Born Freda Josephine Mcdonald on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri
Josephine took up dancing at a very young age, honing her skills both in clubs and in street performances, and by 1919 she was touring the U.S.
In 1925, at the peak of France’s obsession with American jazz, Baker became the star of La Revue Nègre at the Théâtre Des Champs-Elysées
It was 1926 where her career skyrocketed
In a performance called La Folie Du Jour, Baker performed her famed banana dance which was wildly popular with Parisian audiences, including cultural figures like Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway
Following her film roles in as a singer in Zou-Zou and Princesse Tam-Tam, Baker purchased an estate in France, naming it Les Milandes
In 1936, Baker returned to the U.S. to perform in the Ziegfeld Follies, however, she was met immense racism and returned to France
When WWII erupted, baker worked for the French resistance, at times smuggling messages hidden in her sheet music
For these efforts, Baker was awarded with France’s highest military honors, the Croix De Guerre and The Legion of Honour with the Rosette Of The Resistance
Following the war, Baker adopted 12 children from around the world, creating her “Rainbow Tribe” to demonstrate that people of different races could live harmoniously
During the 1950s, Baker frequently returned to the U.S. to support the Civil Rights Movement
In 1963, Baker participated in the March On Washington alongside Martin Luther King, JR
After decades of rejection in the U.S., Baker returned to perform at Carnegie Hall in 1973, greeted with a standing ovation
In April 1975, Baker performed at the Bobino Theater in paris, celebrating the 50th anniversary of her Paris debut, and just days later passed away in her sleep
On the day of her first funeral, more than 20,000 people lined the streets of Paris to witness the procession, and the french government honored her with a 21-gun salute, making Baker the first American woman in history to receive french military honors
At her second in 2019, Baker became the first entertainer, the first Black woman, and the first American born person to be reinterred at the Pantheon Monument in Paris
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