a letter to Ebony magazine in 1973 to let them know that, oh, no, he wasn’t! Despite this rebuttal from a pretty reliable source the story had already taken root.
The editors supplied a note implying (to me, anyway), that Preston might have been using the term “Sapphire’s son” metaphorically.
So, the questions:
Are there any references to Preston referring to himself as “Sapphire’s son,” however it might have been worded.
Was the word ‘Sapphire’ ever in common usage in Black vernacular to refer to strong, independent women? I’m guessing that if it did, it probably arose from A&A back in the radio days.