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July 2020
African-Americans Abroad: Josephine Baker and the Controversy African-Americans Abroad: Josephine Baker and the Controversy
Surrounding African-American Figures Outside of America Surrounding African-American Figures Outside of America
Ferin E. Jones
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Jones, Ferin E., "African-Americans Abroad: Josephine Baker and the Controversy Surrounding African-
American Figures Outside of America" (2020).
LSU Master's Theses
. 5205.
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African-Americans Abroad: Josephine Baker and the Controversy
Surrounding African American Figures Outside of America
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Masters of Arts in History
in
The Department of History
by
Ferin E. Jones
B. A. Louisiana State University, 2015
August 2020
ii
This paper is dedicated to my favorite Black women. Shelis, Rita, and Laverne.
iii
Table of Contents
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….iii
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….1-2
Chapter I. American Entertainment and Blackness…………………………………….3-7
Chapter II. Is The Grass Greener? .................................................................................8-19
Chapter III. Josephine Baker as a Celebrity………………………………………….20-33
Chapter IV. Josephine Baker as an American Activist and French Spy……………..34-41
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………42-44
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….45-47
Vita…………………………………………………………………………………….48
iv
Abstract
This paper is about the complexities surrounding the African American experience in
other countries. Josephine Baker was one of many figures with important stories.
1
Introduction
Dear Miss Baker,
“I read with great interest your recent letter and appreciate fully the moving sentiments you have expressed.
Your return to the United States to lend your own tremendous prestige to the struggle to achieve equality of
treatment and opportunity for all Americans is most dramatic and impressive.”
-John F. Kennedy, November 8, 1963
Historians often discuss how Josephine Baker and others during the early twentieth
century “escaped” racism in America by leaving creating their success in other countries. Race
relations are mentioned but usually not the focus. The focus shifts to the positive and more
popular moments in their journey abroad. Many African American stars felt conflicted about
their experience abroad, and some of the conflict was not expressed until their return, or at the
thought of returning. Some faced racism in a new form, racism with a history that reached further
back than their lifetimes. The French were deeply tangled with Black entertainment tracing back
to blackface and zoo exhibitions with “exotic others” on display. Germans were weary after the
occupation of the Rhineland by Black soldiers. A different history brought a different racism,
and different experiences. It is important to look at their experience through the lens of their
return home or lack there of. Homecomings caused uncomfortable conversations amongst stars
that shared the same skin color. I argue that defining the “success” of African Americans abroad
by American standards, or the country of their escape, is not a true scale. African American stars
abroad did not escape the heaviness of race relations; they experienced it on a global scale, with
2
a different name, often with a spotlight on their every move. How they interpreted their
experience in private or with the world, is worth a look. I will do this by looking at the history of
entertainment in American culture and European culture, surveying the African Americans who
had success in Europe, and exploring how Josephine Baker broke barriers as a French citizen, as
well as in America.
3
Chapter I. American Entertainment and Blackness
At the start of the 20
th
century a new generation of African Americans who had never
been enslaved attempted to navigate being black in America. Musicians, writers, dancers, and
actors crossed color lines and state lines and experienced what it meant to be Black outside of
America. Their talent even brought them to different countries, beyond the United States and the
Jim Crow era. It could be easy to conclude that they defeated all the odds of being black during a
time when lynchings were at an all-time high. Josephine Baker, who was a young girl when
terror hit the inhabitants of St. Louis, Missouri, knew from an early age that America was not the
place she wanted to be. In this paper I survey the experiences of black entertainers, most notably
Josephine Baker who never returned to the United States permanently but shook racial tensions
more than she shook the bananas on her skirt.
A black entertainer in Paris in 1930 was outstanding given the circumstances. But what
happened behind the scenes and what had to occur to get them there. While racism seemed to be
worse in the United States for black entertainers, the lack of segregation in places such as Paris
did not erase the color of their skin. When situated in places other than America, black celebrities
enjoyed benefits such as intimate relationships and levels of respect outside of the States that
may not have been present in America. After these experiences, many black celebrities’ views on
racism were more conflicted than before. For Josephine, the confliction would cost her money as
well as make her choice of shows more intentional. As black celebrities they sometimes had to
choose between being a good influence for a community that looked like them or an inspiration
that was successful. The two often did not mix.
4
To understand a part of the success of these artists, we must understand the racialization
of entertainment in the twentieth century. One of the most popular forms of entertainment was
blackface. During pagan and medieval times, Europeans associated the color black with evil.
John Strausbaugh argued, “The symbolism was basic: white/light/day equaled good,
black/dark/night equaled evil. Europeans simply carried the symbolism over to ‘light’ and ‘dark’
skin.”
1
The act of painting a white face with black paint can be traced back to the 17
th
century
during the Shakespearean play Othello. Although it was not the only form of blackface done by a
white actor, it was the most well-known. A century later in 1751, the play was first performed in
the American colonies. Strausbaugh points out that historian Dale Cockrell believed it was
popular because it played into the racial fears of the founding fathers of the country.
2
The
popularity of this play set the tone for what white colonial Americans wanted to see. White
people needed validation for their use of slavery. The association of black with evil did a great
deal for its presence. What better way to prove that slavery was necessary than turning the
concept into entertainment? The use of Othello, a dark skinned man, as a form of entertainment
helped disguise the racism.
Minstrel shows were popular in the United States. Blacks imitating musical creations and
whites imitating black musical creations and dancing grew popular in the late 18
th
century.
Strausbaugh states, “The exchange went both ways. Whites loved learning the banjo, which the
Blacks had brought with them from Africa. Blacks loved the piano, and learned to play it with
Promethean genius…Blacks loved to dance to Celtic jigs and reels, Whites learned to imitate
1
John Strausbaugh, Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in
American Popular Culture (New York: Penguin, 2006), 62-71.
2
Strausbaugh, Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American
Popular Culture, 64.
5
Black field hollers, and both sides shared a love for plaintive airs and ballads.” What started as
an exchange of cultures, however, evolved into racist interpretations used in minstrel shows.
Minstrel shows included songs with gibberish, an imitation and exaggeration of the broken
dialect slaves spoke because they were refused an education. The success of the minstrel shows
throughout America was rooted in the assumption of the inferiority of black people. The image
of inferiority was the price the black minstrel show performers paid for their fame.
The segregation of black and white people in the United States grew in the latter part of
the nineteenth century. With the separation, minstrel shows became more exaggerated because
white and black people were forced to stay apart. There was no more teaching one another to
play instruments, so the shows were different from reality. For many white people, their only
contact with black culture was through the entertainers, black or white, in the minstrel shows.
The cultures became estranged while the shows became more and more popular.
3
This tactic
paved the way for larger issues in entertainment for black talents, especially outside of America.
Black talent abroad was meaningful but still rare during this time, as well as black people
being exposed to a new reality. There were many barriers to be broken and Baker used World
War Two as a way to advocate for the rights of African American soldiers. Baker understood
how efforts, no matter how big or small, could go a long way.
4
She was not the only one to
notice the irony of America fighting against racial injustice. Racism was global, and
exceptionalism in America shined bright. America overlooked the racism in its own backyard
when it sent Black soldiers to fight in World War Two.
3
Strausbaugh, Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American
Popular Culture, 108.
4
Phyllis Rose. Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker in Her Time. (New York: Random
House, 1989), 202.
6
After the Second World War, black men returned from fighting for the country with a
sense of pride that held no merit for white people in America. Tyler Stovall argues that the post-
World War I era brought the New Negro, “a term used to indicate the increased racial pride and
resistance to discrimination expressed by American blacks in the 1920’s.”
