![]() She had plans for a school and much more. In the 1950s, Baker turned her chateau grounds into a public park with attractions, and built a luxury hotel and a cabaret. I could go into any restaurant I wanted to, and I could drink water anyplace I wanted to, and I didn't have to go to a colored toilet either, and I have to tell you it was nice, and I got used to it, and I liked it, and I wasn't afraid anymore that someone would shout at me and say, '******, go to the end of the line.'" She adopted 12 children from around the world when I was young in Paris, strange things happened to me. ![]() But I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, in that country I never feared. Many of you have been there, and many have not. "When I was a child and they burned me out of my home," she said, "I was frightened and I ran away. She wore her French Resistance uniform with the string of medals across her breast. Two years later, in 1963, Baker addressed the crowd at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Josephine Baker speaking at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C, in 1963.įrance awarded Baker with various high honors over the years - a French Resistance medal, the Croix de Guerre, and in 1961, upon recognition by President de Gaulle, the Legion of Honor. She undertook spy missions, Kupferman says, passing easily between the Vichy regime in the south and the Nazi occupied north of the country. She used her fame to glean information at Axis embassies. She performed with French actor Maurice Chevalier for French troops stationed along the Maginot Line. ![]() "She went to top military officials and tells them, 'France has given me everything, use me however you want.'" Baker engaged in the fight for France early, in 1939, before the Nazi invasion filmmaker Kupferman says. Saint-Exupéry has found some of the hiding places. "When the Germans invaded, she left Paris and took refuge at Les Milandes because she did not want to sing for the Nazis," Saint-Exupéry says.īaker stashed weapons in the chateau - and also hid Resistance fighters and Jewish refugees. Saint-Exupéry's personal favorite is the "war room," which includes photos, newspaper clippings and Baker's medals. Each room of the chateau represents a different epoch. Scouring auctions, Saint-Exupéry collected photos, furniture, playbills and dresses that span Baker's life. "She had to enter show halls from the service entrance, and often she would arrive at hotels to find her reservation was canceled," says Kupferman.Įntertainers Maurice Chevalier and Josephine Baker are cheered by officers and men of the French Army as they arrive at the front during World War II, circa 1940. But she was not successful and was once again confronted with Jim Crow laws and racism. In 1936, Baker took her show to the Ziegfeld Follies in the U.S. She became the first Black woman to star in a feature film, the 1927 silent " La Sirène des Tropiques." She subsequently authored several books against racism. She was a symbol of the Jazz Age, dominating France's cabarets with her sense of humor, her frantic dancing and her iconic songs like " J'ai Deux Amours" or "I Have Two Loves," referring to " mon pays et Paris." Baker became a fixture in shows at Les Folies Bergères, a famous music hall. Louis became a star in Paris and part of the city's intellectual and artistic elite. The little girl who had cleaned houses in St. Within a few years, she spoke fluent French and began to sing. And this was quite an accomplishment for a very young woman who didn't have much knowledge of the society she landed in." She was not taking things at face value and she made sure that everyone understood that she was not exactly what people expected her to be. "She took distance vis-à-vis what she was dancing and playing. XjxFYcZMAO- Emmanuel Macron November 30, 2021
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