Josephine Baker

"If an orchid could sizzle, it would be something like Josephine Baker."
The Los Angeles Examiner

Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Carrie McDonald, was a laundress who struggled to support her family; her father, Eddie Carson, was a drummer in a vaudeville show who abandoned the family when Josephine was a baby. Carrie McDonald remarried, but Josephine's stepfather, Arthur Martin, was often unemployed, and the family had a difficult time getting by. At the age of eight, Josephine began working as a domestic servant for White families, something she continued to do until she was thirteen, when she dropped out of school. At thirteen, she found a position as a waitress and met and married her first husband, Willie Wells. She soon separated from him and joined a traveling vaudeville troupe.

When the Jones Family Band and the Dixie Steppers stopped touring, Josephine applied for a position as a chorus girl in the highly successful show Shuffle Along, the first big Broadway hit featuring African American artists. She was turned down because the casting directors felt she was too young, too thin, and too dark. They employed her instead as a dresser, helping the dancers and actresses don their costumes for the comedy revue. On her own, she learned all the dance routines, and when a dancer was ill and could not perform, Josephine became a convenient replacement. In 1921, when she was fifteen, she was given the position of "end girl," a comic role in which she pretended to be too uncoordinated to keep up with the rest of the line of dancers. She stole the show, performing with great skill and comedic timing. When Shuffle Along closed in 1924, Josephine starred in Chocolate Dandies, another Broadway production. She continued to receive acclaim as a comedienne.

Josephine had married Willie Baker in 1921. Although that marriage did not last, she kept his surname throughout her career. In 1925 Josephine Baker went to Paris to join the cast of Le Revue Negre, and she became a huge hit at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees. Critics gave her great reviews, and it was not only because at nineteen her figure had filled out nicely and she was performing with nothing on but a skirt of feathers. She became a star in Paris overnight, with her Le Danse de Sauvage (Dance of the Savage). The next year, at the Folies Bergere, Baker continued to captivate French audiences with her exuberant, jazz-inspired dance style and an outfit which became her signature costume, made simply of sixteen bananas tied together around her waist as a skirt. Baker was often cast as a local girl with whom a French colonialist would fall in love; European audiences were fascinated with her because to them, Baker represented the exotic mystique of Black womanhood. She got about 1,500 proposals of marriage.

By 1927, Baker was the highest earning woman in the European entertainment industry. She had also become one of the most photographed women in the world, with nicknames like, "Black Venus" and "Black Pearl." Ernest Hemingway was among her most ardent fans, and she inspired artists Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, and Alexander Calder. Baker found that life in France was far less restrictive than life in the segregated United States, and in the early 1930s she moved her family from St. Louis to her chateau in France.

In addition to dancing and performing in comedy, Baker was a singer. She cut her first record in 1930, and in the next couple of years starred in two movies: Zou-Zou, and Princess Tam-Tam.

In 1935 Baker returned to the United States to star in the Ziegfield Follies. Even though she was a major celebrity in Europe, White American audiences and critics were not ready to accept the image of an African American woman as a sophisticated, glamorous persona. Her performances received poor reviews, with the New York Times going so far as to call her a "Negro wench." Baker returned to Paris in 1937, married Frenchman Jean Lion, and became a French citizen and permanent expatriate.

Baker loved animals, and was often seen walking her pet leopard Chiquita in the fashionable streets of Paris. She also had several dogs, cats, and birds, a goat, a chimpanzee named Ethel and a pig named Albert. She liked children, too. In 1942 she gave birth to a stillborn child and almost died, ending up with an emergency hysterectomy. She could never have children of her own, but between 1954 and 1965 she adopted twelve children of different races and ethnicities, whom she referred to as her "Rainbow Tribe". She said she wanted to show the outside world how it was possible for people of different colors to love each other and live together as a family.

During World War II, Baker worked for the French Resistance against the Nazis. As a celebrity, she was able to travel around Europe more freely than most people. She helped French spies get from one country to another by including them in her entourage, and smuggled intelligence documents written in invisible ink on her sheets of music. In 1946 the government of France awarded her the Croix de Guerre and the Medal of the Resistance.

