The International Sweethearts broke attendance records and toured as a USO act – but
racism and sexism largely swept them from public record
![We loved each other: America’s first racially integrated all-girl swing band](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6709c501923f3f54260dfad859038fde7fa6daef/0_1457_2912_1747/master/2912.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=cccdf504e3230f9d134d3b25df911760)
Rosalind Cron is a vibrant 95-year-old in red lipstick. She stands 4ft 8in tall, and is the keeper of a beautiful, under-told story about America’s first racially integrated, all-girl swing band, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She is one of two surviving Sweethearts in their 90s, and a lucid, bright storyteller.
She greeted me on an early December afternoon in her assisted living facility outside of
Los Angeles, where she had made room for a piano and memorabilia.