WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.640 Welcome to the deep dive. Our mission here is 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.379 to synthesize the most crucial, compelling, and 00:00:05.379 --> 00:00:07.459 often contradictory insights from a stack of 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:09.560 sources, giving you the clearest understanding 00:00:09.560 --> 00:00:12.419 of a complex subject. And today, we are undertaking 00:00:12.419 --> 00:00:16.140 a deep dive into a figure who is, I mean, perhaps 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:18.899 one of the most misunderstood icons of the 20th 00:00:18.899 --> 00:00:21.679 century. Josephine Baker. Right. When you think 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:23.800 of Josephine Baker, the image is often stuck 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:26.480 in one place. The banana skirt. The short skirt 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:28.920 made of bananas. The high -energy star of the 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:33.229 Paris Jazz Age. Electrifying, iconic image, but 00:00:33.229 --> 00:00:36.149 it acts like a kind of visual camouflage. Camouflage 00:00:36.149 --> 00:00:38.189 for what? It hides the staggering complexity 00:00:38.189 --> 00:00:41.329 of the woman who is also a French military agent, 00:00:41.469 --> 00:00:45.390 a World War II hero, and one of the most vocal 00:00:45.390 --> 00:00:47.770 civil rights activists of her era. That's exactly 00:00:47.770 --> 00:00:50.530 right. So for this, we've synthesized the single 00:00:50.530 --> 00:00:53.490 comprehensive biographical source detailing her 00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:56.289 entire arc. Our goal is to extract the definitive 00:00:56.289 --> 00:00:59.070 narrative, moving beyond that famous dancer persona 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:02.149 to reveal her, well, her full stack of accomplishments. 00:01:02.329 --> 00:01:05.129 It's an incredible stack. I mean, born in crippling 00:01:05.129 --> 00:01:07.150 poverty, celebrated by figures like Picasso, 00:01:07.530 --> 00:01:10.870 used her fame to spy for the Free French. And 00:01:10.870 --> 00:01:13.790 then became a true global pioneer for racial 00:01:13.790 --> 00:01:15.959 equality. It's an extraordinary life. And to 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:18.180 frame it properly, I think we have to start with 00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:20.260 the fundamental tension that defined her choices. 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:23.980 She famously said, I have two loves, my country 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:27.200 and Paris. Right. And that quote sets the stage 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:29.420 perfectly for her conflicting identities, born 00:01:29.420 --> 00:01:32.319 in America, rejected by America and ultimately 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:34.760 embracing the nation that celebrated her. That 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:37.719 tension, it just it fueled her entire adult existence. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:41.280 That choice of citizenship, that ultimate betrayal 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:44.379 of the country of her birth is something we have 00:01:44.379 --> 00:01:46.900 to explore. But to understand why she made that 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:48.579 choice, we have to go back to the very beginning. 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:50.959 We have to go back to the deep shadow cast by 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:53.459 St. Louis. So Josephine Baker was born Frida 00:01:53.459 --> 00:01:56.980 Josephine McDonald on June 3rd, 1906 in St. Louis, 00:01:57.120 --> 00:01:59.180 Missouri. Right. And the circumstances of her 00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:02.359 birth weren't just poor. They were shrouded in 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:04.859 a mystery that allowed her later in life to essentially 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:07.340 invent herself. OK, tell us about that mystery. 00:02:07.620 --> 00:02:09.840 We know her mother was Carrie McDonald, but her 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.180 father. The sources suggest the truth was far 00:02:13.180 --> 00:02:15.719 more complicated, right? Precisely. While some 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:18.039 later documents named a vaudeville drummer Eddie 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:20.719 Carson as her father, that's based on later family 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:23.360 stories, the strongest speculation among the 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.460 family, which Josephine herself kind of adopted, 00:02:26.659 --> 00:02:29.680 was that her biological father was actually white. 