366Art | Joséphine Baker

Today, June 3, is the birthday of Josephine Baker, dancer, singer, and actress, one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century. The edit above and her portrait on the musical reference works/birthday calendars below are made by me, Frieke.

Freda Josephine McDonald was born on June 3, 1906, in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. Josephine grew up in poverty; her childhood was a period where violence and looking down on people of color were normal. At the age of eight, Josephine began working as a maid for white families. She was often poorly treated and had to work hard for little money. The hardships and discrimination she experienced as a child gave her resilience and determination to succeed. Around the age of 13, she began dancing on the streets and on small stages to earn some extra money. Her talent and energy were quickly noticed, and she joined a vaudeville  group, marking the beginning of her professional career. At 15, she moved to New York City and made her Broadway debut in the revue Shuffle Along  in 1921. This was during the Harlem Renaissance, a flourishing period for African American art and culture. Although she primarily performed as a dancer, she also got the chance to sing. Josephine was still a teenager when she married Willie Baker in 1921. Although the marriage did not last long, she continued to use his last name.

In 1925, Josephine Baker moved to Paris. In Paris, Baker experienced a freedom and acceptance she had not found in the United States, where she faced segregation and racism. Baker made her debut in La Revue Nègre  on October 2, 1925, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Her performance, especially her dance in a skirt of bananas, caused a sensation and made her instantly famous. Baker became known for her exotic and daring performances, and the audience called her "The Black Pearl." Baker's success in Paris helped break racial barriers, both in Europe and in the United States. She became famous for her performances in the Folies Bergère and other Parisian theaters. Some of her famous songs include J'ai deux amours (1931), Sous le ciel d'Afrique (1933), La Conga Blicoti (1936) en Haiti (1937). The compilation album This is Joséphine Baker  provides a good overview of her musical career.

In the mid-1930s, Josephine Baker returned to her homeland, where she appeared on Broadway in the play Ziegfeld Follies. Her return should have been a great success, but instead, it was a major disappointment. The New York Times even called her a "negro wench." Upon returning to France, she married Jean Lion in 1937. Through this marriage, she also obtained French nationality. Back in France, where she was welcomed and celebrated as a star, she resumed her successful career and continued to perform in theaters and nightclubs. Despite the disappointing return to the United States, this experience strengthened her determination to fight against racism and segregation. She became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement, both in the US and in France.

Josephine Baker was also known for her extravagant and flamboyant lifestyle, which included her love for animals. She bought a chimpanzee, a pig, a snake, a goat, and several cats and dogs. One of the most iconic aspects of her image was her habit of walking through Paris with her cheetah, which she called Chiquita and which wore a diamond collar.

When the war broke out, Baker joined the French Resistance. She smuggled intelligence, often hiding secret messages in her sheet music. Baker used her tours to gather and pass on information. She traveled through neutral and allied countries, using her performances as a cover for her resistance activities. Baker settled in North Africa and worked with the Free French forces led by General Charles de Gaulle, using her farm as a hideout for resistance fighters and a storage place for weapons. For her bravery and contributions to the French Resistance, Josephine Baker received several decorations and was appointed Chevalier (Knight) in the Légion d'Honneur, one of France's highest honors. After the war, Baker returned to her entertainment career. In 1947, she married the Frenchman Jo Bouillon. With him, she bought Château des Milandes  in the Dordogne. Baker had a grand dream for the Château: she wanted to create a "village of peace," a place where children of different ethnic backgrounds could live together and grow up in harmony. She adopted twelve children of different nationalities and cultures, calling this her rainbow tribe. The children were raised at the castle and received a comprehensive education that included both their cultural backgrounds and the values of tolerance and peace.

In the early 1950s, Josephine returned to America. She performed in theaters in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Miami and wanted to appear only in venues with integrated audiences. At that time, people of color were separated from white visitors. Because this caused some performances to be canceled, she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and became an icon. One of the most notable moments in Baker's civil rights activism was her participation in the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. Baker was the only female speaker on the stage and wore a military uniform jacket with her decorations. She gave a powerful speech in which she shared her experiences with racism and her vision of equality. She said, among other things: "I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad." It was only at the end of her career that she broke through in her homeland. In 1973, before her concert at New York's Carnegie Hall even began, she received a standing ovation from the audience.

Her last performance was on April 8, 1975. Baker performed in Paris to celebrate her 50th anniversary. The night after this performance, she suffered a stroke, fell into a coma, and died in the early morning of April 12. She was 68 years old. A crowd gathered in the streets at her funeral to say goodbye. The French government honored her with a 21-gun salute, an exceptional farewell.

On November 30, 2021, she was interred in the Panthéon in Paris, the honorary cemetery for great figures in French history, such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and Louis Braille. It was a tribute due to her resistance work in World War II, her commitment as an activist for equal rights, and her broad societal significance. ❤