5
About half of the
African Americans who fought in the First World War were located in France. Although their
living conditions were not great compared to white soldiers, they were called racial slurs by the
white officers, and they still faced racism. These black men “laid the foundations for the vibrant
African American community that would settle in Paris after the war.” The way they were
treated in France after the war was refreshing because there was no segregation and their
expectations rose. Some of those pleasant times transferred over upon their return to the
Northern states. On February 17, 1919, “hundreds of thousands of whites and blacks cheered as
the black soldiers, led by Jim Europe’s band, marched in formation up Fifth Avenue to
Harlem…Later that day the veterans attended a celebratory dinner in their honor hosted by the
city of New York.”
In contrast, there was no parade thrown on black veterans’ behalf in the South. A
Mississippi senator claimed that “French women ruined negro soldiers” and that these soldiers
should be handled accordingly.
6
With this attitude came a large number of lynchings. In 1918,
white Americans lynched fifty-eight African Americans; the following year seventy-seven were
lynched, ten of them veterans.
7
Black people called the summer of 1919 “Red Summer” because
of the amount of blood shed. White Americans in the South went out of their way to make it
5
Tyler Stovall. Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light. (New York:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996), 27-28.
6
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 5-6.
7
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 27.
7
known that their country was nothing like France. White people resisted the idea of black
freedom and black people resisted the oppression they faced.
At the same time as the summer filled with bloodshed an era named The Harlem
Renaissance occurred. This era highlighted black talent in art, literature, dance, and music. The
welcoming spirit that was present after the war was gone and white people moved out of Harlem
and black people moved in. However, white people could not resist the appeal of the speakeasies
and Harlem shows. An example of black talent during this time is Louis Armstrong, who could
smell the potential success all the way from the South. But at the core of this beautiful black,
booming city were the racist realities of America. Harlem was misleading, accepting black
culture but not the black race. “Glamourous and seductive by night, Harlem wore an entirely
different face by day.”
8
There were places like Harlem all over America. Too often, black
celebrities felt special, but not included. People like Louis Armstrong yearned for a place they
could showcase their talent without fear of harassment after the show. It was time to leave
America.
8
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 30-31.
8
Chapter II. Is The Grass Greener?
Josephine Baker was the model for black success in Europe, more specifically Paris.
Following the First World War, there were a few thousand black people from different
backgrounds in France. Coupled with the influx of African Americans who resided in France for
various artistic reasons, historian Brett A. Berliner describes this moment as “the French
welcomed them and even enshrined Josephine Baker as a symbol of interwar French cultural
life.”
9
Baker’s success was in part due to the history of Negro exoticism made by the French.
The French fetished the “other” and placed them on display alongside animals. They had an
“exhibitionary complex” as Tony Bennett would argue, and the success of exhibitions at the
Parisian zoo proved their desire for the display. In 1877, after the French found more interest in
the Nubian caretakers than of the African animals, George Saint-Hilaire took note. From that
year until 1883, “George Saint-Hilare put on a dozen exhibitions of the primitive and exotic
other. With the exception of two groups of Nubians, the exhibitions were of non-Africans:
Eskimos, Lapps, Gauchos, Fuegians, Galibis, Ceylonese, Araucans, Kalmucks, and American
Indians were brought to the zoo to the delight of the Parisian populace.” Attendance numbers
were high, and showrunners kept the show going. “the indigenous peoples were set up on the
great lawn of the zoo where they would live for a few weeks or even months.”
10
The Parisians
fell in love with viewing other races doing what was out of their ordinary. In 2011, a museum in
Paris took an aim to grapple with the city’s history of human display. A newspaper article gave a
brief overview of the reason behind the exhibit “Until just a few generations ago, this is how
most white people learned about those with skin of a different shade… Curator Lilian Thuram, a
9
Brett Berliner, Ambivalent Desire: The Exotic Black Other in Jazz-Age France.
(Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002), 3.
10
Berliner, Ambivalent Desire: The Exotic Black Other in Jazz-Age France, 107-109.
9
former soccer star and now anti-racism advocate, hopes the exhibit at the Quai Branly Museum
in Paris makes people question deep-held beliefs about the "other".
11
Over a century later, the
Parisians are still untangling the racism behind their amusement of choice, proving how the
“escaping the racism” is not entirely true, even if it appeared to be otherwise.
12
The “black othering” moment was not unique to France. Nazi Germany was known for
racism, a racism not limited to Jews. Many black jazz musicians toured Germany under Hitler’s
reign. While his ideals are widely known, few know how the musicians and Olympic champions
lived under a complex regime. They were honoring America while still facing discrimination, as
well as gaining success for their craft. Later celebrated as innovators and breakout stars because
of the varied experiences from African Americans in the United States. Maria I. Diedrich argues
“In December 1934 Paul Robeson, disgusted at the racial violence he had witnessed during a
visit to Germany, publicly renounced his plans to work with Max Reinhardt, and Josephine
Baker eventually joined the French Resistance for the same reasons.”
13
In contrast, W.E.B.
Dubois insisted that he experienced very little racism during his years in Germany. As an
American, viewing racism through the lens of American racism is not a precise picture.
14
White people were not the only faces that performed in black face or as Othello. Ira
Aldridge was an African American actor who left the United States for England in 1824 because
of the racism he experienced in New York City; he never returned. In England, a comedian made
11
“Paris Museum Questions Racism in Human Display.” New Zealand Herald. Accessed
January, 2020.
12
https://www.voanews.com/europe/paris-exhibit-savage-display
13
Mary I. Diedrich, “Black ‘Others’-African Americans and Black Germans in the Third
Reich” In Remapping Black Germany: New Perspectives on Afro-German History, Politics, and
Culture, edited by Sara Lennox. (Boston: University of Massachusetts, 2016), 138.
14
W. E. B. Du Bois, “Forum of Fact and Opinion,” Pittsburgh Courier, December 19,
1936.
10
a skit imitating Aldridge in a very racist way using a minstrel song. Aldridge used that same song
in his own minstrel show. By adopting a form of entertainment that used stereotypical dancing
and language that portrayed blacks in a negative manner, Aldridge turned racism into a means
for his success. Aldridge took a song that was written to set him back and turned it into a positive
representation for the black race. His story is revealing because a century later Josephine Baker
would take a very similar path to his. Errol Hill, who studied the history of Black theatre, argued
that Aldridge was “thanked and honored” after his performances in Europe by prominent
European figures.
15
Aldridge was different and talented, but was still excluded from elite events
in Europe.
In her early showbiz days, Josephine Baker performed in blackface. Biographer Phyillis
Rose pointed out how she was in blackface for a role “created especially for her”
16
She was
famous enough for a customized role, but the role was filled with the same racism she tried so
hard to escape.
15
James V. Hatch and Errol Hill. A History of African American Theatre.(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press), 2003.
16
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 60
11
Image1. Ira Aldridge’s first appearance at Covent Gardens in the role of Othello.
https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~20723~101813:-Ira-Aldridge-s-
first-appearance-
The exchange of black and white cultures stretched well into the twentieth century, but in
a different manner. It was no longer a natural cultural exchange. White people frequented clubs
that had black entertainers as their headliners. “Even in the heart of Harlem, the fanciest
nightclubs featured black entertainers but did not admit black clients.”
17
Club owners wanted the
black talent, but not the black audience. The desire to cast black talent without the desire to
welcome a black audience mirrored the conflicting feelings some black celebrities experienced.
For some, the road to fame often started in a small black-owned club with an audience that
looked similar to them, but the larger audiences in the larger clubs did not look the same.