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:32.300 A wealthy man. Possibly a member of a wealthy 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:34.960 German family her mother worked for, but her 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.919 mother refused to ever discuss it. This ambiguity, 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:40.759 this idea that her heritage was already contested 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:43.520 and obscured. It becomes an early theme in her 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:45.620 life. It's sort of a blank slate upon which she 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:47.819 could later paint her own identity as a global 00:02:47.819 --> 00:02:50.740 multiracial figure. And the economic reality 00:02:50.740 --> 00:02:53.900 of her childhood made any notion of a stable 00:02:53.900 --> 00:02:58.409 identity secondary to just. Oh, absolutely. The 00:02:58.409 --> 00:03:01.189 family lived at 212 Tardy Street in the Chestnut 00:03:01.189 --> 00:03:02.870 Valley neighborhood of St. Louis. And you have 00:03:02.870 --> 00:03:05.050 to understand this wasn't just low income housing. 00:03:05.129 --> 00:03:07.870 The sources detail that these were often rooming 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:10.050 houses and apartments that utterly lacked basic 00:03:10.050 --> 00:03:13.629 necessities, most notably indoor plumbing. So 00:03:13.629 --> 00:03:15.669 she grew up developing what you might call a 00:03:15.669 --> 00:03:18.689 ferocious set of street smarts. She was often 00:03:18.689 --> 00:03:21.770 described as poorly dressed, perpetually hungry, 00:03:21.909 --> 00:03:25.009 and she had to scavenge for sustenance. I read 00:03:25.009 --> 00:03:26.770 she used to hang around the railroad yards. The 00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:29.129 sources vividly describe her hanging around the 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:32.229 railroad yards near Union Station, learning how 00:03:32.229 --> 00:03:34.409 to dance for nickels and picking up scraps of 00:03:34.409 --> 00:03:37.030 coal. It's this powerful image of resilience, 00:03:37.310 --> 00:03:40.789 a child learning to perform for survival. That 00:03:40.789 --> 00:03:43.650 early life wasn't just defined by scarcity, but 00:03:43.650 --> 00:03:48.509 by outright trauma and really exploitation. To 00:03:48.509 --> 00:03:51.449 help her family survive, by age eight, Josephine 00:03:51.449 --> 00:03:53.590 was working as a live -in domestic for white 00:03:53.590 --> 00:03:56.050 families in St. Louis. And this is where the 00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:58.310 cruelty of segregation becomes so personal, so 00:03:58.310 --> 00:04:01.159 intimate. It is. The biographical source provides 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:04.120 a shocking detail of abuse. One mistress who 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:06.479 employed her physically burned young Josephine's 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:08.900 hands as punishment. For what? Because she used 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:10.659 too much soap while doing the laundry. Imagine 00:04:10.659 --> 00:04:13.840 being eight years old and subjected to that sort 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:16.939 of punitive violence over a bar of soap. That 00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:19.720 trauma is a direct psychological root for her 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:22.240 later uncompromising stance against segregation. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:26.759 It taught her early on the sheer inhumanity she 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:29.120 was fighting against. The trauma. was both personal 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:32.899 and systemic. Just three years later in 1917 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:36.220 when she was 11, she witnessed a defining moment. 00:04:36.490 --> 00:04:39.110 of American racial terror. The East St. Louis 00:04:39.110 --> 00:04:42.350 riots. Right. This event, which killed dozens 00:04:42.350 --> 00:04:45.290 and displaced thousands of black Americans, left 00:04:45.290 --> 00:04:48.170 an indelible mark. She recalled standing on the 00:04:48.170 --> 00:04:50.050 west bank of the Mississippi River, watching 00:04:50.050 --> 00:04:52.730 across the water as the glow of burning homes 00:04:52.730 --> 00:04:54.990 illuminated the night sky. She could actually 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:57.149 see it happening. She heard the screams and saw 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.509 the terrified families fleeing across the bridge 00:04:59.509 --> 00:05:02.009 with nothing but the clothes they wore. This 00:05:02.009 --> 00:05:04.209 wasn't something she read about. It was a physical, 00:05:04.290 --> 00:05:06.910 terrifying spectacle. She said this memory made 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:09.189 her run and run and run. That terror becomes 00:05:09.189 --> 00:05:12.029 you can see it as the foundation for her later 00:05:12.029 --> 00:05:14.230 political absolutism. She didn't just disagree 00:05:14.230 --> 00:05:16.709 with American racism. She feared it. She abhorred 00:05:16.709 --> 00:05:19.910 the violence it produced. And so by age 12, she 00:05:19.910 --> 00:05:22.250 was done with formal schooling. Her early escape 00:05:22.250 --> 00:05:25.040 routes were, well. They were quick marriages. 00:05:25.339 --> 00:05:28.100 Very quick. She married Willie Walls at 13. A 00:05:28.100 --> 00:05:31.420 union that lasted less than a year. Then in 1921, 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:34.480 at age 15, she married William Howard Baker. