Josephine Baker's 111th Birthday

With her kohl-rimmed eyes and exotic costumes, Josephine Baker pounced onto the global stage in the 1920s, becoming a Jazz Age icon and one of the first internationally recognized African-American entertainers.

Born into a vaudevillian family on June 3, 1906, Baker took up the family trade as a teenager. Her early days were spent dancing in public spaces for spare change. She eventually made her way to New York City at the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance, where she joined the chorus line of Shuffle Along, the first all-black Broadway musical. From there, she set off for Paris and found her fame and artistic home in the city’s opulent cabarets, singing and performing uninhibited dance routines that celebrated female liberation and African cultural identity.

A celebrity in Europe – and one of the most photographed women on the planet – Baker nonetheless faced racially charged comments from the press when she returned to the U.S. in 1936 for a short-lived starring turn in the Broadway series Ziegfeld Follies. Championing diversity and fighting for civil rights would become an enduring concern throughout her life. She refused to perform for segregated audiences and worked closely with the NAACP. In 1963, she participated in the March on Washington as the only female speaker to officially address the crowd, which she described as looking like "salt and pepper. Just what it should be." Her family life also mirrored her ideals. She adopted 12 children from around the world, affectionately referring to them as her Rainbow Tribe.

As if all that weren’t enough for one life, Baker had a secret career with the French resistance during World War II, socializing with Axis officials at high-society parties and using her cover as a country-hopping celebrity to gather intelligence — often writing it on her sheet music in invisible ink. Following the war, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre and inducted by Charles de Gaulle into France’s prestigious Legion of Honour.

There’s little doubt why Ernest Hemingway once called her "the most sensational woman anybody ever saw—or ever will."  

Happy 111th birthday, Josephine Baker!

Doodle slideshow by Lydia Nichols
Animated gifs by Tracey Laguerre

early Josephine Baker art