Regardless of concern, racial issues were not always presented as actual issues. For many
black entertainers, their talent brought them wealth. It is understandable why a person of any
17
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 30
12
color might assume an actor such as Aldridge was comfortable and content. The glorified status
of a famous person seemingly eliminated them from issues the average person faced. They were
still placed on an unfair pedestal and this brought criticism. The color of their skin was without a
doubt part of the conversation; however the way someone like Baker was brought into the
conversation was because of her talent. A few decades after Aldridge, the world would be
introduced to Hattie McDaniel, who rose to fame by playing the role of a “mammy” in the film
Gone With the Wind. The very start of fame for some black entertainers in America meant
performing things rooted in racism or pleasing very racist crowds. Many, including the
entertainer, overlooked the racist stereotypes for the sake of entertainment and wealth. This was
a blow for the fight of injustices in America because the entertainment industry awarded racist
beliefs. McDaniel’s setback, however, later won her awards.
Part of the reason Aldridge, McDaniel, and Baker were able to achieve success is because
they were a spectacle to the white eye which traced back to the minstrel shows. This could be
why even the most talented still experienced some form of racism. Your fame did not always
dismiss your blackness. Fame was at its peak when a black artist’s star was shining its brightest,
on stage, when they were the spectacle for a white audience.
The presence of African Americans in France made the white French uneasy. Racism in
America was infamous while racism in France was subtle. The reason black entertainers were
able to achieve success there is because their talent was more important than their perceived
racial inferiority. Stovall said that “Although most African American GI’s eagerly anticipated
returning home after the end of the war, some had no desire to give up freedoms they had
experienced and opted not to go back to the United States. This decision was of course not so
easily carried out because the French Government had no desire to play host to demobilized
13
foreign soldiers of any color.” The American government set up a program for former American
soldiers to attend school in France but “Army officials showed less enthusiasm for the prospect
of black veterans enrolling in the program, at times trying to speed up the demobilization of
black officers before they had time to apply.”
18
While it is true that France became home to
many African Americans after the war, the start of this home building was not a smooth one nor
was it universal.
French culture changed after the war. Half a million French lives had been lost and they
were eager to heal. The presence of African Americans in France brought a new love for African
art and culture. The novel Batouala by black French author named Rene Maran received the
highest French literary honor. Black talent was exposed on a new level and the French fell in
love. They were ready to accept African Americans, but only if they fit into the category in
which the French were obsessed. African Americans used this obsession to their advantage.
When the experience of a well-known figure is put in writing or aired on the radio to be
viewed by the masses, the audience may view the figure’s experience as a staple for everyone
that identifies with said person, and as fact. The ability to view them as individuals and not as a
group is vital in the same way that racism does not have one meaning. Louis Armstrong
criticized Josephine Baker’s statements upon her return to America. He did not “dig” her
dissatisfaction with her treatment in America when she compared it to France. Most agree that
the experience in America was not pleasant, but to group every writer, musician, or athlete’s time
abroad as a stamp of success is to do their stories an injustice. The search of happiness did not
stop.
18
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 35.
14
Claude McKay documented his return home in various works. “A wave of thrills flooded
the arteries of my being, and I felt as if I had undergone initiation as a member of my tribe. And I
was happy. Yes it was a rare sensation again to be just one black among many. It was good to be
lost in the shadows of Harlem again.”
19
Though granted the chance to leave America, he was
happy to be back. He was happy to blend in again and not “othered.” Sense of community is a
separate, and important, feeling that runs parallel with symptoms of discrimination. One does not
have to overpower the other and it is clear that being one of few blacks weighed on his mind.
Langston Hughes expressed similar emotions in The Big Sea. “I came out onto the
platform with two heavy bags and looked around. It was still early morning and people were
going to work. Hundreds of colored people! I wanted to shake hands with them, speak to them. I
hadn’t seen any colored people for so long-that is, any Negro colored people.”
20
Overwhelmed
with joy because of unity, leaving America did not mean leaving behind racial discomfort. In
fact, it brought about a new sense of discomfort: unfamiliarity and loneliness. He spoke of
experiences with a friend, Jessie Fauset, at her home in Harlem. These times were sacred, and
not for the curiosity of whites, a common practice in France. “’At Miss Fauset’s, a good time
was shared by talking literature and reading poetry aloud and perhaps enjoying some
conversation in French. White people were seldom present there unless they were very
distinguished white people because Jessie Fauset did not feel like opening her home to mere
sightseers, or faddists momentarily in love with Negro life.”
21
France taught Hughes that he was
adored by French people amused by his blackness more than him as a person.
19
Brenda Smith Huggins, Voices from the Harlem Renaissance (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1995), 82.
20
Huggins, Voices from the Harlem Renaissance, 90.
21
Huggins, Voices from the Harlem Renaissance, 97.
15
This backhanded method of racism created the illusion that being outside of America was
better. However, for some, including the fans of someone like Baker, that illusion was enough.
Being granted the same opportunity as whites, regardless of the ill feelings secretly felt towards
them, was all some African Americans needed to be at peace. A common reason for this
departure is opportunity.
Back home, Lena Horne, famous American singer and actress, took strong actions against
the racism in the entertainment industry. Lary May noted how when she was on the board for the
Screen Actors Guild and went to the soldiers’ camps during World War II, she “protested the
segregation of black troops and walked out of one performance when officers allowed German
prisoners to see her show but forbade the attendance of black soldiers.”
22
In an interview with
Ebony, she said of her experience, “They said at the time I got the job at MGM in 1943 that they
were going to prove through me that we’re all alike. They made me up and down, they decided
the way they thought I should look. They decided how a Negro should look…they tried to make
me look as close to white as possible…what they did was name me in all releases as the sepia
Hedy Lamarr…Why wasn’t she advertised as the white Lena Horne?”
23
Well, why wasn’t she advertised as the white Lena Horne? The answer is Hedy Lamarr
represented the white standard of beauty during this time. Everything that Lena Horne, and other
black women, did during the mid-twentieth century was compared to white women. Just being
Lena was not good enough. It was different than Baker’s Parisian fame, yet somehow it was still
22
Lary May, The Big Tomorrow (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), 166.
23
Lena Horne interview, Ebony (July 1968), pp. 130-134.
16
the same. Paris obsessed over how African Baker was and America obsessed over how white
Horne could be.
The feelings that Horne had were an example of how the smiling face of a black celebrity
did not reflect their true thoughts. The smile also did not reflect their intentions. With the
comparisons to white women, Horne was not truly happy nor was she allowed to be herself.
Instead, she used her platform for the betterment of the black community. She refused to perform
for a segregated crowd, and she refused to continue the racist customs that white Americans
created. Horne was a true representation of how the negative experiences she had could be used
as a platform.
Image2. Lena Horne https://www.oscars.org/collection-highlights/lena-horne/?fid=41041
17
Miles Davis, a famous jazz musician from St. Louis went to Paris in 1949 for a jazz
festival and enjoyed the benefits the seemingly nonexistent racism. “I had never felt that way in
my life. It was the freedom of being in France and being treated like a human being, like
someone important. Even the band and the music we played sounded better over there.”
24
Davis
returned to America, however, because he “didn’t think the music would or could happen for me
over there. Plus the musicians who moved over there seemed to me to lose something, an energy,
an edge, that living in the States gave them.”
25
Davis could have been referring to black
musicians who chose to forget about the racial issues back home. Davis could not push those
things to the back of his head. Everyone reacted to living abroad in a different way. He
recognized the freedoms he experienced, but he also wanted to experience being black in
America with people he could relate to instead of in Paris.
