Born Josephine Freda McDonald on June 3, 1906, Josephine Baker was the product of a "footloose merchant of whom the family saw little, and a mother [who] supported herself and the children in a slum hovel by taking in laundry." #

Later, her mother had three children with another man, Arthur Martin: Richard, Margaret and Willie Mae. Ms. Baker was enrolled in a school in St. Louis until the age of six. When the family w

and the Cotton Club. One night at the Plantation Club, a wealthy black producer, Caroline Dudley, visited with the intention of recruiting Ethel Waters, a featured performer, for a black revue Dudley wanted to take to Paris. Waters declined, so Baker took the part in La Revue Negre instead. Dudley had seen Ms. Baker in Shuffle Along and admired her abilities. For the new group being organized, Baker wanted to sing, but Dudley wanted her as a comic. After successfully persuading Dudley to raise her weekly salary from $125 to $200, Baker sailed for France on September 22, 1925. The American production opened in Paris at the Theatre des Champs-Elysses. With this revue, jazz invaded France. In the eyes of audience and critics, Josephine Baker was its personification. "Baker's exotic dancing, uninhibited sexuality, and negligible attire - which included a skirt of feathers - suited the continent much more than America, and she became an overnight sensation."# New Yorker correspondent Janet Flanner vividly described her opening night:

Ms. Baker experienced health problems during the late 1960's and early 1970's, which kept her in and out of hospitals. She was married, for the last time, in 1973, at the age of sixty-nine, to American artist Robert Brady. The marriage fell apart within a year. "In 1974, the Societe de Bains Mer of Monte Carlo invited Baker to star in their annual benefit for the Monacan Red Cross, the organization that helped subsidize her home near Monte Carlo. The show was called Josephine and told the story of Baker's life in a series of scenes."# Four days after the successful opening of the show in Paris, April 12, 1975, Ms. Baker experienced a stroke while she slept, which led to coma and eventually her death. Her lavish funeral was attended by more than 20,000 mourners at the church of the Madeleine in Paris. The service was broadcast on French national television.

Shortly after La Revue Negre opened, Baker was asked to join Folies-Bergeres, the premier Paris music hall, for its new show. "French audiences' fascination with the black culture was apparently based on dubious impressions - Baker remarked that the white imagination sure is something when it comes to blacks - and La Revue Negre catered to that fascination with exaggerated stereotypes."#

as experiencing financial difficulties, she was sent to perform domestic chores in the homes of white families. "When only seven, she worked for a woman who frequently beat her, made her sleep in the cellar, and who, after Josephine accidentally broke some china, thrust her hands into scalding water. Neighbors, hearing her agonizing screams, called the police and she was taken to the hospital."# By the age of ten, she had worked as a kitchen helper, baby-sitter and maid.

Josephine Baker can be given many titles - jazz innovator, civil rights activist, World War II hero, and star - but her most prized title was, probably, that of "loving mother." Baker's dream of a world filled with brotherhood was realized with her greatest achievement: her "Rainbow Tribe." Josephine Baker once said: "Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood."# I certainly hope I am alive to experience this wonderful world born from the imagination and initiative of Josephine Baker.

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Approximate Word count = 3194
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)