Happy Jackie Washington Day! Get Into All That Is Jenifer Lewis!

Don’t act like you don’t know what day it is. Today is July 15th. A day that is undoubtedly in one of the top spots for the most celebrated made-up holidays in the world. It’s Jackie Washington Day. An icon made famous by the incomparable Black mother of Hollywood, Jenifer Lewis. If you’ve never watched the film Jackie’s Back to witness the outstanding performance Lewis gives as Jackie Washington you need to go to drop everything and watch it ASAP!

Presented as a mockumentary, Jackie’s Back chronicles the life and career of Jackie Washington (Jenifer Lewis), a 1960s/1970s R&B diva. After several years of toiling in obscurity, Washington decides to organize her own comeback concert with filmmaker Edward Whatsett St. John (Tim Curry) filming the event.

Jackie’s Back is a cult classic and is simply timeless although the filmed was released 20 years ago, June 14, 1999. Directed by the legendary Robert Townsend,  the film also starred David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, & Whoopi Goldberg with special appearances by Diahann Carroll, Liza Minnelli, Rosie O’Donnell, Chris Rock, Bette Midler, Charles Barkley, Don Cornelius, and many more!

However, Jenifer Lewis is so much more than that one iconic role and she proves it over and over.

She graced the Broadway stage on more than one occasion. If you read her book “The Mother of Black Hollywood” you’ll learn all about her theatre background. She was last seen as Motormouth Maybelle in the Broadway musical Hairspray in 2008.

However, Lewis made her Broadway debut as a replacement in the original company of Eubie! in 1978. She later went on to be a part of the original company of Comin’ Uptown (1979) & Rock ‘N Roll! The First 5,000 Years (1982).

She also keeps us cackling on ABC’s Black-ish:

We’ll never forget her in “What’s Love Got to do with It” or “In Living Color!”:

But let us not forget the amazing words of wisdom she’s laid upon us:

It can’t be lost on you how much of a treasure Jenifer Lewis is. Give her her things on this day and every other day. She deserves.