Josephine Baker Research Paper

Josephine Baker

Freda Josephine McDonald, daughter of Eddie Carson and Carrie McDonald, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 3, 1906. She was an American-born French entertainer, activist, and French Resistance agent, she was married 4 times and adopted 12 children that she nicknamed ‘The Rainbow Tribe’ to prove that children of different ethnicities and religions could still be siblings. Her first marriage was at the age of 13, to Willie Wells. She then got divorced and married Willie Baker who she then later divorced but despite the divorce she kept the last name because Josephine Baker was who she was known by her fans. She had many nicknames like ‘Black Pearl’, ‘Bronze Venus’ and ‘Creole Goddess’. Her career was centered primarily in …show more content…
Her costume, which consisted of only a girdle of artificial bananas, became her most iconic image and a symbol of the Jazz Age and the 1920s. Josephine Baker spent her youth in poverty before learning to dance and finding success on Broadway. She started working as a domestic help when she was eight. She was often abused and poorly treated by her employers. After a brief time in school, she lived as a street child in the slums of St. Louis, often eating from garbage. At 15, she became a part of a vaudeville show in the St. Louis Chorus. She soon landed in New York City, where she performed at the 'Plantation Club' and in 1921, she was part of the Broadway revue, 'Shuffle Along'. Also In 1924, she was a part of the Broadway revue, 'The Chocolate Dandies'. Then the next year, she went to Paris to be a part of the show in 'La Revue Negre', which opened at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees. While in Paris, Josephine Baker earned fame and popularity for her erotic dancing, not only was she a dancer but a singer and actor as well. She then went on to work for the French Resistance during World War ll, Where she served as a source of intelligence, gathering secret information about German troops. During the 1950s and '60s she devoted herself to fighting segregation and racism in

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