In 1947 Baker married her fourth husband, orchestra leader Jo Bouillon. In 1951 Baker returned to the United States for a tour as an established entertainer. One of the main reasons she did so was to fight segregation laws in her homeland. She insisted that venues where she performed be integrated, and refused to stay in segregated hotels. Her efforts were applauded by the African American community and the budding Civil Rights Movement; she was honored by the NAACP as the Outstanding Woman of the Year. She attended the March on Washington in 1963 and gave several benefit performances to aid Civil Rights organizations.

By 1969, supporting the Rainbow Tribe and maintaining the French chateau in high style took a toll on Baker's personal finances. She went bankrupt and the chateau was seized by the bank. She and her family moved into a smaller home provided to her by Princess Grace of Monaco, another fan. She and Jo Bouillon divorced, and in 1973 she traveled to Acapulco with American artist Joe Brady. They privately recited wedding vows to each other in an empty church, and remained companions for the rest of her life.

In 1973, Baker was 66 years old. She returned to Carnegie Hall, where she was greeted with a standing ovation before she even began her performance-a dramatic contrast to one of her previous New York experiences. In 1975, she premiered a show at the Bobino Theater in Paris, where she performed a medley of selections from her more than fifty-year-long career. A few days later, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while taking a nap, and died at the age of 69.

Over 20,000 mourners crowded the streets of Paris as her funeral procession passed. The French government honored her with a 21-gun salute. She was buried in Monaco. Today, seventy-five years after her Paris debut, Josephine Baker remains an immensely popular Paris icon-vendors along the Left Bank of the Seine sell posters of her to tourists, depicted in her famous banana dress. The French remember her as a talented entertainer and a patriot, and here in the United States she will be remembered as a fighter for the Civil Rights of her own African American people.

"Surely the day will come when color 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

