The life of Josephine Baker
is a dazzling rags-to-riches story of a musical icon,
stage sensation,
and heroine of the French Resistance,
who took 20th Century Europe by storm –
think Janelle Monáe meets James Bond.
Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald
in St Louis, Missouri in 1906.
Her mother had dreams of being a dancer,
but made a living as a laundress.
We’re not sure who her dad was,
but we do know her childhood was difficult.
She worked from the age of 8, and spent time
as a live-in maid for a cruel employer
who made Josephine sleep in a box in the basement.
The East St Louis race riots broke out in 1917,
and Josephine left shortly after
to pursue her dreams of stardom.
She worked on some touring shows,
but having already been married twice by the age of 15,
she moved to New York.
Neither were happy marriages,
but she kept Willie Baker’s surname.
After landing roles in successful black stage shows,
her talent, stage presence
and utterly unique dancing style
got her a reputation as a ‘funny girl’.
Baker was then spotted by a scout
and soon after packed her bags and set sail for Paree.
Baker adored Paris, saying that the first time she danced there
it felt like a frenzy took possession of her body.
Not only did Baker have that ‘je ne sais quoi’ on stage,
she was also a sartorial sensation, and it was
in Paris the world first saw
Baker’s famously provocative banana skirt.
Fruity!
Skyrocketing to fame, Baker embarked on a world tour
and opened her own cabaret club called Chez Josephine.
She became one of the highest paid entertainers
in the world.
You could even buy a Josephine Baker doll.
Baker was now making serious money
and bought a luxury hotel suite.
She also acquired a few pets –
parakeets, monkeys, a tortoise,
a horse, a goat, a pig, a chimpanzee,
Kiki the friendly snake and, of course,
the diamond collar-cladded Chiquita the cheetah
who accompanied Baker on trips to the cinema.
But animals weren’t her only love.
After a marriage to her manager,
Giuseppe Pepito – which was probably for publicity –
and several relationships with women,
in 1937 she married the aptly named Jean Lion.
In the 1930s, she started to sing and star in movies.
As if being a wildly successful performer
and cat lady wasn’t enough,
when the Nazis invaded France in World War Two,
Baker joined the French Resistance.
While travelling, she flirted with diplomats
to gain information,
stashed papers in her underwear,
and had secret notes written in invisible ink
on her sheet music.
Move over, 007!
In recognition of her courageous contributions,
Baker received the Resistance Medal in 1946.
Baker was a shining star in Europe,
but when she returned home to segregated America,
the welcome was not so warm.
In 1951, she made charges of racism against the owner
of the famous Stork Club in New York City
for failing to serve her.
She was then targeted by high-profile journalist
Walter Winchell, who accused her of communism –
a very serious charge at the time.
As a result, Baker was placed on an FBI watch list
and her movements in and out of the US
were heavily restricted by the US government.
She toured Latin America and the Caribbean,
but her FBI file meant
she wasn’t able to go back to the US until 1963.
When she did return to America, she spoke alongside
Martin Luther King at the landmark
1963 civil rights March on Washington.
After another marriage, this time to Jo Bouillon,
Baker adopted 12 children that she called her Rainbow Tribe.
On the 8th of April 1975,
she starred in a retrospective revue in Paris,
Joséphine à Bobino 1975,
celebrating her 50 years in showbusiness.
It was attended by Princess Grace, Sophia Loren,
Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, and Liza Minnelli
to name a few – and it was a smash!
Days after this performance, she died,
but in the iconic fashion
we’ve come to expect from Josephine Baker,
she was surrounded by rave reviews of her show.
She continues to influence culture today,
and in 2021, 46 years after her death,
Josephine Baker became the first black woman
memorialised at France’s Panthéon.