Richard Wright had an experience that many others could not relate to during his travels
from America and Paris. His reason for leaving the United States is the most complex yet. A
famous novel writer in Chicago, Wright fought for racial equality in America and joined the
Communist Party for a few years because it coincided with his progressive beliefs. The racism
exhausted Wright and he realized no form of wealth would be a means of acceptance in America.
As Stovall explains, “When the Wrights purchased a comfortable home in the heart of
Greenwich Village in 1945, they were able to only do so by using a white lawyer who never
mentioned the race of his client.” Wright, however, was very vocal about his opinions on racism
in America and soon “found himself the subject of investigations by the FBI and other
24
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 180.
25
Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, Miles (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), 218.
18
government agencies.”
26
Wright had the home in Greenwich, the popular novels, and the money,
and he had the will to stand up for his beliefs. This was a recipe for disaster in America. A talent
that was black meant another reason for white Americans to push them out of their American
home.
Wright dealt with his backlash in a different manner than Baker and Armstrong. He still
chose to support the black community in the only way he knew how. When he published Native
Son in 1940 and Black Boy in 1945, he showed that he still supported the advancement of black
people, regardless of his experiences in America.
Image3. George Whitman with Richard Wright and Wright's wife Ellen; and Paris
Review editors Max Steele and Peter Matthiessen at Shakespeare & Company Bookstore. By
Jacques Rochon http://ushistoryscene.com/article/eat-african-american-lit-paris/
26
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 191-192.
19
Wright first went to France with his family in 1946 for about a half of a year, and then
returned. This return to America was not a pleasant one for him and he spent the last thirteen
years of his life in Paris. He lived comfortably in comparison to other black people in Paris. This
did not alter his outlook on racism; if anything, it heightened it. He published two novels about
race relations in the United States and “American critics, both black and white, attacked the two
books as outdated portrayals of racial conflict in their society, arguing that a writer who lived in
Paris could no longer claim an intimate knowledge of the situation.”
27
It seemed as if no matter
their stance on race relations, or their reason for leaving America, controversy was a common
theme. Race was a fragile topic that some wanted to overlook as well as address, and both were
tricky.
Money did not erase blackness nor criticism from black people. Richard Wright learned
this the hard way. Being praised for your talent is expected to be an enjoyable season. But for
many the results of their success were dampened by the color of their skin. His views on racism
in America were questioned because he was no longer there. How could he know? Richard
Wright and Josephine Baker tried to navigate being of service to African Americans while not
physically being there.
27
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 193.
20
Chapter III. Josephine Baker as a Celebrity
At the height of her career, Josephine Baker strived for equality. She spoke out against
many racists incidents, especially at night clubs. Segregation and outright racism against black
performers infuriated Baker. In a letter addressed to Mr. Clark she stated “Don’t you know your
letters will not intimidate me…Why don’t you use your flashy headlines to play up the Peal
Bailey incident. Pearl Bailey as you know is a famous colored singer and was beaten and kicked
unmercifully by four men of the white race because they resented the fact that she was a colored
lady working in a night club in New Jersey near New York City.” Later in the letter she pointed
out how she was unbothered when she “received many threatening letters” telling her to go back
to France.
28
Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Josephine taught herself how to dance very early
in life. Her famous dancing moves were almost perfected by the time she was a teenager. These
moves involved her twisting her body in various ways and making faces with her eyes and
mouth. In the first decade of the twentieth century, black performers in American clubs faced the
pressure of not being black enough. It traced back to what it meant to be a black person and how
white people had grown accustomed to seeing white people portray black people. Black
entertainers were being themselves instead of exaggerating what it supposedly meant to be black,
and for white audiences that was not enough. In 1919, a New York newspaper said that “Here
colored folks seem to have set out to show the whites they are just as white as anybody. They
may be good, but they’re different- and in their own entertainment, at any rate, they should
28
Letter to Mr. Clark, 1-2, Schomburg Center
21
remain different- distinct- indigenous.”
29
African Americans had to fit a certain narrative in
order to gain success, in America and in Paris.
Baker got her start with the Shuffle Along Tour Company before she met producer
Caroline Dudley, who had big hopes for black entertainers in Paris because she saw the potential
in them. Baker craved the glamour Paris could offer her, unlike in America. As Phyllis Rose’s
work shows, not every black person in Paris was a celebrity; they were writers, professors and
regular people that stayed in France after the war. It was in Paris that Baker perfected her craft of
dancing in the 1920s. Her road to star status in Paris had begun and she became the model for
black American success in Paris.
To achieve the star status she longed for, Baker had to make adjustments. With her
connections, Dudley took Baker along with the rest of La Revue Negre, which included twenty
five black dancers, singers, and jazz artists, to the Theatre des Champs Elysees for their grand
debut. Baker’s self-taught dance skills and facial expressions that made her stand out in America
were not enough to take her to the next level in Paris. The show’s producer, Jacques Charles,
came up with a more provocative routine for Baker. It was a more “’African’ dance routine, the
Danse Sauvage, featuring a scantily clad Baker and a male partner, Joe Alex, gyrating to the
rhythms of the jungle, bringing the show in line with French stereotypes of blacks.” The French
needed Baker to represent their African vision.
30
Baker was covered in feathers and giving the
audience what they wanted, something she learned was valuable in her childhood. This is not to
confuse the willingness of Baker with her comfort. She hesitated at the thought of being naked,
but she kept performing nonetheless. By making a name for herself in jazz clubs, she became an
29
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker in Her Time, 62-63.
30
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 53.
22
example of success for black Americans and jazz music merging in Paris. She owned the
nightlife of the 1920’s and it was just the beginning. She went on to tour in Europe and South
America before returning to Paris an even larger celebrity than before.
31
Josephine Baker spoke at the March on Washington in 1963, and she flew in from Paris
to do so. There, she talked about her experiences in Paris and how they differed from her time in
the United States.
Figure 4. Josephine Baker dancing at
the Folies-Bergere. Paris Photography by Walery. https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-
beauty/9133/dancer-singer-activist-spy-the-legacy-of-josephine-baker
“When I was a child and they burned me out of my home, I was frightened and
I ran away. I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, in that country I never
feared. It was like a fairyland place…But when I ran away, yes, when I ran
31
Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, 56.
23
away to another country, I didn’t have to do that. I could go into any restaurant
I wanted to...”
Baker acknowledged that her life was a “fairytale” in Paris. She knew that her life there
was unusual when compared to her life in America. She knew that she was privileged.
She admitted that she did not have to embrace these benefits in the manner that she did,
but she wanted to. It was nice to be able to eat lunch in her place of choice. It was nice
to not “fear.”
“And when I got to New York way back then, I had other blows,,,And I said to
myself, My God, I am Josephine, and if they do this to me, what do they do to
the other people in America?”
Baker was still conscious of the fact that her experiences were unique as a black person.
This meant that while she entertained mostly white audiences, she did not consider
herself white.
“And when I screamed loud enough, they started to open that door just a little
bit, and we all started to be able to squeeze through it. Not just the colored
people, but the others as well, the other minorities too, the Orientals, and the
Mexicans, and the Indians, both those here in the United States and those from
India…it is an invitation to visit the President of the United States in his home,
the White House. I am greatly honored. But I must tell you that a colored
woman—or, as you say it here in America, a black woman—is not going there.
It is a woman. It is Josephine Baker.
32
While she did not consider herself white, she did not consider herself a black woman
either. Baker represented the desire to advance the black community with pride without
losing herself or her beliefs.
32
“(1963) Josephine Baker, ‘Speech at the March on Washington’ last modified Nov 3,
2011. www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1963-
josephine-baker-speech-march-washington/.
