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Josephine Baker was born June 3, 1906 in St. Louis. Her birth name was Freda J. McDonald. At the age of eight she was "rented" to a family of traveling musicians, the Jones. Dyer Jones gave Josephine trombone lessons and started her on a lifelong path of music and song.
At the age of 15, Josephine or "Tumpy" as she was still called left her hometown of St. Louis with the Bob Russell company. She had become the special protege of Clara Smith, the famous blues singer. From Clara, a famous blues singer, she learned to sing and she was given a new name. No longer was she to be known as Freda, or 'Tumpy'. From now on she would be known as Josephine Baker.
In 1921, Josephine was a chorus girl in the Broadway hit, Shuffle Along. A show produced for Black audiences, it quickly became a strong draw for whites, and continued to be a huge Broadway influence for over a year. By the summer of 1925, Josephine was lured away to Paris, France with the promise of the grand salary of $250 per week.
In Paris, Josephine performed at the Folie Bergere. The French critic, Pierre de Regnier, wrote of her opening night performance, " Is this a man? Is this a woman? Her lips are painted black, her skin is the color of a banana, her hair, already short, is stuck to her head as if made of caviar, her voice is high-pitched, she shakes continually and her body slithers lilke a snake, the sound of the orchestra seems to come from her..."
Six months later, she again wowed the Parisians by dancing the Charleston dressed only in a belt of bananas. Josephine was 20, and quite beautiful.
Parisian audiences were enchanted with Josephine and the little cross-eyed black girl from St. Louis became the first modern sex symbol. The French referred to her as 'La Perle Noire", "Our Fifine" and "La Bakhair".
Josephine opened her own nightclub on the rue Fontaine. For the next fifty years Ms. Baker continued to perform in films, concerts, revues and television programs. Her participation in the French underground during World War II earned her the Legion of Honor medal.
Josephine adopted twelve children from different races and creeds to live with her at Les Milandes, her 600-acre Dordogne chateau.
Josephine Baker died in Paris on April 12, 1975.
"It's a wonder she didn't have feathers, because she sang like a bird." - Janet Flanner, for the New Yorker
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