Republished 8/1/05

Home

			Josephine Baker by Susan Robinson
			Josephine Baker by Susan Robinson
		"If an orchid could sizzle, it would be something like Josephine Baker." The Los Angeles Examiner Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Carrie McDonald, was a laundress who struggled to support her family; her father, Eddie Carson, was a drummer in a vaudeville show who abandoned the family when Josephine was a baby. Carrie McDonald remarried, but Josephine's stepfather, Arthur Martin, was often unemployed, and the family had a difficult time getting by. At the age of eight, Josephine began working as a domestic servant for White families, something she continued to do until she was thirteen, when she dropped out of school. At thirteen, she found a position as a waitress and met and married her first husband, Willie Wells. She soon separated from him and joined a traveling vaudeville troupe. When the Jones Family Band and the Dixie Steppers stopped touring, Josephine applied for a position as a chorus girl in the highly successful show Shuffle Along, the first big Broadway hit featuring African American artists. She was turned down because the casting directors felt she was too young, too thin, and too dark. They employed her instead as a dresser, helping the dancers and actresses don their costumes for the comedy revue. On her own, she learned all the dance routines, and when a dancer was ill and could not perform, Josephine became a convenient replacement. In 1921, when she was fifteen, she was given the position of "end girl," a comic role in which she pretended to be too uncoordinated to keep up with the rest of the line of dancers. She stole the show, performing with great skill and comedic timing. When Shuffle Along closed in 1924, Josephine starred in Chocolate Dandies, another Broadway production. She continued to receive acclaim as a comedienne. Josephine had married Willie Baker in 1921. Although that marriage did not last, she kept his surname throughout her career. In 1925 Josephine Baker went to Paris to join the cast of Le Revue Negre, and she became a huge hit at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees. Critics gave her great reviews, and it was not only because at nineteen her figure had filled out nicely and she was performing with nothing on but a skirt of feathers. She became a star in Paris overnight, with her Le Danse de Sauvage (Dance of the Savage). The next year, at the Folies Bergere, Baker continued to captivate French audiences with her exuberant, jazz-inspired dance style and an outfit which became her signature costume, made simply of sixteen bananas tied together around her waist as a skirt. Baker was often cast as a local girl with whom a French colonialist would fall in love; European audiences were fascinated with her because to them, Baker represented the exotic mystique of Black womanhood. She got about 1,500 proposals of marriage. By 1927, Baker was the highest earning woman in the European entertainment industry. She had also become one of the most photographed women in the world, with nicknames like, "Black Venus" and "Black Pearl." Ernest Hemingway was among her most ardent fans, and she inspired artists Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, and Alexander Calder. Baker found that life in France was far less restrictive than life in the segregated United States, and in the early 1930s she moved her family from St. Louis to her chateau in France. In addition to dancing and performing in comedy, Baker was a singer. She cut her first record in 1930, and in the next couple of years starred in two movies: Zou-Zou, and Princess Tam-Tam. In 1935 Baker returned to the United States to star in the Ziegfield Follies. Even though she was a major celebrity in Europe, White American audiences and critics were not ready to accept the image of an African American woman as a sophisticated, glamorous persona. Her performances received poor reviews, with the New York Times going so far as to call her a "Negro wench." Baker returned to Paris in 1937, married Frenchman Jean Lion, and became a French citizen and permanent expatriate. Baker loved animals, and was often seen walking her pet leopard Chiquita in the fashionable streets of Paris. She also had several dogs, cats, and birds, a goat, a chimpanzee named Ethel and a pig named Albert. She liked children, too. In 1942 she gave birth to a stillborn child and almost died, ending up with an emergency hysterectomy. She could never have children of her own, but between 1954 and 1965 she adopted twelve children of different races and ethnicities, whom she referred to as her "Rainbow Tribe". She said she wanted to show the outside world how it was possible for people of different colors to love each other and live together as a family. During World War II, Baker worked for the French Resistance against the Nazis. As a celebrity, she was able to travel around Europe more freely than most people. She helped French spies get from one country to another by including them in her entourage, and smuggled intelligence documents written in invisible ink on her sheets of music. In 1946 the government of France awarded her the Croix de Guerre and the Medal of the Resistance. In 1947 Baker married her fourth husband, orchestra leader Jo Bouillon. In 1951 Baker returned to the United States for a tour as an established entertainer. One of the main reasons she did so was to fight segregation laws in her homeland. She insisted that venues where she performed be integrated, and refused to stay in segregated hotels. Her efforts were applauded by the African American community and the budding Civil Rights Movement; she was honored by the NAACP as the Outstanding Woman of the Year. She attended the March on Washington in 1963 and gave several benefit performances to aid Civil Rights organizations. By 1969, supporting the Rainbow Tribe and maintaining the French chateau in high style took a toll on Baker's personal finances. She went bankrupt and the chateau was seized by the bank. She and her family moved into a smaller home provided to her by Princess Grace of Monaco, another fan. She and Jo Bouillon divorced, and in 1973 she traveled to Acapulco with American artist Joe Brady. They privately recited wedding vows to each other in an empty church, and remained companions for the rest of her life. In 1973, Baker was 66 years old. She returned to Carnegie Hall, where she was greeted with a standing ovation before she even began her performance-a dramatic contrast to one of her previous New York experiences. In 1975, she premiered a show at the Bobino Theater in Paris, where she performed a medley of selections from her more than fifty-year-long career. A few days later, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while taking a nap, and died at the age of 69. Over 20,000 mourners crowded the streets of Paris as her funeral procession passed. The French government honored her with a 21-gun salute. She was buried in Monaco. Today, seventy-five years after her Paris debut, Josephine Baker remains an immensely popular Paris icon-vendors along the Left Bank of the Seine sell posters of her to tourists, depicted in her famous banana dress. The French remember her as a talented entertainer and a patriot, and here in the United States she will be remembered as a fighter for the Civil Rights of her own African American people. "Surely the day will come when color 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 Republished 8/1/05 Home