Baker, Josephine (1906–1975)

US-born dancer and entertainer. Baker achieved international fame for her daring stage act which involved lively dancing, scat singing, and scanty costume. After appearing in the Paris Folies Bergère in 1925, she became enormously successful in France, becoming a French citizen in 1937. Baker boycotted the USA for many years, refusing to accept the secondary status afforded to African-American citizens. On her return to the USA in the 1950s, she campaigned for racial equality, forcing the integration of several theatres and night-clubs. She addressed the crowds before the Lincoln Memorial at the 1963 march on Washington.

Baker cooperated with the French Resisitance movement in Word War II, using her opportunity to travel abroad to pick up intelligence. After the war she took up the cause of world brotherhood, adopting 12 children of various races and religions and raising them at her estate in France. Her plans for a ‘world village’ at her estate collapsed under financial debt. In order to raise money she made a comeback in 1973–75.