“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.”
TRQ: Josephine Baker, Born June 3, 1906
Singer, actress, dancer Josephine Baker, undeniably an international superstar, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Though the identity of her biological father remained a mystery, Baker was born into a family of vaudeville performers with little money. Baker suffered periods of homelessness as well as physical and sexual abuse when she earned income by cleaning homes of white families.
Against her mother’s wishes, Baker pursued a career in entertainment, that started in St. Louis but soon led her to New York City where she performed at the Plantation Club during the Harlem Renaissance. However, only when Baker moved to Paris at the age of 19 did she begin to experience some success in her career.
In Paris she first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in La Revue Nègre, which opened on October 2, 1925. Baker became instantly known for her performances of the erotic “Danse Sauvage,” in a costume of beaded necklaces and a skirt of artificial bananas. Occasionally she was joined onstage by her pet cheetah, Chiquita, who wore a diamond collar. Although today her dress may be interpreted as colonialist, Baker’s sense of fashion coincided with the emergence of Art Deco, and a broad renewed interest in African art.
In 1926 Baker starred at the famous cabaret and music hall Folies Bergère, and quickly became one of the most popular entertainers in France, which was remarkable for an American. She became friends with writer Ernest Hemingway, who described her as “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw,” as well as artists Picasso and Jean Cocteau.
In 1927, Baker began starring in films, the first being Siren of the Tropics. By 1930, Baker was working to transform herself into a chanteuse, and her song “J’ai Deux Amours,” released in 1931, made her even more famous. After starring in Zouzou (1934) and Princesses Tam Tam (1935), Baker married industrialist Jean Lion, and became a French citizen in 1937.
During World War II, Baker began working with the Deuxième Bureau, and started collecting information on German officials for the French government at the parties she attended with little suspicion. After Germany invaded France, she snuck messages written in invisible ink on her sheet music, or pinned to her underwear, across the border. As a touring performer, Baker supported the French and English by collecting information as she travelled through Europe, Portugal and South America. After the war, the French military awarded her the Criox de guerre.
During the 1950’s, as she toured the United States, Baker focused on the Civil Rights movement in America. She exposed and denounced racism through articles and lectures, and refused to perform for segregated audiences. Through her efforts, Baker desegregated Las Vegas, well before Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank Sinatra.
Launched in Miami, Baker’s tour was met with an enthusiastic response and rave reviews. Celebrated with a parade in Harlem, Baker was named the NAACP’s “Woman of the Year.” The NAACP named May 20, 1951 “Josephine Baker Day.”
On February 3, 1952, Baker explained her position. “A year ago when I decided to come to North America, I had it put in my contract that I would not appear in any city where my people could not come to see me, and at each time that there has been an approach to my coming to St. Louis I have always refused.”
“Oh, I have had several fantastic offers in the first class theaters and nightclubs, but when the question arrived about my people coming to see me, immediately there was a silence,” Baker said of her first performance in St. Louis in over thirty years.
Baker’s tour of the United States, however, hit a sour note after she criticised both the Stork Club in New York City for its tendency to discriminate against black patrons, and columnist Walter Winchell for not speaking out on the issue. Winchell responded with an attack on Baker, accusing her of being a Communist, which ended her American work visa and left her with no choice but to return to France.
Baker eventually returned to the United States, as the only official female speaker at the March on Washington with Martin Luther King, Jr. She introduced Rosa Parks and Daisy Bates as the “Negro Women for Civil Rights.”
During her speech that day, Baker described her anger over discrimination. “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,” Baker said. “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….”
After Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination in 1968, Coretta Scott King offered Baker a leadership role in the movement. Baker, out of consideration of her twelve adopted children, known as “The Rainbow Tribe,” turned down the offer.
Baker was bisexual, who was married to four husbands and had affairs with numerous women, including artist Frida Kahlo, blues singer Clara Smith, and novelist Colette. Although she kept her relationships with women private, her unapologetic sexuality inspired new understandings of both possibility and positivity.
In her later years, Baker faced financial difficulties, and when she lost her home, Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco stepped in and offered a villa.
In 1975 after taking to the stage in Joséphine à Bobino 1975, a critically acclaimed celebration of her 50-year career, Baker suffered from a cerebral haemorrhage. She was found in her bed, surrounded by overwhelmingly positive reviews of her final performance, which had been attended by Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, Sophia Loren, Liza Minnelli, and Shirley Bassey. She passed away on April 12, 1975 at the age of 68. 20,000 people took to the streets of Paris to mourn her death.
In 1991, HBO premiered The Josephine Baker Story, which earned five Emmys and a Golden Globe. She was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and Channing Avenue was renamed Josephine Baker Boulevard. In 2006 Beyoncé performed an interpretation of Baker’s “Danse sauvage” at the Fashion Rocks concert at Radio City Music Hall. The documentary Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening (2018) premiered with new archival footage. The Rainbow Honor Walk in San Francisco’s Castro district inducted Baker in 2019.
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