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:36.379 And that second marriage also ended quickly. 00:05:36.579 --> 00:05:39.540 She divorced him in 1925, but she kept his last 00:05:39.540 --> 00:05:41.259 name professionally for the rest of her life. 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:43.759 Yeah, and that's a key decision, isn't it? It 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:45.860 was a utilitarian choice that gave her a new 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:49.079 professional identity, shedding the Freda Josephine 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:52.259 MacDonald of Targhee Street, St. Louis. The name 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:55.160 Baker stuck. And with it, the legend could truly 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:58.360 begin. So using her newly acquired name and just 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:01.360 this ferocious ambition, she left St. Louis for 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:03.379 New York City. And lands right in the middle 00:06:03.379 --> 00:06:06.000 of the vibrant Harlem Renaissance. She reportedly 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.860 badgered a local show manager until she was finally 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:10.860 recruited for the St. Louis Chorus vaudeville 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:13.519 act. From there, she gets in some major Broadway 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:16.189 reviews. Yeah, after performing at the famed 00:06:16.189 --> 00:06:19.189 Plantation Club, she landed a role in the chorus 00:06:19.189 --> 00:06:21.930 line of the hit Broadway review, Shuckle Along, 00:06:22.189 --> 00:06:25.189 in 1921, and later in The Chocolate Dandies. 00:06:26.009 --> 00:06:28.930 But here is where her professional genius first 00:06:28.930 --> 00:06:31.250 emerged. Oh, so. She understood that being a 00:06:31.250 --> 00:06:33.610 young black woman in a crowded chorus line meant 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:36.470 being easily overlooked. So how did she break 00:06:36.470 --> 00:06:38.689 through that anonymity? She refused to accept 00:06:38.689 --> 00:06:41.160 it. The sources detail her brilliant tactic. 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:44.220 She was positioned at the very end of the chorus 00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:46.839 line, but she would purposefully ad lib to stand 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:50.680 out. She'd inject spontaneous comedy, cross her 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:53.540 eyes, execute sloppy, exaggerated movements. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:56.680 She made herself the comic relief, engaging the 00:06:56.680 --> 00:06:58.939 audience directly and making it impossible for 00:06:58.939 --> 00:07:01.019 them to look at anyone else. And that improvisational 00:07:01.019 --> 00:07:03.199 energy, which was kind of stifled in the rigid 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:05.769 American mainstream. was exactly what a certain 00:07:05.769 --> 00:07:07.990 European capital was hungry for. And that capital 00:07:07.990 --> 00:07:12.430 was Paris. In 1925, at age 19, she sailed across 00:07:12.430 --> 00:07:15.189 the Atlantic for La Ravinegra. And she later 00:07:15.189 --> 00:07:17.089 said that her career -defining moment wasn't 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:19.610 Broadway. It was this move to France. It's a 00:07:19.610 --> 00:07:21.870 critical distinction. In America, she was in 00:07:21.870 --> 00:07:24.180 the background. In Paris, she was the main event. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:26.920 She arrived at a time when French culture was 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:29.800 experiencing this tremendous shift. Her opening 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:33.579 show on October 2, 1925, featured her performing 00:07:33.579 --> 00:07:36.000 the Dance Sauvage. The routine where she appeared 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.939 practically nude. Right. And this explosive, 00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:41.579 immediate success was perfectly timed with the 00:07:41.579 --> 00:07:45.420 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, which introduced 00:07:45.420 --> 00:07:48.740 Art Deco and a fervent European interest in African 00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:51.439 art and non -Western cultural forms. They were 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:54.379 seeking the primitive, and she delivered a stylized, 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:56.660 electrifying version of it. It sounds like Paris 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:58.519 was ready not just for her performance, but for 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:00.959 the idea of her. Absolutely. It wasn't just a 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.459 job. It was a cultural phenomenon. She set the 00:08:03.459 --> 00:08:05.779 standard for the jazz age. This led directly 00:08:05.779 --> 00:08:08.360 to her headline acts at the Folies Bergère starting 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:11.180 in 1926. And that's where the moment that truly 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:14.019 cemented her international fame happened. The 00:08:14.019 --> 00:08:17.439 costume for the 1927 review of Val de Folies. 