24
Josephine Baker took pride in herself and her achievements in France. She enjoyed the
luxuries that a place other than America gave her. She hated the way she and other people of
color were treated in America, and felt no shame about her wonderful treatment in France. Her
speech tells the world that she worked very hard to escape the racist experiences she had in
America. She acknowledged that relations were better in Paris and she did not want to identify
with her country of birth. She excluded herself from being American, whether anyone agreed
with her or not. She made the choice to separate herself and that made her happy. What we see
here is that happiness came in different forms, depending on the person. There was no right or
wrong way to deal with the conflicts that being a black entertainer abroad meant. Her presence
allowed other African Americans to have a chance at success. Although she only wanted to be
recognized as a woman, she indirectly supported people that were considered black.
Josephine Baker and other black entertainers were ready and willing to escape the
obvious racism that was in their so- called home. Initially, they felt no remorse about heading to
Paris for a new life. But what about the different forms of subtle racism abroad? What did they
think of that? Baker said, “The white imagination sure is something when it comes to blacks.”
33
Baker was aware that she was their fantasized depiction of what it meant to be African, or black.
She chose to use the same method as Ira Aldridge. They both turned the racist entertainment into
financial advances.
Josephine Baker made it her mission to fight for the underprivileged. In a letter to friends,
she wrote “If you or the general should have need of me, for whatever reason, I’ll come back
running, not matter where I might find myself. I must go to other countries, to try to being a little
33
Marcel Sauvage, Voyages et aventures de Josephine Baker (Paris: Editions Marcel
Sheur, 1931), 16.
25
moral support to your brothers less fortunate than you, they need me….I will tell them not to lose
hope, not to abandon the struggle for the rights of humanity.”
34
The fear of communism raged through America, and Baker was not allowed entry into
the country because of it. Robin D.G. Kelley argues “by the late 1920s and early 1930s, black
nationalism(s)-especially as expressed in culture-had much more in common with American
communism than most scholars have admitted.”
35
Mary Dudziak states “On one hand, the
United States claimed that democracy was superior to communism as a form of government,
particularly in its protection of individual rights and liberties; on the other hand, the nation
practiced pervasive race discrimination.”
36
The woman behind the speeches was far from confrontational, however. Josephine Baker
was not indirect or confusing in her speeches. While it is important to take note of how a
relationship with Fidel Castro warrants a file from the FBI, her loyalty to humanity was not in
question. She strived for humanity to love one another, regardless of race, even if the ancestors
of one’s race did horrific acts. Musicians that played jazz music during the early twentieth
century were mostly African American. Though Louis Armstrong’s time in Africa was during
the height of the Civil Rights movement, his experiences there are significant. Louis Armstrong
was sent on a multi-city tour of Africa in 1960. Eisenhower had political motives unbeknownst
to Armstrong and his crew. Eisenhower made an attempt to show the world that race relations in
America were under control. This state-sponsored trip was the face of jazz music and “the voice
of Africa comes to us from thousands of miles away” said a South African. People all over the
34
Letter ,“Mes Fideles, Amis”, Beinecke Library.
35
Robin D. G. Kelly. Race Rebels, Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (New
York: The Free Press, 1996), 105.
36
Mary Dudziak. “Josephine Baker, Racial Protest, and the Cold War,” Journal of
American History 81, no. 2 (September 1994): 543.
26
world were exposed to black talent and everyone involved benefitted in different ways. The
citizens of the country were entertained, the mangers made money off the black entertainers, and
the black American entertainers themselves gained a fan base. That fan base was the foundation
for future checks, shows, parties, and reputation. Everyone seemed to be a winner in this. African
American entertainer Armstrong was very vocal about race relations upon his return to America.
He pointed out how he was cordial with Bing Crosby, a famous white minstrel show performer,
but they were not friends. He said “I don’t socialize with the top dogs of society after a dance or
a concert. Even though I’m invited, I don’t go. These same society people may go around the
corner and lynch a negro. But while they’re listening to our music, they’re not thinking about
trouble.”
37
Just like Baker, it bothered Armstrong that he was famous but was being used. White
people overlooked racial issues with ease because people like Armstrong were the exception to
the stereotype, or at least they were when it was convenient for them.
What made Josephine Baker so special was the confusion and controversy she caused.
Phyllis Rose argues that “The opening of the Revue Negre was exactly the kind of Event that its
backers had hoped it would be. It angered and irritated people just enough to guarantee that it
would be considered significant.”
38
Josephine Baker did not agree with everything she executed.
However, she enjoyed the benefits and the star status. She could not return to St. Louis to be
terrorized by the racist white people or criticized by her mother for her job choices. What she did
not know was that the criticism was not going to end. Her capitalization of “the Charleston” is an
example. She was not afraid of backlash, she was focused on her success.
39
When she arrived in
37
Penny M. Von Eschen, Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold
War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004), 72.
38
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 21
39
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 24
27
Paris, she was in luck because the Parisians already admired the black female body. The years of
parading and placing black bodies on display served in her favor. Carole Sweeney argues “By
distracting attention away from the currency of her black body to her comically expressive facial
features, Baker was able to both overcome and subvert the role of the sexually overdetermined
black woman.”
40
It is important to note the difference of an exhibit and a pedestal, however. Baker and
others were not seen as superior even though they were seen as other worldly. The extraordinary
traits they embodied were linked to exoticism, not imperfection and certainly not white.
Exclusion and “othering” did not stop when someone even as famous as Baker travelled the
globe. Acceptance was not widespread across Europe. The people of Germany and Vienna had
unpleasant reactions to Baker’s presence. Her endeavors were not without confrontation, neither
were they delightful just because she was abroad. Roman Horak discussed the “nigger boom”
fright in Vienna.
41
In an article detailing backlash from residents in Vienna, Roman Horak stated “If
sexuality or rather eroticism has to be equated with bourgeois decadence, the only non-racist
encoding of the phenomenon of the black woman Josephine Baker is recourse to puritan
squeaky-cleanness. Fresh, a scallyway – a sexually neutral image is created to combat the
conservatives’ discourse of over-sexualisation.”
42
Sweeney also argued some artists “were
40
Carole Sweeney, From Fetish to Subject: Race, Modernism, and Primitivism, 1919-
1935 (Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2004), 41.
41
Roman Horak, “’We Have Become Niggers!’: Josephine Baker as a Threat to Viennese
Culture” Culture Unbound 5, no. 4 (2013): 517.
42
Horak, “’We Have Become Niggers!’: Josephine Baker as a Threat to Viennese
Culture” ,522
28
inspired by Baker’s body as a model of a new human plasticity.”
43
Baker was the best crafted sex
symbol of her time. She was the perfect blend of black female stereotypes, discomfort, and white
spaces. She did all this with the help of lovers, managers, the press, and the French Army.
What did Josephine think of herself? She had written a few biographies before the
Second World War Les Memoires de Josephine Baker(1949), Voyages et aventures de Josephine
Baker(1931), and Une Vie de toutes les couleures(1935).
44
Baker sacrificed comfort and
widespread approval for what she believed in. Her life was a track meet, the blood sweat and
tears were the stereotypes she endured to make it to the finish line. Paul Colin constructed
Baker’s image because he knew the entertainment industry. Along with Caroline Dudley, she
had a successful act Revue Negre as her first act in Paris. She gained popularity, and was offered
other acts. Overwhelmed with excitement, it took many financial failures before she aligned her
career choices with her financial ones.
45
Europeans’ fascination with American popular culture had not yet reached its peak
whenever Josephine arrived. Max Reinhardt wanted to make her an even bigger star than she was
in Paris. He wanted to train her to be an actress in Berlin. Though she had left from their care,
Colin and Dudley were a means of support; her largest thus far. Reinhardt was an accepted
replacement.
