Inspiring Women in History: Josephine Baker
The first Black superstar, a spy, and civil rights icon; today we’re covering Josephine Baker.
Not only was she an incredibly talented woman who pushed boundaries, she saved thousands of lives from certain death and overcame targeted attacks to be the legend we know and love today! Women are complex and beautiful and she’s a lovely personification of that so let’s dig in!
Josephine was born Freda Joséphine McDonald (June 3, 1906 - April 12, 1975) in St. Louis, Missouri to her mother, Carrie McDonald. As a single mother, Carrie struggled to pay bills so they moved around a lot but spent much of Josephine’s early life in a racially mixed low-income area of St. Louis. It was said she dealt with abuse from her mother due to her resemblance of her father. His identity has never been confirmed, but there are theories it was her mother’s wealthy employer since she was born in the exclusively white, Female Hospital during segregation.
Josephine was dealt a heavy hand, experiencing verbal abuse from her mother, severe physical abuse from an employer, and was bullied in school because she was poor. At only eleven, she witnessed the East St. Louis massacre, one of the worst racial riots in U.S. history. You can find quotes from her about this experience.
By twelve, she had dropped out of school to work, which wasn’t a surprise considering Black enrollment in public schools had dropped by 35% after the violent race attacks and her family needed money to survive. Josephine and her three siblings all worked to help.
At thirteen, she married her first husband, who was twelve years older but they divorced within a year. That’s when she showed her cleaning skills by saving a performer from a stained costume; it was the one and only Clara Smith. The classic Blues singer immediately had Josephine join her on tour. This is where she became a mentor and sexual partner to Josephine; she was the first to introduce Josephine to the queer world and is known today as a queer figure of the time. *We won’t go into the issue with Josephine’s age gap relationships.
By fifteen she was touring as part of a vaudeville troupe, the Dixie Steppers, and while touring she met and married William Baker but soon left him when her vaudeville troupe was booked at a New York City venue in 1921. She ended up divorcing Baker in 1925 while she was busy on Broadway but kept his name, becoming thee Josephine Baker.
Josephine’s time in the big apple was during the early days of the Harlem Renaissance; an incredible time in history for Black music, art, fashion, literature, and culture (honestly it deserves it’s own blog all together). Her first big role on a chorus line was “Shuffle Along” and she was determined to stand out and secure her future as a performer. She ad-libbed, added a hint of humor, and engaged audiences in a way that had never been done before!
At nineteen, in 1925, she sailed to Paris to perform the Broadway hit and by 1926, she had broken her contract and was already back in Paris with her own show with full creative control. This is where she would create her iconic “Danse Sauvage”, she was an instant success for her erotic dancing and nearly naked performances.
“I wasn’t really naked. I simply didn’t have any clothes on.”
She made an immediate impression on French society; getting raving reviews and labeled as a “must see”, with Ernest Hemingway describing her as “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw!” Even Pablo Picasso wanted to meet her! There’s a rumor she received over 1,000 marriage proposals.
Josephine was thee IT girl; she had cocktails and perfumes named after her, she influenced Parisian fashion, had her own dolls, and beauty products. Her style and signature hair was all the rave in the roaring twenties! Her Bakerfix hair pomade product was actually a best seller for 30 years! This product alone made her more money than anything else.
By twenty, she opened her own club where everyone flocked and she performed with her pet cheetah, Chiquita. Yes, the cheetah laid on stage while she performed. Talk about style and stage presence!
In 1929, as Hitler was rising to power, Josephine was on yet another international tour but this time experienced heinous racism. In Vienna, she was greeted with protesters chanting for her to go home and in Budapest, people threw ammonia bombs at her while performing. Josephine didn’t back down, instead she went on the record, saying Nazi’s were “criminals” and “criminals had to be punished”, she even said she would kill them with her own hands, if the need arose.
By 1936, Josephine returned to the states to perform on Broadway, hoping to become a major star at home and abroad. Sadly, she was received with hostility, racism, and especially cruel reviews of her performances. She soon returned to Paris and became a French citizen, doubting she would ever come back to the U.S.
