From Scantily Clad Dancer To World War II Spy, Josephine Baker Laughed In The Face Of Traditions

Freda Josephine McDonald came into the world on June 3, 1906. Her family lived in poverty in St. Louis, MO, in a space so tight, six people shared one bed. Though both of Baker's parents were performers, neither became successful. Her mother gave up a dancing career early and became a washerwoman, while Baker's father played the drums for a vaudeville show.

Her parents never married, and her father abandoned the family soon after Baker's birth. Eventually, Baker's mother married another man who had difficulties holding down a job, causing the family more financial trouble.

To help out, Baker took odd jobs and left school when she was 8 years old to work full-time. Jim Crow laws kept the city segregated, and she worked as a domestic servant for white employers, cleaning houses and watching the children. Her work forced her to experience the dehumanizing nature of racism firsthand.

Recalling moments when she was not allowed to make eye contact with her employers, she developed feelings of inferiority as a child and teen. When she became a teenager, Baker lived on the streets and survived by picking food out of trash cans.

Dance served as an outlet from the struggles of poverty when Baker was 13 years old. She began performing on St. Louis street corners; a Black theater troupe noticed her and brought her into the local vaudeville circuit. As part of the Dixie Steppers and the Jones Family Band, two different troupes touring together, Baker traveled the country dancing and performing comedy routines. The groups eventually split. Baker tried to get a role as a Dixie Steppers chorus girl. However, they claimed she was too dark and skinny and rejected her.

Not one to give up, Baker took a position as a dresser. She learned the chorus girl part in her spare time. When one dancer left, Baker won the role and quickly drew praise from audiences for her talent and comedic presence. To capitalize on her abilities, Baker moved to New York and joined the Harlem Renaissance, performing at prominent clubs and in a show called Chocolate Dandies.

When Baker was 19, a recruiter asked her to join a new show in Paris. The show's cast exclusively featured Black performers and would pay $1,000 a month. La Revue Nègre opened on October 2, 1925 and introduced Baker to a new audience.

By incorporating African elements into her costumes and choreography, Baker created routines foreign to the mostly white audience. She quickly rose to fame, as her performances sold out. When the show closed, Baker appeared at the Folies-Bergère theater in La Folie du Jour, where she continued to captivate audiences.

Baker's performances were known to feature extravagant and revealing costumes. In La Revue Nègre, she appeared onstage wearing only feathers and pearls in a time when performing bare-breasted was controversial. Baker's signature routine, the 'Danse Sauvage,' came with another dynamic costume: a skirt made of rubber bananas - Beyoncé would later pay homage to it in a 2006 performance on the date of Baker's 100th birthday.

The costume was such a hit, Baker appeared on postcards wearing it along with artfully arrayed jewelry to hide her nudity. People across Europe purchased banana-skirt-wearing dolls, as well as hair pomade and a skin-darkening lotion, both sold by Baker. She found wealth in her European popularity, which she used to buy extravagant accessories, including a pet cheetah - the animal developed a reputation for terrorizing orchestra pits during her shows - along with a gold piano, and a bed once belonging to Marie Antoinette.

While Baker won the affections of many, some disliked her provocative dances and risqué costumes, objecting to a perceived lack of virtue. Protesters disrupted several shows on her European tour - for instance, one group rang a nearby church bell throughout a show in Vienna to shame the audience for attending. Despite the haters, Baker became Europe's highest-paid entertainer, was one of the world's most photographed women, and earned the nickname "Black Venus."

While living in France, French filmmakers cast her in several movies. She debuted in Siren of the Tropics in 1927, followed by roles as a singer in 1934's ZouZou, 1935's Princesse Tam Tam, and Fausse Alerte in 1940. Baker's cinematic success afforded her an estate in southwest France - she nicknamed the residence Les Milandes. She moved her family who still lived in St. Louis into the new mansion, paying for their relocation.

Baker returned to New York in 1936 to appear in the Ziegfeld Follies live revue, performing a piece called "The Conga." She was a major star in Europe and hoped to expand on this success in America, possibly in Hollywood. Unfortunately, US audiences rejected her performance, especially one coming from a woman of color - reviews reflected this hostile, racially motivated attitude toward Baker. She felt devastated. She remarried upon returning to France, becoming a French citizen and giving up her American citizenship.

When World War II broke out, Baker made an unconventional choice: she joined the French military. As part of the Women's Auxiliary of the French Air Force as a sub-lieutenant, she assisted the Red Cross and helped out at a homeless shelter for refugees near her home. Baker also lent her services as an entertainer to the French war effort, performing for troops stationed in the Middle East and Africa.

However, Baker's involvement in the military made a big leap when she became a French spy. Since Baker traveled across Europe performing, she took the opportunity to obtain as much information about the enemy as she could. She remembered anything she overheard while performing, wrote the intel down on music sheets using invisible ink, and pinned photographic evidence to her underwear to transport it secretly.

Baker's fame also helped her get invited to parties and events at European embassies, using the occasion to flirt and eavesdrop to learn information. Additionally, Baker helped set up a British intelligence liaison center in Casablanca, as well as a network assisting Jewish people in obtaining passports to escape Europe. After the war, the French government awarded her several medals for her bravery and hard work.