JOSEPHINE BAKER

Date and place of birth

3 June 1906, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Date and place of death

12 April 1975 (68 years), Paris, France

Biography

French dancer, singer and actress, born in America. Slender, flexible, with a cunning sparkle in her eye and chocolate skin with a golden tint, Josephine was known as the "Black Venus". She had a brilliant career, her performances shocking audiences with their spontaneity, which bordered on vulgarity. Josephine danced, sang, spun, tumbled, grimaced, resembling a fairy imp. Intellectuals, writers and avant-garde artists considered her a symbol of their time. With her dancing, Josephine quickly won the recognition of the Parisian public, who, for the first time, witnessed her performance of Charleston, unknown to Europe at that time. In 1937, the actress was granted French citizenship. During the Second World War, she actively participated in the French resistance, for which she was given many awards, including the Order of the Legion of Honor. She supported the US civil rights movement. Her protest against racism was expressed in a very peculiar way – Josephine adopted

12 orphans of different nationalities with whom she lived in a villa in southwestern France. The famous dancer performed her last show, which marked her 50th year on stage, a few days before her death. On the day of the funeral, thousands of people marched through the streets of Paris behind the tomb of Josephine, seeing off the actress and the first American woman to be buried with military honours. 21 rifle volleys sounded in honour of her services to France. After the ceremony, Princess Grace Kelly took her body to Monaco.