46
Under the mentorship of Reinhardt, she met Harry Kessler. Rose described his
take on Baker as “an ancient Egyptian dancing girl come to life again.”
47
She danced at private
parties in Berlin, and enjoyed the city for what it was. She came very close to accepting an offer
from Kessler to stay in Berlin. After Paul Derval, the showrunner for the Folies-Bergere which
43
Sweeney, From Fetish to Subject: Race, Modernism, and Primitivism, 1919-1935, 48
44
Jules-Rosette, Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and The Image,156
45
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 82
46
Rose, Jazz, Cleopatra, 84
47
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 86
29
Baker was set to headline, dropped important names he knew would spark her interest she
decided to return to Paris. Baker learned her from the job offers and what seemed like a tug of
war. She soon realized how much money was being put into her, and how to use that to her
advantage. Rose argues that “If Shuffle Along was Josephine Baker’s college, Folies-Bergere was
her graduate school.”
48
A notable component of her acts was nudity. Her mentors and artistic acquaintances with
many accolades assured her that nudity was the only way she would be noticed. “The next day
several people drew me aside to explain that I would never be anything without the
poster…What would they say in St. Louis? That night I removed all my clothes.”
49
Rose
suggests that Baker’s promiscuity was used as a way to shield her reluctance to trust anyone.
50
Chez Josephine became a space because she wanted her own place, not just headlining a place.
She did not place limits on her success, and she did not follow the rules. She now knew she
needed to mold a narrative that pleased her. Her actions were just that, actions. Throughout her
lifetime, everything she did was intentional, even if the outcome did not serve her. She was more
than a stereotype or someone being hypersexualized. One could argue that at times she became
her stage act. Baker could not be placed in a box, and it was no accident. Even her marriage to
Pepito was manufactured for profit. Once proven false, the story caused uproar in the American
press.
51
Baker was no stranger to American criticism. Her theatrics often placed her on the bad
side of Black Americans. With so much centered around publicity, she wrote a less dramatic
memoir with Marcel Sauvage, Voyages et aventures de Josephine Baker.
48
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 89-90
49
Josephine Baker and Jo Bouillon, Josephine (Harpercollins, 1977), 50.
50
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 108.
51
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra,116.
30
Preceding her second trip to Berlin, writer Moriz Scheyer said unpleasant remarks in
regard to Baker’s performances. Roman Horak highlighted the racism of his column in “We
Have Become Nigger: Josephine Baker as a threat to Viennese Culture.” “Josephine Baker has
so far had great success in exploiting the nigger-boom of our jazz age” wrote Scheyer.
52
A show
that an entertainer named Angele Herard created. This was the beginning of her realization that
not all of Europe was like France.
One thing she could not win over with her personality was her financial troubles. She
faced to legal and financial troubles often times because she broke a contract. Her over the top
nightclub, Chez Josephine, was funded with money made in scams by a man that was very fond
of her. Because of Chez Josephine’s opening, she broke a contract with owners of a nightclub.
They had even renamed their club to Josephine Baker’s Imperial.
53
Throughout her lifetime, the
balance in her bank account hardly remained steady. She spent tons on money on lavish animals,
jewelry, and outfits.
Baker took a break from entertaining to serve in the French Army. Hitler was upset that
Black French soldiers occupied the Rhineland during the First World War, and targeted them
through German media. This was the backdrop for the German audience Baker performed for.
54
During the 1920s, Germans noted many things about American culture. It did not benefit Baker
in the way it benefited her in France. “The Nazis saw jazz as the collaborative product of two
despised groups, blacks and Jews- thus acknowledging the contribution to jazz of Jewish
songwriters like Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Harold Arlen, whose melodies black jazz
52
Horak, “’We Have Become Niggers!’: Josephine Baker as a Threat to Viennese
Culture” ,517.
53
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 111.
54
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 124.
31
musicians often used as a basis for improvisation. Jazz was banned from German radio in 1935.”
55
If jazz was banned, it is not a surprise that Baker had a hard time succeeding in Germany.
Nudity was a controversial form of entertainment in Europe, and Baker’s nudity was unique. She
knew her crowd and she knew her country.
Baker was unable to predict reactions from every country she performed for in Europe.
Hungarians and Austrians did not want black performers, and the students threw ammonia
bombs at her audience.
56
She also faced controversy in Denmark, Zagreb, and Argentina.
Baker’s encounters with the people in these countries stole her blissful innocence of being
outside of America. She wrote another book, this time a fictional one based on her thoughts
about racism. My Blood in Your Veins is about a black girl growing up with a white boy ten years
her senior. The black girl’s mom works for the family of the white guy. Her rejection outside of
France felt much like the rejected she faced back home. While she hardly ignored her race in
France, the French did. The European tour did not prove the same outcome.
It is important to note that Josephine Baker and La Revue Negre followed other black
acts in Europe. Sissle and Blake’s popular Chocolate Dandies was imitated by a German and
made Chocolate Kiddies. The success of Chocolate Kiddies European was how Caroline Dudley
got the idea for Revue Negre.
57
What followed was a string of racist encounters for Baker.
Despite Europe being a different crown than Paris, some of her encounters in Europe
brought delight. The fans had read her memoirs and adored her. The more than twenty four
country tour with Pepito was a turning point in her career. She identified as a black French
55
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 127.
56
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 132.
57
Jules-Rosette, Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and The Image,178.
32
woman. After this tour, Baker’s career gained a new outlook and meaning. It seemed as if before
the tour she had not narrowed down what made her a star. She would always be a plethora of
talent, however her purpose had shifted.
58
In 1930, Josephine Baker was the star of the Casino de Paris. This is the show that made
Chiquita, her leopard, her costar. She was the “it girl” of Paris nightlife. More than a black muse,
and more than an American girl. She was Josephine Baker. One of many turning points in her
lifetime.
At the same time as her new identity emerged, Paris was celebrating how it colonized
several countries. They celebrated this as a merging of cultures, not as the victimization of said
country. Rose argues “Comparisons of French and British colonialism almost always makes the
point that France offered her colonial peoples fuller assimilations.”
59
The same can be said about
Baker’s ability to be a mega star in Paris and just a headliner in other European countries.
However, all colonization is bad colonization. The benefits that may or may not come afterwards
are irrelevant if a blending of cultures is not a mutual agreement. The blending of white and
black cultures across borders did not happen by accident. Black people were performing for all
white crowds; they were being managed by white people that had molded them into an
acceptable figure for white crowds.
Criticism from African Americans back home was not uncommon to Josephine Baker.
How she identified and who she sided with was sometimes unclear. She was black and she hated
America. She was black but black Americans hated her. She was black, American, and left for
Paris but she was the only woman to speak at the March on Washington. She still supported the
58
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 138-140.
59
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 148.
33
advancement of people that looked like her in America. This further proves how she did not fit
into one box. Josephine was many things. Even though she considered herself French, and called
it her home, neither France nor America would fully claim her success. She performed a song
with the lyrics “I have two loves, my country and Paris.” She went on to say “You see, it’s not a
song like any other! It permitted me to express all this momentum..”
60
60
Article in French, page 25, Beinecke Library.
34
Chapter IV. Josephine Baker as an American Activist and French Spy
Returning to America was somewhat of a setback for Josephine Baker. In 1936, with the
assistance of Pepito, she returned to perform in The Ziegfeld Follies. She was outshined by
someone who was already an American star, Fannie Brice. Regardless of how much she
practiced, she would never be the star she was in Paris. American audiences did not welcome her
in the way Parisian audiences did. The newspaper articles were awful, and they held “resentment
for Baker’s French popularity.”
