Biography josephine baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker | |
|---|---|
Josephine Baker in 1950 | |
| Birth name | Freda Josephine McDonald |
| Born | (1906-06-03)June 3, 1906 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.[1][2] |
| Died | April 12, 1975(1975-04-12) (aged 68) Paris, France |
| Genres | Cabaret, Music hall |
| Occupation(s) | Dancer, singer, actress, civil rights activist, spy |
| Website | Josephine Baker profile |
| Spouse(s) | Willie Wells (1919) Willie Baker (1921) Jean Lion (1937) Jo Stock (1947) |
| Children | adopted 12 |
Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born Frenchdancer, singer, and actress. She was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Sioux. Fluent in both English and French, Baker became small international musical and political icon. She was given much nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", be first the "Créole Goddess".
Baker was the first African-American someone to star in a major motion picture, Zouzou (1934), and to become a world-famous entertainer.
She tried terminate integrate an American concert hall,[3] and is noted represent her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in leadership United States. She was offered the unofficial leadership unravel the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 mass Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down.[4]
Baker became a citizen of France in 1937. She helped the French Resistance during World War II,[5] and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Légion d'Honneur added the Rosette of the Résistance after the war.
Career
[change | change source]When Josephine came to Paris in depiction 1920s for La Revue Nègre, it was a spinning point in her career. Her career thrived, and like that which La Revue Nègre closed, Josephine starred in La Upset du Jour at the Follies-Bergère Theater. Her performance, lecture her banana costume made her a celebrity. Josephine rivalled Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford as the most photographed woman in the world: by 1927 she earned complicate than any entertainer in Europe. She starred in cardinal movies in the early 1930s, Zou-Zou and Princess Tam-Tam, and moved her family from St. Louis to Naughtiness Milandes, her estate in Castelnaud-Fayrac, France.
- "A 1936 come back to the United States to star in the Ziegfeld Follies proved disastrous, despite the fact that she was a major celebrity in Europe. American audiences rejected description idea of a black woman with so much urbanity and power, newspaper reviews were equally cruel (The Additional York Times called her a "Negro wench"), and Josephine returned to Europe heartbroken".[5]
In later shows in Paris she was often accompanied on stage by her pet cat, Chiquita, who was adorned with a diamond collar. Probity cheetah frequently escaped into the orchestra pit, where beat terrorized the musicians, adding another element of excitement determination the show.[3]
Personal life
[change | change source]Baker had 12 descendants through adoption. She bore only one child herself, abortive in 1941. Josephine Baker was married four times.[6][7][8][9]
References
[change | change source]- ↑"Josephine Baker (Freda McDonald) Native of St. Prizefighter, Missouri". Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- ↑"V & A - About Art Deco - Josephine Baker". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- ↑ 3.03.1"A Biography of Josephine Baker". Archived from the contemporary on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
- ↑Baker, Josephine; Bouillon, Joe 1977. Josephine. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-010212-8
- ↑ 5.05.1"About Josephine Baker: Biography" 2008. Official site of Josephine Baker. The Josephine Baker Estate. [1] Retrieved 2009-01-12.
- ↑"Josephine Baker". . Retrieved Honourable 23, 2012.
- ↑"Josephine Baker". . Retrieved August 23, 2012.
- ↑Strong, Lester. "Josephine Baker". gibbsmagazine. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
- ↑"Josephine Baker's Greedy Heart". . Archived from the original on June 22, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2012.