Josephine Baker

"Surely the day will come when colour means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one’s soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.’

 

Josephine Baker (1906 – 1975) was an American-born French entertainer, military agent, and civil rights activist. If this post isn't enough, there is a really good podcast episode, You’re Dead To Me all about Baker which I highly recommend.

In 1927, Baker came the first African-American to star in a major motion picture. Beginning her career as a dancer, her famous costume consisting of a banana skirt and a beaded necklace became an iconic symbol of the Jazz Age, which brought with it a new interest in non-Western art and fashion. Born in Missouri, Baker renounced her US citizenship and became a French national after her marriage to a French man in 1937.

However, as well as perfoming, Baker is now celebrated for aiding the French Resistance during World War II. In 1939, Baker was recruited by the French military intelligence, as an "honorable correspondent". Her connections in the entertainment business – where she mixed with “those in the know” from all over the world- allowed her to collect information about German troops and to report back what she heard without suspicion. After the German invasion of France, Baker moved to her house in France where she harboured allies to the French and helped them attain visas.  Her profession gave her an excuse for travelling Europe, visiting neutral nations in Europe and South America. She carried information for transmission to England, about airfields, harbors, and German troop concentrations in the West of France. Notes were written in invisible ink on Baker's sheet music. In 1941, she took her entourage to the French colonies in North Africa, claiming this as a health retreat. She pinned notes with the information she gathered inside her underwear (counting on her celebrity to avoid a strip search). After a period of illness,  she began touring to entertain British, French, and American soldiers in North Africa. Her service in the war earned her the Croix de guerre and the Rosette de la Résistance, and she was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by General Charles de Gaulle.

“I did take the blows of life, but I took them with my chin up, in dignity. Because I so profoundly love and respect humanity.”

Her personal life is also fascinating and radical. Josephine was bisexual and had a string of same-sex affairs (including a rumoured tryst with Frida Kahlo) alongside her four heterosexual marriages (the first of which occurred when she was just 13!) and other liaisons. Sadly, Baker suffered several miscarriages - the last of which gave her an infection leading to a hysterectomy and several other health complications which aflicted for years. However, in the 60s she began adopting children of different ethnicities which she described as her “Rainbow Tribe”. She aimed to prove that "children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers." She even arranged tours so visitors could see how happy her children were. Baker saw her children as “living metaphors of what humanity should look like”. Although herself a catholic convert, she raised her children as different religions to further her model for the world.

 

“I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad. And when I get mad, you know that I open my big mouth. And then look out, 'cause when Josephine opens her mouth, they hear it all over the world.”

Despite being based in Europe, Baker supported the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s. After numerous cases of racial discrimination in bars, hotels, and restaurants she began writing articles and giving talks against racial segregation. She refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States, which earned her death threats from the KKK who she publically condemned. In 1951, Baker made charges of racism against Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club in Manhattan, where she had been refused service, supported by actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly, who became a close friend of Baker’s henceforth, often bailing her out of financial difficulty. 

Baker worked with the NAACP, of which she was made a lifelong member by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Ralph Bunche.  She championed the campaign to "Save Willie McGee"  who was wrongfully convincted of beating a white man to death.  In 1963, she spoke at the March on Washington at the side of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  Baker was the only official female speaker. While wearing her Free French uniform emblazoned with her medal of the Légion d'honneur, she introduced the "Negro Women for Civil Rights."^, thanking other important female activists including Rosa Parks and Daisy Bates.

 

However, Baker became an increasingly controversial figure. Even the black community feared that her eroticism and outspokenness would damage the cause. Others felt that her dedication to France made her an outsider to the civil issues in America. Nevertheless, after the assassination of MLK, his widow asked Baker to take his place as leader of the movement. She declined, stating her 11 children were “too young to lose their mother.” In April 1975, Baker was found lying in her bed surrounded by newspapers with glowing reviews of her performance. She had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, of which she died aged 68.

 

Josephine Baker was a truly remarkable figure, and as an important icon of both the black and LGBT+ community it seems the perfect time to remember her. Her self-confidence, talent, pride, and her extravagance, as well as her bravery, patriotism, and dedication to leading by example all make Baker one of the most interesting and influential figures of the 20^th century. While she may have been a controversial figure, one cannot deny that her celebration and embracing of her sensuality, sexuality, and ethnicity provide an excellent model for those struggling with such identities today. While I am not a member of either community, as a woman she is definitely a personal hero of mine.