Josephine Baker: Joie de Vivre of Josephine
J-ua de Vivrah
Written by Scarlett StratenMy introduction to Josephine Baker was a brief glimpse of her animated likeness in the 1997 Don Bluth children’s film Anastasia. While she only appears on screen for around 10 seconds, the image of the chocolate-skinned woman, in the purple bodysuit, and banana skirt … walking a cheetah … left an indelible impression in my mind. But exactly how did an American-born dancer, actress, and singer leave such a lasting impact / that one of the greatest animators of all time felt it necessary to introduce her to a whole new generation?
Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri. Outside of her African American heritage, the specifics of her ancestry are unknown. What is known is that her childhood was a sad one. Her family was impoverished and she began working as a live-in “domestic” for local white families at the age of 8 / and had dropped out of school by 12. A year later, she entered into her first marriage, to a man by the name of Willie Wells, whom she had met at the club where she was then working as a waitress. They were divorced in less than a year.
After her divorce, she found her first gig performing with a street group called the Jones Family Band. At age 15 she married again, this time to William Baker, from whom she would get the famous surname she would retain throughout the rest of her career and life … But … When her vaudeville troupe was booked to play in New York City, she left him behind without hesitation. Thus ended her second marriage, but she was focused on her burgeoning career.
Baker was next cast as a member of the chorus in two Broadway revues. It was after these engagements that she would make the move that would alter the course of her life and career … And possibly history as we know it; Josephine went to Paris.
Josephine had been given her first starring role in La Revue Négre, where she was an instant hit for her erotic dancing and almost nude stage appearance. She followed this up with a successful European tour, after which she broke her contract in order to return to France and star in what might be her most well-known engagement, the Folies Bergére, where she also donned the outfit she would become most famous for, the banana skirt.
During this period, Josephine became an international sensation, traveling abroad to perform, producing songs, appearing in films, and rubbing elbows with such luminaries as Picasso and Hemingway. Ironically, one of the few places where she wasn’t seemingly adored was her birthplace; her attempt at a star turn in a Ziegfeld follies revival back in the United States led to scathing and racist reviews from critics and she returned to Europe heartbroken. She eventually gave up her American citizenship altogether and became a legal French citizen.
Knowing all the accolades she was receiving, you would think that when WWII broke out Josephine would have taken off for some neutral country to wait it out in the comfort of her fame and wealth, but no. Instead she put that fame to use for the French intelligence agency. Because of her standing in café-society, she was able to socialize with high-ranking Axis-Powers officials and bureaucrats without suspicion. She would charm them everywhere, from embassies to nightclubs, and report back what she learned, even going so far as writing notes on her arms and pinning them in her clothes, which led to critical information being delivered to the French Resistance. Later in the war, after the Germans had invaded, Josephine moved to her home in the south of France, but did not cease her activities. If anything she doubled down. She used her chateau to shelter resistance fighters and Jewish refugees, even providing them with forged documents she financed herself. She also had a radio transmitter installed in order to maintain communication with Allied forces, and used the cellar to store weapons. Later still, she toured to entertain Allied troops in North Africa.
Given all this, it’s no wonder that after the war she was awarded the Resistance Medal and the Croix de Guerre, and was named a member of the Legion of Honor.
After the war, Josephine went back to her wildly successful performing career, but after a few years, she found yet another calling. After traveling to the United States with her current husband for an engagement and experiencing severe racial discrimination, Baker took up the cause of Civil Rights. She wrote articles, gave speeches, and even leveraged her fame by refusing to play gigs unless the audiences were integrated. It cost her some of her influential friends, including columnist Walter Winchell who decried her in the press and labeled her a Communist sympathizer. But it gained her new allies in the Civil Rights movement, including the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr., alongside whom she appeared as the only official female speaker at the March on Washington in 1963.
As if being a Black entertainment pioneer, Civil Rights activist, and war hero weren’t enough, Josephine was and is an LGBTQ icon on top of it. She was openly bisexual in a time when that label didn’t even exist. In addition to her 4 husbands, she was also rumored to have had relationships with, among others, Frida Kahlo and French novelist Colette. Her open attitude towards sexuality and erotic performances were boundary-pushing for the time, making her a symbol of sexual liberation and bodily autonomy even today.
It’s hard to encapsulate in one article everything Josephine was. I’ve only managed to scratch the surface here and there is much more to tell. Suffice to say she was the definition of a cultural icon. Whether you know her name or not, her life and work had a tangible impact on the world we live in. Whether it was destroying hang-ups about sex, combating racism, or fighting back against literal fascism, Josephine Baker’s entire life was a performance for the ages.
