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Feb 8, 2024 · Learn about the life and achievements of Josephine Baker, a dancer, singer and activist who became a star in France and fought racism in the U.S. and Europe. Discover her early struggles, her banana skirt, her adoption of 12 children and her role in the French Resistance.
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Apr 8, 2024 · Josephine Baker (born June 3, 1906, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.—died April 12, 1975, Paris, France) was an American-born French dancer and singer who symbolized the beauty and vitality of Black American culture, which took Paris by storm in the 1920s. Baker grew up fatherless and in poverty.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Early life Baker, c. 1908 Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri. Baker's ancestry is unknown—her mother, Carrie, was adopted in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1886 by Richard and Elvira McDonald, both of whom were former slaves of African and Native American descent.
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Learn about the life and achievements of Josephine Baker, a world-famous performer, spy, and activist. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1906 and became a star in Paris, where she fought against segregation and discrimination.
- Early Life
- Getting Started
- Paris
- Return to The Us
- Civil Rights
- Death
- Legacy
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Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri. Baker's mother Carrie McDonald had hoped to be a music hall dancer but made her living doing laundry. Her father Eddie Carso, was a drummer for vaudeville shows. Baker left school at age 8 to work for a white woman as a maid. At the age of 10, she returned to...
At 16, Baker began dancing in a touring show based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her grandmother lived. By this time, she had already been married twice: to Willie Wells in 1919 and to Will Baker, from whom she took her last name, in 1921. In August 1922, Baker joined the chorus line of the touring show "Shuffle Along" in Boston, Massachuset...
In 1925 Baker moved to Paris, France, more than doubling her New York salary to $250 a week to dance at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in "La Revue Nègre" with other African-American dancers and musicians, including jazz star Sidney Bechet. Her performance style, referred to as Le Jazz Hot and Danse Sauvage, took her to international fame riding th...
In 1936, Baker returned to the United States to perform in the "Ziegfield Follies," hoping to establish herself in her home country, but she was met with hostility and racism and quickly went back to France. She married French industrialist Jean Lion and obtained citizenship from the country that had embraced her. During the war, Baker worked with ...
Baker was in the U.S. in 1951 when she was refused service at the famous Stork Club in New York City. Actress Grace Kelly, who was at the club that evening, was disgusted by the racist snub and walked out arm in arm with Baker in a show of support, the start of a friendship that would last until Baker’s death. Baker responded to the event by crusad...
In 1975, Baker's Carnegie Hall comeback performance was a success. In April she performed at the Bobino Theater in Paris, the first of a planned series of appearances celebrating the 50th anniversary of her Paris debut. But two days after that performance, on April 12, 1975, she died of a stroke at 68 in Paris.
On the day of her funeral, over 20,000 people lined the streets of Paris to witness the procession. The French government honored her with a 21-gun salute, making her the first American woman to be buried in France with military honors. Baker had remained a bigger success abroad than in her home country. Racism tainted her return visits until her C...
"Josephine Baker Biography: Singer, Civil Rights Activist, Dancer." Biography.com."Josephine Baker: French Entertainer." Encyclopedia Britannica."Josephine Baker Biography." Notablebiographies.com."Dancer, Singer, Activist, Spy: The Legacy of Josephine Baker." Anothermag.com.Learn about the life of Josephine Baker, an American-born singer, dancer, and civil rights activist who became a star in France. From her childhood in poverty and racism to her international fame and espionage, discover her achievements and legacy.
- Jone Johnson Lewis
Learn about the life and achievements of Josephine Baker, an American dancer, singer, actress, and civil rights activist who found fame in Europe. Explore her early struggles, her career highlights, her resistance work, and her legacy.
May 7, 2024 · Carl Van Vechten, photographer. Portrait of Josephine Baker, Paris. 1949. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, Josephine Baker (1906-1975) would go on to become one of the first African-American women celebrities in France and in Europe more broadly in the 1920s, gaining notoriety for her beauty and innovative performance style but also for her ...