61
A painful reminder of the land she left as a young girl. It was
also during this time that Baker resented being a “Black star.” Paris had made her into a star but
America’s Jim Crow climate could not be ignored. Lounges, hotels, and restaurants were
segregated. This would give cause for people like Louis Armstrong to dislike her, and other
black Americans to be confused by her. While Baker never thought racism was nonexistent in
the world, Americans forced her to remember. Her purpose as a star was different in the two
countries.
In America, Baker’s actions were more intentional. She had to be much more aware of
whom she danced with, where she worked, and who she interacted with. She opened Chez
Josephine, a lounge, and performed there at night. She made it known that racism was a stone in
her path in America. When compared to her Parisian journey, America was quite difficult. The
exoticism based entertainment industry that already existed in Paris, coupled with the right
coaching, molder Baker into a public figure in Paris. The American formula for her success was
different.
61
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 169.
35
Josephine Baker faced barriers in American entertainment as well as her personal life. ,
Her husband, Pepito, died during her trip to New York. She was only thirty years old and she
decided to move back to Paris. She wanted to remarry, was dancing nude again, and she was also
no longer singing. Baker’s career was starting over. Eventually she married Jean Lion, who was
younger, rich, and a Jew. The marriage did not last long, but she gained French citizenship. She
also struggled to have children, which was not the first time she faced this battle.
62
Josephine
Baker’s personal life later played a huge impact in her decisions as an activist and as a mother.
The Second World War was just about to start when she divorced Lion. She was part of
the very small number of people that resisted the German occupation of France. She was
recruited to be part of the French intelligence. She assisted in undercover acts that aided the
French about their enemies, the German and Italian troops.
63
She performed for the soldiers, and
wholeheartedly supported France the best way she knew how.
64
It seemed as if she fought for her
“home” in ways she wished her native home would have fought for her.
Her celebrity status proved useful for connections during the war. “Baker got the idea of
setting up an engagement in Brazil, whose ambassador she knew, and through him arranging for
transit visas for Spain and Portugal and exit visas for France.”
65
Though her celebrity was of
great service to her dear country and its allies, she did not benefit financially from the war. She
was against performing in France while it was under Nazi control, but eventually changed her
mind to perform in an unoccupied zone. She prepared for a performance at the Theater de
62
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 176.
63
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 184-185
64
Jules-Rosette, Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and The Image, 218.
65
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 187.
36
L’Opera de Marseille bringing back her La Creole.
66
After a short period of time, she received
orders to leave France. She managed to end her contract for her tour under the reasoning of her
ongoing illness. She and her undercover partner, Abtey, continued to pass information by
travelling to places such as Algiers, Tangier, and Portugal. She still practiced Jewish religion,
and while in North Africa she aided her ex-husband, Jean Lion, to escape Germany’s turmoil or
else he would be sent to a concentration camp.
Her partner struggled to gain travel visas, but Baker did not. This proved troublesome for
their intelligence efforts, and eventually he left for America in 1941. Meanwhile Baker gained a
Spanish visa, and returned to their stages to perform for the first time since before she left for
America. As she gained information about German troops, she continued to perform.
67
Baker
combatted racism as a French citizen born in America.
With the help of American government, Abtey returned to partner with Baker. Soon after,
she fell ill, and was hospitalized for nearly two years right outside of Casablanca. She delivered a
stillborn. Maurice Chevalier, who entertained the soldiers alongside her but never cared for
Baker, started an exaggerated rumor that she was on her death bed. For two more years, until the
French liberation on August 25, 1944, she performed in North Africa, Morocco, and France in
order to raise money for the Allied soldiers. The French, British, and American soldiers all had
Baker to thank for entertainment as well as aid.
68
A few years later, America faced heightened Civil Rights activism. In recent years,
historians have argued that the Civil Rights Movement happened in waves. This was the “second
66
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 189.
67
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 193-195.
68
Jules-Rosette, Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and The Image, 218.
37
wave” of the Civil Rights Movement. The activism that happened simultaneously to Baker’s
early years in Paris was described as the first wave. She married Jo Boullion in 1947 and they
embarked on a mission to restore her home, Les Milandes, into an over the top phenomenon. She
tried to finance the house with more shows in America. She still faced racism and unsuccessful
shows. It was during this visit that she spoke at a historically black college, Fisk University and
also decided to become more involved with racial efforts in America.
69
The first of these efforts was at Copa City, a club in Miami. Josephine Baker went from
admiring the money Paris provided for her, to turning down money in Miami until they
desegregated the crowd. In 1951, she became the first to perform in front of a desegregated
crowd in Miami. This was huge milestone for Baker, and she put on a huge show with celebrities
in the audience. She went on to perform vaudeville shows in New York, making over $7,000 a
week and a few more thousand a week in Chicago. She was an American star.
Baker’s mission was to ensure that nightclubs in America had people of every skin color.
She no longer accepted circumstances that would only convenience her. She demanded the
circumstances she wanted, to benefit people that looked like her. Her team was the first in Las
Vegas to all stay at the hotel where the show was featured. Because of segregation, teams were
usually split up between different hotels. At the same show in Las Vegas, she reserved tables for
NAACP people, both black and white, at her shows. She was very strategic with how she worked
her contract.
70
Baker continued to be vocal about race throughout various cities in America. She was a
star in Chicago, Hollywood, and Vegas. She turned down acts in Atlanta because of refusal to
69
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 209.
70
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 210-213.
38
desegregate audiences. She was awarded with her own day, May 20, 1951, from the New York
NAACP. She also supported the protests of Willie McGee, who was executed for allegedly
raping a white woman, and supported his wife.
The execution of Willie McGee was the same year as the infamous Stork Club incident in
New York. In October of 1951, Baker went to meet friends, the Rico’s, and ran into Walter
Winchell, a well-known journalist. She and her friends were ignored by the waiters, and her food
was not served. After too much time passed without her food, she was certain the service was
unfair so she left the restaurant and called a black policeman and a lawyer. She told them she
was being discriminated against and based on the Civil Rights Act in New York, it was illegal.
After the phone calls, she and her friends received service. She did not eat, but left the food to go
meet with NAACP leaders to continue with her complaints.
71
The Stork Club incident spread like wildfire. Winchell received backlash, and declared
that he had no idea what happened. As usual, he spoke on his radio show against discrimination,
but he was neutral in the Stork Club incident. Walter White, the NAACP leader Baker had met
with, was upset at Winchell’s statement. He had met with Winchell and they agreed that his
statement would condemn the Stork Club for what happened. Winchell did not keep his word.
White used his anger to form picket lines in front of the Stork Club, and the protests lasted for
days. The outrage did not end there. The incident turned into a battle of Winchell versus Baker.
Winchell had many more connections than her, and he used every resource to fight her efforts to
smear his name. His friends supported him by digging up negative things about Baker’s past.
They continued to have a very public battle. Winchell’s career never recovered. For Baker, her
71
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 214-219.
39
career in America changed because of the controversy. Shortly after the incident she went to
Argentina and her career was about to shift once again.
72
In one of those speeches in Argentina she said “I hurt, I feel like crying, because I have to
leave you. I’m leaving Argentina in two days. You have become my family…If you or the
general should need of me, for whatever reason, I’ll come back running, no matter where I might
find myself. I must go to other countries, to try to bring a little moral support to your brothers
less fortunate than you. They need me.”
73
Baker had a hunger for helping people. She had been
helped so much in her career, and she longed for help before she had a career. Her nurturing
spirit was so extreme it translated into an obsession with helping and adopting children.
