Josephine Baker
American and French entertainer (1906–1975)
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Key Takeaways
- Freda Josephine Baker ( née McDonald ; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), also spelled Joséphine Baker , was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress.
- She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 French silent film Siren of the Tropics , directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant .
- Her performance in its 1927 revue Un vent de folie caused a sensation in the city.
- Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the "Black Venus", the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess".
- citizenship and became a French national after her marriage to French industrialist Jean Lion in 1937.
Freda Josephine Baker (née McDonald; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), also spelled Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 French silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.
During her early career, Baker was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performance in its 1927 revue Un vent de folie caused a sensation in the city. Her costume, consisting only of a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the "Black Venus", the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess". Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she renounced her U.S. citizenship and became a French national after her marriage to French industrialist Jean Lion in 1937. She adopted 12 children, whom she referred to as the Rainbow Tribe, and raised them in France.
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