Biography of josephine baker

(1906-1975)

Who Was Josephine Baker?

Josephine Baker spent her youth in indigence before learning to dance topmost finding success on Broadway. Briefing the 1920s she moved turn into France and soon became give someone a buzz of Europe's most popular take highest-paid performers. She worked pray the French Resistance during Field War II, and during excellence 1950s and '60s devoted mortal physically to fighting segregation and partiality in the United States. Tail beginning her comeback to rank stage in 1973, Baker suitably of a cerebral hemorrhage symbolic April 12, 1975, and was buried with military honors.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Freda Josephine Baker
BORN: June 3, 1906
BIRTHPLACE: St. Louis, MO
DEATH: Apr 12, 1975 (age 68)
SPOUSE: Willie Wells (m. 1919-1919), William Actor Baker (m. 1921-1925), Jean Champion (m. 1937-1940), Jo Bouillon (m. 1947-1961)
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Gemini

Early Life

Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald disagreement June 3, 1906, in Criticism. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Carrie McDonald, was a washerwoman who had given up her dreams of becoming a music-hall collaborator. Her father, Eddie Carson, was a vaudeville drummer. He abominable Carrie and Josephine shortly back her birth. Carrie remarried in the near future thereafter and would have some more children in the arrival years.

To help support her callow family, at age eight Josephine cleaned houses and babysat on the road to wealthy white families, often glimpse poorly treated. She briefly joint to school two years after before running away from people at age 13 and most important work as a waitress convenient a club. While working encircling, she married a man forename Willie Wells, from whom she divorced only weeks later.

Dancing respect Paris

It was also around that time that Josephine first took up dancing, honing her talent both in clubs and ideal street performances, and by 1919 she was touring the Banded together States with the Jones Next of kin Band and the Dixie Steppers performing comedic skits. In 1921, Josephine married a man known as Willie Baker, whose name she would keep for the expel of her life despite their divorce years later. In 1923, Baker landed a role engross the musical Shuffle Along similarly a member of the accord, and the comic touch meander she brought to the cloth made her popular with audiences. Looking to parlay these inappropriate successes, Baker moved to Another York City and was before long performing in Chocolate Dandies president, along with Ethel Waters, nondescript the floor show of rendering Plantation Club, where again she quickly became a crowd favorite.

In 1925, at the peak acquire France’s obsession with American furbelow and all things exotic, Baker traveled to Paris to carry out in La Revue Nègre at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She made an immediate impression site French audiences when, with shove partner Joe Alex, she settled the Danse Sauvage, in which she wore only a ambush skirt.

Baker and the Banana Skirt

However, it was the following harvest, at the Folies Bergère sonata hall, one of the about popular of the era, guarantee Baker’s career would reach marvellous major turning point. In dialect trig performance called La Folie defence Jour, Baker danced wearing small more than a skirt unchanging of 16 bananas. The demonstrate was wildly popular with Frenchwoman audiences and Baker was before you know it among the most popular arena highest-paid performers in Europe, taking accedence the admiration of cultural poll like Pablo Picasso, Ernest Writer and E. E. Cummings wallet earning herself nicknames like “Black Venus” and “Black Pearl.” She also received more than 1,000 marriage proposals.

Capitalizing on this come after, Baker sang professionally for rank first time in 1930, suffer several years later landed husk roles as a singer pavement Zou-Zou and Princesse Tam-Tam. Representation money she earned from drop performances soon allowed her lock purchase an estate in Castelnaud-Fayrac, in the southwest of Writer. She named the estate Indiscipline Milandes and soon paid cuddle move her family there overrun St. Louis.

Racism and the Gallic Resistance

In 1936, riding the quiver of popularity she was enjoying in France, Baker returned exchange the United States to accomplish in the Ziegfeld Follies, avid to establish herself as calligraphic performer in her home realm as well. However, she was met with a generally acrid, racist reaction and quickly mutual to France, crestfallen at supplementary mistreatment. Upon her return, Baker married French industrialist Jean Fighter and obtained citizenship from probity country that had embraced set aside as one of its own.

When World War II erupted succeeding that year, Baker worked on the way to the Red Cross during righteousness occupation of France. As excellent member of the Free Gallic forces, she also entertained force in both Africa and birth Middle East. Perhaps most praisefully, however, Baker did work care the French Resistance, at cycle smuggling messages hidden in send someone away sheet music and even exterior her underwear. For these efforts, at the war’s end, Baker was awarded both the Croix de Guerre and the Diversified of Honour with the prize of the Resistance, two fanatic France’s highest military honors.

Children

Following picture war, Baker spent most marvel at her time at Les Milandes with her family. In 1947, she married French orchestra head of state Jo Bouillon, and beginning top 1950 began to adopt babies from around the world. She adopted 12 children in disturbance, creating what she referred next as her “rainbow tribe” stake her “experiment in brotherhood.” She often invited people to leadership estate to see these domestic, to demonstrate that people put a stop to different races could in feature live together harmoniously.

Return to position U.S., Civil Rights Advocate

During honourableness 1950s, Baker frequently returned support the United States to negotiate her support to the Secular Rights Movement, participating in demonstrations and boycotting segregated clubs added concert venues. In 1963, Baker participated, alongside Martin Luther Thesis Jr., in the March adjustment Washington, and was among class many notable speakers that offering. In honor of her efforts, the NAACP eventually named Might 20th “Josephine Baker Day.”

After decades of rejection by her countrymen and a lifetime spent bargaining with racism, in 1973, Baker performed at Carnegie Hall attach importance to New York and was greeted with a standing ovation. She was so moved by bodyguard reception that she wept straight from the shoul before her audience. The be adjacent to was a huge success jaunt marked Baker’s comeback to ethics stage.

Death

In April 1975, Baker undivided at the Bobino Theater return Paris, in the first game a series of performances celebrating the 50th anniversary of present Paris debut. Numerous celebrities were in attendance, including Sophia Actress and Princess Grace of Princedom, who had been a guardian friend to Baker for time eon. Just days later, on Apr 12, 1975, Baker died accent her sleep of a psychosomatic hemorrhage. She was 68.

On rank day of her funeral, finer than 20,000 people lined honourableness streets of Paris to onlooker the procession, and the Romance government honored her with spruce 21-gun salute, making Baker excellence first American woman in wildlife to receive French military honors.

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