The Rainbow Tribe was her next endeavor. She approached family like a cultural
checklist. When she thought of the family she wanted with her husband, she saw a child of every
color. She went on several tours which doubled as trips to adopt children. She adopted two from
Japan, one from Scandinavia, one Columbian child, and two French children on the first round of
adoptions. She started her string of farewell performances and made a speech in Paris similar to
the one in Argentina. She then moved her family that remained in America to live with her at Les
Milandes.
74
She continued touring and adopting children. Baker rescued two North African
children from the Algerian war and went on to get another African child, an Indian child, and
two more French children. She gifted her sister with a child and met Jean-Claude Rouzaud in
Paris, who would eventually be her most well-known child and the only informal adoption.
Baker adopted these children without any knowledge on how to properly care for them. Her
husband was overwhelmed with the care of the children and resented his wife for it. Her mother,
72
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 220-230.
73
Letter “Mes Fideles Amis” Beinecke Library.
74
Farewell Speech in Paris, Beinecke Library.
40
who still lived with them, thought the Rainbow Tribe was spoiled.
75
Her children adored her.
And after her death they claimed “But, it gives us peace of mind to know that this life will end
for us in this manner” and “One day, we will all be buried with Mama!” when being
interviewed.
76
She and Jo Boullion grew apart, the finances were strained, and he eventually moved
away. Some of their children would later move to Buenos Aires to meet him, and some moved to
Argentina. Because she never played a huge role in how Les Milandes functioned, she was
unable to handle it without Jo Boullion. Things were falling apart.
77
In 1963 she was invited to speak at the March on Washington. She did so in her French
military uniform. It solidified her views over the years. And people spoke highly of her speech as
they did about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s. Jack Jordan, the same man that invited her to speak at
the March, helped her perform at Carnegie Hall the same year. This was the start of her final acts
in America. She was finally respected and admired by her black community in America.
78
Where she seemed to fail were her children. They rebelled, and she sent them to stay with
her friend Harry Hurford Janes for some summers. Even Jean-Claude made racist comments
about being superior to black people. Seeing racism in her child was hard because she made
several efforts to combat racism. She was also growing poorer by the day. In 1968, she began
performing again to ease some of the financial burden. She even made a speech in 1968, trying
to share her story. She declared “I say again, for those concerned, they are in no danger, and as
always, their subsistence and their daily lives are well protected. But this financial crisis in
75
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 231-238.
76
Newspaper clipping, Beinecke Library.
77
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 240-241
78
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 241-246.
41
Milandes is an upset.” She went on to say how the world is now watching and that she will not
abandon the Milandes Foundation.
79
Les Milandes was no longer hers.
In 1973, Jack Jordan took her under his wing yet again for more performances at
Carnegie Hall. She continued to awe the crowd, even in old age. She returned to Paris, and
continued to perform. She was worried about her daughter one day and suffered a heart attack. In
June of 1973, against her doctor’s orders, she performed again a week later. She continued to
perform, while keeping her failing health a secret. Her last shows were in Monte Carlo, then
finally in Paris. Josephine was a literal farewell show. A few days after the opening act, she had
a stroke during her nap and fell into a coma and died.
80
79
Declaration dated February 19, 1968. Beinecke Library.
80
Rose, Jazz Cleopatra, 250-251.
42
Conclusion
Josephine Baker’s life as a performer, spy, and activist was not typical. Some of the ways
she broke barriers and molded her family from different backgrounds was questionable. Louis
Armstrong did not approve of Josephine Baker’s actions in regards to race relations. They both
felt very strongly about racial issues, but they used their platform in different ways. Afterwards
Louis Armstrong said of Baker in 1952, “But she’s going to come over here and stir up the
nation, get all them ofays—people that think a lot of us—against us, because you take a lot of
narrow minded spades following up that jive she’s pulling—you understand?—then she go back
with all that loot and everything and we’re over here dangling. I don’t dig her.”
81
What Armstrong failed to recognize was that Baker’s presence still advanced the
community. The March On Washington Speech, a decade after he made the statement about her
“stirring up the nation,” was where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream”
Speech. It was a monumental moment for the African American community. Her presence in
Paris did not dismiss the fact that she loved her community. It was problematic that she did not
want to be labeled as a black woman, and it was fact that she helped black women and men.
Racism was so blatant in America that some African American stars felt they had no
choice but to leave. The segregation, the church bombings, and the lynching unarguably took a
toll on African Americans. Just like Richard Wright, Lena Horne had a white partner and lived in
Paris in 1947 as a singer. Upon her return to the United States, her neighbors in Los Angeles
tried to get her kicked out of the neighborhood. Her children were unable to swim in the pool in
81
Ben Schwartz, “What Louis Armstrong Really Thinks” The New Yorker, Accessed
April 10, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-louis-armstrong-really-
thinks
43
Las Vegas and her workers could not enter through the front doors of her hotel.
82
The internal
battle these black celebrities experienced was a unique one. They reaped the benefits of fame
while they encountered the setbacks of being black.
Their willingness to try to move back to the United States showed that they wanted better
for America, and better for black people in America. It showed that there were struggles in the
other countries as well. America was where their family was, their childhood memories, and
most of all it was where they were born. If the public assumes that black celebrities were without
a doubt happier in other countries, it is an exaggeration. Opportunity, acceptance, and money
were things they longed for, no matter the location. It is also an exaggeration to assume that
because the French and President Eisenhower “used” them for their own motives, that these
black artists did not know they were being used. Many of these decisions can be viewed as the
lesser of two evils.
What these black celebrities had in common was their ability to profit from the
environment around them. Many of them came from poor households and some were self-taught.
There were no dance lessons for Baker. What they were able to do was find a path of success.
Many people, of various races, had mixed feelings about the role black people played in the
world. Going to France or other places did not solve the problems of African-American
entertainers, it just changed their situation. What is clear is that success brought temporary joy to
an issue that no jazz club could solve. There was not enough banana skirt dancing to change the
African obsession of the French or the racist practices of the club goers in America.
82
May, The Big Tomorrow, 173.
44
African American entertainers abroad experienced once in a lifetime memories. These
experiences made them notable, and these experiences made them controversial. What is without
question though is the way their talent was strengthened or revealed by being abroad. Not just
the talent of entertaining, but the gift of thinking in a different manner. Without another country
to compare America to, Josephine Baker might not have labeled herself as just a woman. Louis
Armstrong and his bandmates might not have realized they were falsely representing race
relations in America. Different perspectives often bring progress and change.
Josephine Baker’s life is a clear example of how complicated racism is around the globe.
She was deeply disturbed by the racism as a child, and wanted to take control of her life. Many
things in life are uncontrollable and the color of your skin was one of them. This hurt many
successful black celebrities. Baker had “two loves” and she also had many different journeys.
Not only was she denied the stage because of her race, she also denied the stage of her presence
if it did not meet her desegregation standards. She used her fame as a cover for her French
Resistance missions. She took criticism and kept true to her beliefs. At the core of her mission
was love and connection regardless of skin color. And while she forced connection upon her
Rainbow Tribe, Josephine Baker wanted to prove race did not disqualify someone of love and
acceptance. Highs and lows came with leaving America as a black person in search of success.
These celebrities learned just how chaotic America really was, and also how the world outside of
their small town values them. Their stories are important; whether they are about appreciating
the many black faces back home, or about the freedom to be black in Paris. The stories of
African American’s experiences outside of the United States are an important part of African
American History.
45
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48
Vita
Ferin E. Jones was born in Tallahassee, Florida to Ferron Carlos Jones and Shelis
Chambers Jones. She was raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with her younger brother, Zachary.
She plans to receive her Masters this August, 2020.
