The Josephine Baker Story Essay - 1142 Words

Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine Carson in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 3, 1906 to washerwoman, Carrie McDonald, and vaudeville drummer, Eddie Carson. Josephines father abandoned them shortly after her birth and her mother married a kind but perpetually unemployed man named Arthur Martin. Their family came to include a son and two more daughters. Josephine grew up cleaning houses and babysitting for wealthy white families until she got a job waitressing at The Old Chauffeurs Club when she was 13-years-old. While working there she met a man named Willie Wells whom she had a short marriage with. Josephine never depended on a man for financial support and she never hesitated to leave when a relationship hit its breaking point.†¦show more content†¦Josephine battled two other women for the title of the most photographed woman in the world, and by 1927 she earned more than any entertainer in Europe. She starred in two movies in the early 1930s and moved her family from St. Louis to Les Milandes, her estate in Castelnaud-Fayrac, France. A 1936 return to the United States to star in the Ziegfield Follies proved disastrous, despit e the fact that she was a major celebrity in Europe. American audiences rejected the idea of a black woman with so much sophistication and power. Newspaper reviews were equally cruel (The New York Times called her a quot;Negro wenchquot;), and Josephine returned to Europe heartbroken. She served France during World War II in many ways. She performed for the troops, and was an honorable correspondent for the French Resistance (undercover work included smuggling secret messages written on her music sheetsin invisible ink) and a sub-lieutenant in the Womens Auxiliary Air Force. She was awarded the Medal of the Resistance and awarded into the Legion of Honor by the French government for hard work and dedication. Josephine visited the United States again during the 50s and 60s with renewed vigor to fight racism. When New Yorks popular Stork Club refused her service she engaged a head-on media battle with pro-segregation columnist Walter Winchell. The NAACP named May 20 Josephine Baker Da y in honor of her efforts. During this time she began adopting children, forming aShow MoreRelatedEssay about Josephine Baker2425 Words   |  10 PagesJosephine Baker While Jim Crow laws were reeking havoc on the lives of African Americans in the South, a massed exodus of Southern musicians, particularly from New Orleans, spread the seeds of Jazz as far north as New York City. A new genre of music produced fissures in the walls of racial discrimination thought to be impenetrable. Musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, King Oliver and Fletcher Henderson performed to the first desegregated audiences. Duke Ellington starredRead MoreJackie Robinson : African American Civil Rights Activist1181 Words   |  5 PagesIncorporated. 2004. Print. Sweat is a short story by writer and folklorist, Zora Neale Hurston. It first published in 1926. The story revolves around a washerwoman and her unemployed, insecure husband. Zora’s role in society shapes the story. The plot holds a strong political statement relating back to racial and gender inequality. Josephine Baker. â€Å"Speech at the March on Washington†. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Washington D.C. 28 Aug. 1963. Josephine Baker, French singer and exotic dancerRead MoreThe Women s Rights Movement1711 Words   |  7 Pagesof America’s Suffragists by Jean Baker and Century of Struggle: The woman’s Rights Movement in the United States by Eleanor Flexner both cover the issues and the struggle that lead to giving women their right to vote. The two books both discussed the issues but they did not convey the message the same way. 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