Josephine Baker 

(1906-1975)

Actress, Dancer, Freedom Fighter

Born Freda Josephine Carson in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 3, 1906 Carrie McDonald and vaudeville drummer Eddie Carson Josephine Baker (1906-1975) became probably the most famous woman in France, if not in the entire world, for her  performances on stage as a dancer as well as her fight against the Nazis to liberate France and her love of orphan children.

In the 1920s her comic yet sensual stage presence took Europe by storm. Known as the "Black Venus," she was lavished with gifts.

She maintained her celebrity status until her death in 1975. American racism however prevented her from being fully appreciated in the United States, the place of her birth.

Her mother Carrie, abandoned shortly after Josephine's birth,  was reduced to a washerwoman in order to care for herself and her daughter. Josephine also grew up cleaning the houses of and caring for the children of wealthy white families.

And independent woman, Josephine married four times first to Willie Wells (very brief), them to American Willie Baker in 192, Frenchman Jean Lion in 1937 (through whom she became a  French citizen) and French orchestra leader Jo Bouillon in 1947 (who was with her when she adopted 12 children).

In 1919, Josephine toured the US with The Jones Family Band and The Dixie Steppers. She also eventually appeared in Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along. Her comic antics in this production gained her a reputation. As a member of  La Revue Nègre, Josephine captivated the Parisian audience with her dance partner Joe Alex with the Danse Sauvage; boldly dressed in a feather skirt with uninhibited movements, she worked the audience into a frenzy and became a Parisian sensation.

Josephine later starred in La Folie du Jour at the Follies-Bergère Theater, draped in a costume of 16 bananas strung into a skirt. In the early 30s she starred in two movies Zou-Zou and Princess Tam-Tam. Josephine baker was probably the most photographed woman of her times, probably more so than Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford.

Her returned to the US in the Ziegfield Follies was an emotional downturn. One editorialist of the NY Times referred to her as a "Negro wench." Josephine returned to Paris and those who loved her.

During World War II, Josephine performed for French troops and worked uncover smuggling secret documents. She was also a sub-lieutenant in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and was thereafter awarded the Medal of the Resistance with Rosette and named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the French government for hard work and dedication.

Her returns to the US in the 50s and 60s were not fully the disaster of twenty years earlier. She renewed her vigor in fighting American racism and engaged pro-segregationist Walter Winchell. In 1951, the NAACP named May 20,  Josephine Baker Day.

Josephine also participated in the 1963 March on Washington, and later that year gave a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall for the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). She received a standing ovation before her performance began

At a performance April 8, 1975 at the Bobino Theater in Paris, celebrities such as Princess Grace of Monaco and Sophia Loren came to see the 68-year-old Josephine perform a medley of routines from her 50 year career. Days later, however, Josephine slipped into a coma and died from a cerebral hemorrhage at 5 a.m. on April 12.

With more than 20,000 people crowding the streets of Paris, the French government honored Josephine Baker with a 21-gun salute, making Josephine Baker the first American woman buried in France with military honors. Her gravesite is in the Cimetiére de Monaco, Monaco.