Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker (1906-1975)

Freda Josephine Baker was a bisexual African American entertainer, activist, and World War II spy who is often regarded as the first Black superstar.

During her early career, Baker was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her costume, consisting only of a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the "Black Venus", the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess."

Baker aided the French Resistance during World War II. After the war, she was awarded the Resistance Medal by the French Committee of National Liberation, the Croix de Guerre by the French military, and was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by General Charles de Gaulle. Baker sang: "I have two loves: my country and Paris.