It was her way of proving to people that "children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers." I want you to have a chance at what I had, but I do not want you to have to run away to get it. Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald, naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist. She remembers being told by the white parents of the children she looked after to "be careful not to kiss the baby," and later said she'd been badly mistreated by her employers.By the age of 13, she ran away from home and earned a living busking on the streets. "As I get older, and as I knew I had the power and the strength, I took that rocky path, and I tried to smooth it out a little. ... she performed the Danse Sauvage, in … Josephine with her pet cheetah. A play on the era’s fascination with stereotypical African culture, her Baker with her pet cheetah, whom she named Chiquita.Baker in Paris during the ceremony of The Free Commune of La Folle Butte.Baker poses for a portrait wearing a long shawl and costume jewellery.Baker singing for British troops on leave from combat during the Second World War.Baker arriving at London's Savoy Hotel in the uniform of the Women's Auxiliary of the Free French Air Force.Baker and her husband Jo Bouillon read congratulatory letters in her dressing room at New York's Strand Theater after she opened her first Broadway engagement in 15 years. It was "a Charleston, a belly dance, Mama Dink's Chicken Bumps, grinds, all in one number with bananas flying. See more ideas about Josephine baker, Josephine, Baker. I wanted to make it easier for you. When New York's Stork Club refused to host her, she fought a pubic battle with pro-segregation newspaper columnist Walter Winchell. Josephine counted among her circle of friends Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway, who said she was "the most sensational woman anybody ever saw."

Her mother Carrie gave up her dream of being a music hall dancer and instead worked as a washerwoman.

When a 19-year-old Josephine Baker stepped onto the stage in Paris in 1925, wearing little more than a string of pearls and a skirt made of rubber bananas, she left the audience astonished. She was responsible for desegregating many Las Vegas theatres and casinos.

Every night at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, the luminaries of café society would watch as. Newspaper reviews were racist and absolutely scathing.Josephine returned to Paris, devastated about her treatment by Americans, and decided to renounce her US citizenship.When World War II began in 1939, Josephine served as a spy for the French Resistance. Because she made the role her own, "hamming it up" by rolling her eyes and acting clumsy on purpose, the audience loved her.Just as Josephine's star was rising in New York she moved to Paris in 1925, where she was invited to perform in an all black dance revue. "When the soldiers applaud me, I like to believe they will never acquire hatred for colour because of the cheer I have brought them," Josephine saidShe also worked as a sub-lieutenant in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.Following the war, Josephine was awarded the Medal of the Resistance with Rosette. ... La Danse Sauvage: The Extravagant Life of Josephine Baker.

A play on the era’s fascination with stereotypical African culture, her danse sauvage was uninhibited and controversial, turning her into a star overnight.

She brought along 45 trunks loaded with $250,000 worth of costumes for her five-month tour of America.Baker performing onstage at the Olympia in Paris wearing a feathered headdress.Baker is pictured at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where she was the only woman to make a speech. (Getty)In 1936 Josephine returned to the US to star in the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway, but the tour was a disaster as she encountered racism at every turn. "It wasn't long before Josephine was one of Europe's highest-paid performers, earning herself the nickname the Bronze Venus and the Black Pearl.In 1927, Josephine became the first African American to star in a feature film, Her way of life was as colourful as her stage appearances. Favorite Josephine Baker Quotes and the Danse Sauvage. Josephine Baker was a dancer and singer who became wildly popular in France during the 1920s. (IMDB), she performed a jaw-dropping dance in a costume featuring a skirt made of fake bananas. In 1975 she celebrated the 50 anniversary of her Paris debut with a new show that sold out and received rave reviews, but a few days later she died, aged 68, of a cerebral haemorrhage.At Josephine's funeral, where more than 20,000 people crowded the streets, she was honoured with a 21-gun salute; the first American woman buried in France with military honours. ... Baker performed her Danse Sauvage … On June 3, 1906, Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald in the slums of St. Louis. By the fall of 1925, Josephine Baker was the Queen of Paris. The couple eventually adopted 12 children.Josephine Baker speaking at the March on Washington. She owned a pet cheetah (with a diamond collar) and she purchased Marie Antoinette's bed. Baker soon parlayed the fame gained from her danse sauvage and reinvented herself as a chanteuse when she began singing in 1930.

Her dancing, beauty, talent, glamour, intellect and courage have all been examples of her exceptional grace.