Josephine Baker
“Things we truly love stay locked in our hearts as long
as life remains.”
Anastasia Chiarini
3/25/16
Period 3
BACKROUND INFORMATION
Josephine Baker was born June 3, 1906. She was born in St. Louis, MO. She was born to
Carrie McDonald and Eddie Carson. She also had a younger sister. Her family struggled with
money and had many financial problems. Also her relationships with her parents weren’t so
healthy which resulted in fighting and arguments. Her father didn’t believe dance was a form of
work and scolded Josephine for that reason.
Her childhood gave early signs of her future career. When she was 8 she worked as a
maid for a white family. She would perform small dances on the streets for dimes and nickels.
Later she became part of a choir in St. Louis. When she turned 13 she married William Baker but
left him and ran away feeling that the city is largely racially discriminated. Eventually, they
reconciled but had a rocky marriage. She made her way to Paris in order to find a job. She grew
famous throughout France. Then during the “Red Scare,” era in the 1950s Josephine was falsely
accused of being a communist and was not welcome in the US. Disgusted by the racism of the
time, she decided to become a French citizen. Soon after that her sister died, but since she was
not allowed to return to the US she could only send money to pay for the funeral expenses.
After many years of stardom and inspiration, wealth and near poverty, Josephine’s career
sadly came to an end. She died at age 68 on April 12, 1975 in Paris, France. She died because of
a cerebral hemorrhage that struck her when she just began the celebration of her Half-Century on
stage.
ACHIEVMENTS
Throughout Josephine’s life she accomplished many things .One of her most well-known
accomplishments was being the first African American female star .She was also the first
American born woman to receive the French military honor. Two more accomplishments are that
she appears in the St. Louis Walk of Fame and she contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.
Baker was also noted for her kindness and charity to homeless children.
Everyone knows Josephine baker for her singing, dancing, and civil rights activist, but
there are some thing people don’t know about her. One fact was that she was a spy during World
War II. Another is that she adopted 12 children of different races to show that she supports
equality. She also owned many exotic animals like cheetahs, goats and pigs that she lived with
every day. Besides her real name Baker had a couple nicknames like Black Pearl and Creole
Goddess. Grace Kelly was also close friends with Josephine because they were both rising actors
at the time. When it comes to the media, Josephine Baker kept her personal life a secret but it
was the exact opposite when it came to the military and activism. Ms. Baker was actually
married at the young age of 13 unwillingly.
While Baker was famous, she made many quotes like, “Things we truly love stay locked
in our hearts as long as life remains.” Another quote is, “All man can live together if they wish
to. “One last quote is,” God dislikes evil and no happiness can be built upon hate. Love one
another as brothers.”
OPINION
Josephine Baker was truly a brave and exciting woman. She had so many different sides
to her like her unique beauty, her strong beliefs in equality and of course her musical career, that
it is difficult to decide which would be the thing that is most important. It seems her career was
very important to the evolution of music and theatre but her impact on society, though not as
well known in America, made a bigger social change world-wide.
Josephine never gave up protesting equal rights for all human beings and she was one of
the first Black women to be so successful at making people understand this injustice. It was
probably her most impressive achievement in life. She tried to bring people together at every
performance by stopping segregation. Her leaving this country and living in France was a
statement that supported her wanting to end racism. It must have been difficult to leave her
family and frustrating that most African Americans were stuck with having to accept racism. She
was also very courageous to join the military at a time when women and black people were not
easily accepted as part of them. She obviously loved children because of her quest to have a
“Rainbow Tribe” and she was kind and gentle to animals too.
Josephine Baker had all of the best qualities that all people should have or want. She was
kind to humans and animal alike, she was artistic and shared her talent with the world, and she
was determined to seek justice for all even at a time when it was almost hopeless. This woman
was a person that influenced everyone, no matter the race.
Works Cited
Johnson, Jone “Josephine Baker Facts” womenshistory.about.com 25 February 2015.web
20 March 2016
Onion, Rebecca “Josephine Baker’s Rainbow Tribe” slate.com 18 April 2014 .Web 22 March
2016
Shrouder, Alan “Josephine Baker” New York. Chelsea House Publications, 1991. Print
