02/26/2021
I chose JOSEPHINE BAKER as my feature BadAss for & ... I sensed that the more contemporary icons were more in alignment for me to share, as I am not a Native Black American, and therefore, can’t speak to the personal pain that our Native Black American brothers and sisters and their beloved ancestors endured.
I don’t call you blood ‘cause we don’t share that
I call you my brother ‘cause we share the Earth
FREDA JOSEPHINE MCDONALD
Born into poverty-like conditions, Josephine Baker, at age 8 was cleaning houses and babysitting for wealthy white families. After dropping out of school, she lived on the streets of St. Louis where her street-corner dancing led to a career in Vaudeville during the Harlem Renaissance.
By age 13, Baker was a bride & soon to be divorced. By the end of the 1920s, Baker was the highest paid performer in Europe and the hottest act in Paris.
STELLAR VIDEO/BIO:
https://youtu.be/Q20A1PQeWjQ
GR8 SHORT ON HER LIFE:
https://vimeo.com/419757309
CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
On August 28, 1963 Baker addressed the famous March on Washington, where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. She was the only woman on the program, and she appeared wearing her French Legion of Honor military uniform, adorned with many medals.
Commemorations & Honors
1/Montparnasse Quarter of Paris Named Place Joséphine Baker in Her Honor
2/Croix de Duerre by the French Military (1945)
3/Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur (1945)
4/Posthumous St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductee (1990)
4/Posthumous Hall of Famous Missourians Inductee (1995)
5/Google Doodle Commemorating Baker's 111th Birthday (2017)
6/San Francisco Rainbow Honor Walk Honoree (2018)
MAY 20 1951 NAACP WOMAN OF THE YEAR
NAACP Declares Today “Josephine Baker Day” in Harlem
Ernest Hemingway:
“The most sensational woman anyone has ever seen”
Picasso painted her...obsessing about her beauty!