With her public admonishment of Nazis, the French government approached Josephine to be a Honorable Correspondent aka a government spy. By 1939, she won over French counterintelligence officer Jacques Abtey and she officially became an asset for the French Resistance.
As an entertainer and famous celebrity, she could easily move around the country, socializing with German, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese bureaucrats. She was invited to all the important parties and embassies without raising suspicion. She collected secrets on enemy movements, strike plans, and invasions. Josephine was the first to uncover a secret pact Japan had with Hitler and even saved neutral Portugal from a German invasion plan to take over their ports. On top of that, Josephine was a pilot and would fly supplies to countries that border Germany, giving aid to refugees.
She quickly became France’s most valuable asset which meant when a tip came in that Paris would be invaded, she was able to flee in time. Escaping to her country chateau which was quickly turned into a secret fortress with radio transmitters to communicate with Britain and cellars full of weapons for Resistance fighters that would come and go.
German High Command actually visited her chateau but against the odds, she deflected their suspicions and knew it was time to go! This is when she fled the country under guise of another international tour. Abtey and Josephine carried dozens of classified documents and intelligence with them, all written in invisible ink on her sheet music!
She would arrive in Portugal and on to North Africa carrying intelligence for Allied forces. Distracting everyone as the famous star while Abtey could pass along the documentation to their fellow assets.
“I'm not intimidated by anyone. Everyone is made with two arms, two legs, a stomach and a head. Just think about that.”
This image is my favorite of Josephine, you can just see the light in her, she’s timeless and stunning inside and out.
While performing for soldiers she listened to the stories of Black soldiers telling her how racist America was. She promised them after the war, she would go back to the U.S. to fight segregation. She kept her promise and in 1948 she returned to the states ready to fight segregation.
She refused to work in clubs where Black Americans weren’t allowed to enter and after a wildly successful tour in South America, clubs were changing their policies just for her. She demanded all patrons be allowed in regardless of their skin, race, or creed and not pushed to the back, the crowds had to be mixed. Josephine’s efforts changed lives and pushed on boundaries that should’ve been broken long before. She publicly said she wasn’t afraid of the kkk after receiving many threats.
In 1963, Josephine joined rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the March on Washington as the only official female speaker. She wore her Free French uniform with medals of honor and introduced the “Negro Women for Civil Rights”.
“I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens, and into the houses of presidents and much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad. And when I get mad, you know that I open my big mouth. And then look out, 'cause when Josephine opens her mouth, they hear it all over the world ...”
Due to how vocal Josephine was about her thoughts on race relations, she was repeatedly targeted by the FBI. Throughout the 50’s and 60’s the American government tried to discredit her, spreading rumors about her and falsely claimed she had pro-communist ties, leading to a nosedive in her career.
Eventually Josephine fell on hard times and her dear friend Grace Kelly gave her an opportunity to perform for a gala. That re-sparked her career but just years later she would give her final performance, a 50 year celebration of her career in show business. Her final critically acclaimed performance had audience members such as Sophia Loren, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli and Mick Jagger; Josephine received glowing reviews. Sadly, only four days later, while she was reading the reviews, she suffered a brain hemorrhage and passed at sixty-eight.
In 2021, Josephine received the highest French honor, becoming the first Black woman and sixth woman ever to be buried in the Pantheon in Paris with a massive ceremony to honor her legacy. Even to this day, her style is a muse for celebrities like these incredible tributes by Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé. Josephine was truly an incredible, badass woman and deserves all the recognition for her intelligence, talent, and bravery!
This blog is an extremely high overview of Josephine’s life, there’s so much that I didn’t even touch but if you’re interested in a deeper dive, this Dark History video is a great place to start along with these articles from HistoryHit and the National Museum of African American History & Culture! You can even see some of her iconic dance right here!
We have more of this series to come with icons from all over history, be sure to follow along while we cover incredible women from history all month long!
Cheers!
xx - Emmy
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