Josephine Baker | Part One
French dancer 💃🏽 Entertainer 👯♀️ Civil Rights activist ✊🏽 World War II spy 🕵️
Josephine Baker was an American born French dancer, entertainer and civil rights activist and an icon of the 1920’s. Her memorable onstage performances and banana skirt became symbolic of the extravagant live entertainment that exploded in the jazz and swing clubs of Paris and New York during the roaring 20’s.
Born Freda Josephine McDonald in 1906 in St Louis Missouri.
Baker’s parents were both vaudeville entertainers who performed around the segregated south. Josephine grew up in extreme poverty and by her teens had already left school to make a living dancing on street corners.
At age 15, against her mother’s wishes, she left for New York City to perform with her vaudeville troupe.
In New York, Baker stood out amongst a city of bustling performers that had flocked to town during the Harlem Renaissance. Due to her charisma and unique ability to mix complex stage dancing with a unique comical style, this eventually led to Josephine being billed as the “the highest-paid chorus girl in vaudeville”.
This success in New York would eventually lead to her being given the chance to perform in Paris, where she would headline such venues as the Folies Bergère. In Paris, her fame and notoriety would flourish in the midst of an artistic revolution.
The most photographed woman in the world.
On stage Baker incorporated African styles and themes into her performances. She astonished her conservative, mostly white audiences with her unique performances and her extravagant outfits such as her iconic banana skirt.
During this time, Baker broke down many barriers for black entertainers including being first Black woman to star in a major motion picture. Baker played Papitou the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics. She eventually earnt the title of highest earning entertainer in Europe.