Spectacles of Agency and Desire: Dance Histories and the Burlesque Stage

Josephine Baker

In Paris in 1925, Josephine Baker took the performance world by storm by becoming one of the first famous African American exotic burlesque dancer in Europe. She was instantly adored by her fans and ended up maintaining her celebrity status for over 50 years. Born to a lower class family in the United States, Josephine grew up waitressing and eventually married and divorced over six times. Her last marriage to Frenchman Jean Lion in 1937 is where she attained her French citizenship. She began her dancing career touring in the United States with The Jones Family Band and The Dixie Steppers in 1919 performing comical skits. Because of limitations due to her ethnicity, her initial role was an understudy for the chorus lines. After slight success in New York she decided to travel to Paris. She found enormous success in Paris, and her new salary was spent extravagantly on clothes, jewelry and pets. She owned a cheetah, chimpanzee, pig, snake, goat, parrot, parakeets, fish, three cats and seven dogs. By 1927 she was considered “the most photographed woman in the world” and also earned more than any other performer in Europe (Louck and Haberman). 

In 1936 she returned to the United States to make a special appearance in the Ziegfeld Follies, however, the audiences were not ready for a successful black woman performer. A biography titled “Josephine Baker Charming Paris” explains that “Josephine loved France because it offered many freedoms to blacks that the US did not. She could go into any hotel, restaurant or shop, and no one would refuse to serve her because of her color, as they did back home” (Scholl 19). She eventually returned to the US in the 1950s and 60s in attempts to fight for African American Civil Rights. In honor of her efforts, The NAACP named May 20th Josephine Baker Day. In addition to this advocacy she was a secret correspondent for France during World War II as well as a sub-lieutenant in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. “As a star, Josephine passed through airports easily — no one suspected her as a spy. During World War II, Josephine fought for the French resistance against the Nazis by smuggling coded messages written on the back of sheet music” (Scholl 19). During this time Josephine and her husband began adopting children to prove that “children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers.” Towards the end of her career she received more widespread acceptance from both the United States and Europe. Unfortunately in 1975, a few days after her last performance tribute to her 50-year career, she slipped into a coma and died of a cerebral hemorrhage (Louck and Haberman).




 
Works Cited:

Scholl, Elizabeth. "Josephine Baker: Charming Paris." New Moon 15 (March 2008): 18-19. Proquest. 2 Dec. 2015.

Louck, Tracie, and Barbara Haberman. "The Official Josephine Baker Website". The Official Josephine Baker Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

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