Page 48 - All About History - Issue 70-18

Josephine Baker
BAKER’S LIFE IN
NUMBERS
Family life
Number of times Josephine
4 married
Altogether, her adopted children
hailed from 10 different countries 10
including France, Korea, Japan, Israel
and Algeria.
Her château at
Les Milandes
had 24 rooms
in total
Performances
During her time as a chorus
girl on Broadway, Josephine
$125 was earning $125 a week
Number of countries Josephine
visited across Europe during 25
her 1928 – 1929 tour
$100,000
The amount Josephine earned during
the first leg of her 1951 US tour
Free French Air Force
The air force operated for
just under 5 years from 1940-1945
1940 to 1945
By the end of 1942 there were 5
squadrons in operation – 2 in the Middle
East, 2 in Britain and 1 in the Soviet Union Josephine paid for the funeral of Willie McGree, about racism were highlighting an issue that the
Number of operational
squadrons that the air force 25
had by December 1944
Civil Rights
The Montgomery
Bus Boycott lasted
381 for 381 days
At least 5,000
members of law 5,000
enforcement were
present at the March on Washington
The percentage of registered
black voters in Mississippi
rose from 7% in 1964 to
67 % 67% in 1969, after the
passing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965
48
Protestors outside the Stork Club
after Josephine was refused service embraced suspected of communism without
Desperate to get her aboard, Schuyler promised to
desegregate his club and invite prominent African- horrified as Josephine’s popularity increased, with
Americans to the show.
Josephine agreed and her show in Miami was a
hit, particularly with African-American critics who
praised her efforts towards desegregation.
Encouraged by
her success in Miami,
Josephine toured the
States and stepped up
her demands. She refused “She refused
to perform in segregated
venues and stayed in to perform in
the best hotels, a stark
contrast to her hotel segregated venues”
experience just a couple
of years earlier. Thanks
to her efforts casinos
across Las Vegas became
desegregated. However,
her efforts are not as widely known as those made
by her male counterparts such as Martin Luther
King or Sammy Davis Jr.
Josephine also encouraged white businessmen
to hire African-Americans and spoke out against
the trial of the Trenton Six, six men accused of
murdering a white man, visiting them in jail during subsequently cancelled.
their second trial in April 1951. A month later,
an African-American who had been executed for
allegedly raping a white woman.
For her tireless efforts, the National Association activist adopted
for the Advancement of Colored People named
20 May Josephine Baker Day in her honour.
Celebrations were held in Harlem with 100,000
people taking part in a parade, in recognition of
Josephine’s fight for equality.
However, circumstances changed when
Josephine openly criticised the prestigious New
York nightclub, the Stork Club, where she had
been refused service during a dinner with friends.
Outraged, Josephine filed charges against the Stork
Club and called out journalist Walter Winchell, her
one-time ally, for failing to come to her assistance
even though he had been present at the time.
The lawsuit caused problems for Josephine.
Angered, Winchell publicly attacked Josephine in
his articles and accused her of being a communist
– as a friend of Senator Joseph McCarthy, Winchell
McCarthyism and routinely condemned
those he
sufficient evidence. Thanks in part to Winchell, the
on
FBI started following Josephine and kept a file
her activities, while many venues refused to book
her fearing that she had become too controversial.
The situation worsened when Josephine
conducted another tour across Latin America in
1952, escaping from her problems in America.
During her visit to Argentina, Josephine made
statements denouncing the racism prevalent
in America that were subsequently published
across the world. The American government was
her words of discrimination resonating with many
other races and ethnicities.
Josephine had gained exposure for her cause
but Winchell used the tour against her. She visited
Havana, Cuba, and was
said to have partied
with the communist
Castro brothers, Fidel
and Raúl. Winchell used
this as evidence for
his accusations against
Josephine, despite the
that she had been
fact
distancing herself from
side of politics
the left
for some time.
In response Josephine
was briefly arrested and
interrogated by Cuban police for being a suspected
communist at the suggestion of the FBI.
propaganda
She was released but
campaign
a
led by the American government, persuading
other countries to prevent her from performing,
was successful and many of her contracts were
Josephine’s politically charged speeches
American government wanted to keep buried.
The entertainer and
children from all
over the world