Josephine Baker
Public domain photo colorized by Olga Shirnina
“France made me what I am. I will be grateful forever. The people of Paris have given me everything… I am ready, captain, to give them my life. You can use me as you wish. ”
What a life it was to give.
Born into poverty in Little Rock, Arkansas, Josephine Baker was waitressing by 12, married by 13 and at 19, long divorced from the first of her four husbands, took Paris by storm when she landed a leading role in La Revue Nègre*, a musical comedy show featuring an all-black cast.
But this was just the start. At Le Casino de Paris* she wowed in her one-woman show (if you don’t count her pet cheetah Chiquita, who wore a diamond collar) and at one time was the highest paid and the most photographed woman in the world. Dame Shirley Bassey said of her: “I swear in all my life I have never seen, and probably never shall see again, such a spectacular singer and performer."
The first woman of colour to have a starring role in a major motion picture, Baker returned to the States triumphant, but received terrible reviews for her role in a reprisal of the Ziegfield Follies. Heartbroken, she retreated to France, relinquished her US citizenship and became a French citizen.
A new marriage to Frenchman Jean Lion followed and as war broke out in 1939, Baker moved to the South of France and became involved in the French resistance. Later (and with yet another new husband Jo Bouillon) she adopted 12 children of different races and religions creating what she called her ‘Rainbow Tribe'.
There are so many more twists and turns to the life of Josephine Baker, but one constant was her love for her adopted country. Whereas her life in the US was hampered by segregationist policies, in France she could move about freely, without fear of reprisals. Like many American artists during the Jazz Age, she found her creative home in the clubs and theatres of Paris, and remained fiercely loyal to la République française until her death in 1975.
Jus this week, it was announced that Josephine Baker would become the first Black woman to be entered into the Panthéon mausoleum, joining illustrious alumni such as Victor Hugo, Pierre and Marie Curie, Louis Braille and Antoine St Exupéry, author of Le Petit Prince.
Read more about her fascinating life here…
*The Negro Revue | *The Paris Casino