Josephine baker biography dancer ann
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Baker, Josephine 1906–1975
Singer, dancer, actress, civil rights activist
At a Glance…
Joined La Revue Nègre
Became a Star at the Folies-Bergères
Performed in the United States
Worked for French Resistance During World War II
The “Rainbow Tribe”
Sources
Josephine Baker is remembered principally as a spirited entertainer, the glamorous “Joséphine” who became the rostad smörgås of France. But there was a great deal more to Josephine Baker than the banana skirt she wore in the Folies-Bergères or the leopard she walked along the streets of Paris. She was a great lover of life and of humanity, who devoted herself to making the world a more hospitable place and to securing a better future for its citizens.
She was born Josephine Carson on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri, the first child of Eddie Carson, a drummer, and Carrie McDonald. Before Baker was a year old, her father left the family. Her mother later had three children
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The Negro, historically, has always been in the espionage business. Subalterns survive by being watchful, warily gathering intelligence about those for whom they labor. The flight from servitude, even from an identity, involves spycraft, too. Harriet Tubman was called Moses for a liberator who slipped the confines of caste when his mother placed him undercover among the reeds in that pitch-daubed basket. Brown skin could be cloaked in soot and stereotype or in learned airs. George Harris, one of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s high-yellow fugitives, attained an inscrutable foreignness with the assistance of walnut bark: “A slight change in the tint of the skin and the color of his hair had metamorphosed him into the Spanish-looking fellow he then appeared; and as gracefulness of movement and gentlemanly manners had always been perfectly natural to him, he found no difficulty in playing the bold part he had adopted.”
In this respect, Josephine Baker, who clowned her way into the heart of
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Josephine Baker
American-born French dancer, singer, resistance member and actress (1906–1975)
For other people named Josephine Baker, see Josephine Baker (disambiguation).
Josephine Baker | |
|---|---|
Baker in 1940 | |
| Born | Freda Josephine McDonald (1906-06-03)June 3, 1906 St. Louis, Missouri, US |
| Died | April 12, 1975(1975-04-12) (aged 68) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Panthéon |
| Nationality | American (renounced) French (1937–1975) |
| Occupation(s) | Vedette, singer, dancer, actress, civil rights activist, French Resistance agent |
| Years active | 1921–1975 |
| Spouses | Willie Wells (m. 1919; div. 1919)William Baker (m. 1921; div. 1925)Jean Lion (m. 1937; div. 1940)Jo Bouillon (m. 1947; div. 1961) |
| Partner(s) | Robert Brady (1 |