Born an illegitimate child in a slum district of St. Louis on 3 June 1906, Freda Josephine McDonald, the name given to her at birth, had a deprived childhood. She provided forceful accounts of the 1917 race riots in her home city and derived a mission in life from this: The fight against racial segregation, for freedom and equality. Dancing became her own personal route to freedom.
Every performance was intoxicating
From 1921, Josephine travelled through the USA with a dance troupe called “Dixie Steppers” and appeared in short scenes in so-called Vaudeville theatre shows. In Philadelphia, aged just fifteen, she married Billy Baker, who had already been married once before, under whose surname she was to become famous. Here, she also secured a fixed engagement as a clown at the end of “Chorus Line”. However, she had her sights set on being in the spotlight, on the big stage. So, she tried her luck in New York in the musical “Shuffle Along”. For Josephine, every performance was intoxicating: “The eyes of the audience looking at me electrified me.” Tirelessly on the go, she managed to attract attention. Thus, in 1925, she was engaged as a dancer to perform in Paris.
Triumph in Berlin
Composer Rudolf Nelson placed his theatre in Berlin at the disposal of Josephine Baker. From the stage on Kurfürstendamm, she conquered the city as “Black Venus” in 1926. “Berlin feels great! A pure triumph. They carry me aloft. In no other city have I received so many love letters, so many flowers and gifts,” the dancer recalled in her memoires.With what was a hitherto unknown dance in Germany, the Charleston, she triggered a veritable dance craze. Celebrated and courted by theatre artists such as Max Reinhardt and Karl Vollmoeller, Josephine enjoyed the affection that came her way and the offers in Berlin, but ultimately opted for Paris. In ever more extravagant, tailored costumes, she served the exotically African image. The famous belt made of 16 fur-fabric bananas which she wore around her hips became her trademark look.
Josephine Baker indefatigably continued working. She sang and recorded songs for the record company Columbia Records. She also stood in front of the camera: In 1934, in the film “Zou Zou” alongside Jean Gabin, she played a poor girl, who manages to land on stage. With this film she reached an even wider French audience than before. Despite being the richest and most famous artist of her era in Europe, her bid to attract a US audience with a guest appearance failed. Following large-scale racial hostilities, she returned to Europe disillusioned in 1936.
Support for the resistance
With her marriage to Jewish businessman Jean Lion, the artist was granted French citizenship in 1937. Following the escalation of anti-Semitic violence in Germany in the November pogroms in 1938, in an act of solidarity she became a member of the Ligue internationale Contre le Racisme et l’Antisémitisme (LICRA), an international organisation committed to fighting against racism and anti-Semitism.
In October 1944, a few months after the successful allied invasion of Normandy, she accompanied the allied troops from liberated Paris further eastwards. Until the end of the war Sous-Lieutenant Baker saw it as her honorary, patriotic duty to sing for the soldiers. She was recognised for this in 1946 with the Medaille de la Résistance of Free France. In 1957, Charles de Gaulle named Josephine Baker Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur for her courageous efforts.
Ambassador for peace, freedom and justice
Josephine Baker returned to the stage after 1945 – as an ambassador for peace, freedom and equality of all people, regardless of nationality, skin colour or religion. Together with French conductor Jo Bouillon, whom she had married on 3 June 1947, she went on a tour of the USA in 1951. At her shows there was no racial segregation; as a star she had made this a stipulation.
Baker took an offensive stance against any form of discrimination. In 1963, US civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King got her up to the rostrum in Washington – her biggest role and her greatest triumph: She was more than a superstar, she was a political figure. In her speech on 28 August at the closing rally of the March on Washington organised by the civil rights movement, the 57-year-old encouraged all African Americans to assert their rights in their own country.
Further literature:
„Josephine Baker: Weltstar – Freiheitskämpferin – Ikone“, Mona Horncastle, Wien 2020