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:19.459 The famous banana skirt. We have to focus on 00:08:19.459 --> 00:08:22.560 that. We do. That specific costume defined the 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:25.480 entire era. It consisted of a beaded necklace 00:08:25.480 --> 00:08:29.420 and this highly suggestive short skirt fashioned 00:08:29.420 --> 00:08:32.259 out of 16 rubber bananas. It was deliberately 00:08:32.259 --> 00:08:35.879 provocative, shocking and instantly iconic. It 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.340 symbolized the supposed liberation and daring 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:41.429 of the Roaring Twenties. But what's often forgotten 00:08:41.429 --> 00:08:44.669 is that this costume, this stereotype, was something 00:08:44.669 --> 00:08:47.250 she very quickly seized control of. She became 00:08:47.250 --> 00:08:50.470 a master of self -parody and brand marketing. 00:08:50.750 --> 00:08:52.870 She certainly embraced the celebrity. She was 00:08:52.870 --> 00:08:55.570 immediately given these incredible, almost mythical 00:08:55.570 --> 00:08:57.950 titles. The Black Venus, the Black Pearl, the 00:08:57.950 --> 00:09:00.850 Bronze Venus, the Creole Goddess. And her admirers 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:02.990 weren't just the masses. They were the intellectual 00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:06.190 elite of the age. That's a key point. Think about 00:09:06.190 --> 00:09:08.070 the power of this. Ernest Hemingway declared 00:09:08.070 --> 00:09:10.429 her the most sensational woman. anyone ever saw. 00:09:10.830 --> 00:09:13.570 Picasso was captivated and sketched her. Jean 00:09:13.570 --> 00:09:15.950 Cocteau befriended her, promoting her image in 00:09:15.950 --> 00:09:18.049 the most sophisticated artistic circles. They 00:09:18.049 --> 00:09:21.250 saw her as a muse, a symbol of freedom, not merely 00:09:21.250 --> 00:09:23.710 an entertainer. An acceptance that gave her immense 00:09:23.710 --> 00:09:26.110 social capital that she never would have accrued 00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:29.350 in America. Never. And she rapidly leveraged 00:09:29.350 --> 00:09:31.820 that capital. You mentioned branding before it 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:35.220 was formalized. The sources list a dizzying array 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:38.159 of products she endorsed. Everything from cosmetics 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:41.519 to shoes. But perhaps the most famous was Baker 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.740 Fix hair gel, designed to achieve that sleek, 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:48.120 lacquered look she maintained. She was building 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:51.200 an empire around her persona, monetizing the 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:54.080 exoticism that France had gifted her. Speaking 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:56.120 of exoticism, we have to talk about her stage 00:09:56.120 --> 00:10:00.200 companion, Chiquita. The cheetah. Yes. It sounds 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:02.240 less like a supporting act and more like a high 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:05.240 -risk theatrical element. It was pure, unadulterated 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:08.080 spectacle. Chiquita was her pet cheetah, dressed 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:10.500 in a diamond collar, who often accompanied her 00:10:10.500 --> 00:10:13.000 during performances. Now, this sounds glamorous, 00:10:13.179 --> 00:10:15.480 but the sources emphasize the chaos inherent 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.000 in the act. The cheetah would escape. Chiquita 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.440 frequently panicked or got bored, escaping the 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:22.399 stage and leaping directly into the orchestra 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.899 pit. Wait, a wild animal loose among the string 00:10:24.899 --> 00:10:27.039 section? That must have been terrifying. Terrifying, 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:31.039 yes. but magnificent for the audience. The spectacle 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:33.620 went from planned erotic dancing to a moment 00:10:33.620 --> 00:10:37.120 of uncontrolled suspense and danger. Baker would 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:39.080 often command the orchestra to keep playing as 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:41.500 the cheetah wandered, or she would calmly retrieve 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:43.840 it. She turned potential disaster into heightened 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.799 entertainment. Exactly. She made her shows not 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:50.190 just performances, but unforgettable nerve -wracking 00:10:50.190 --> 00:10:53.669 events she understood that risk controlled risk 00:10:53.669 --> 00:10:56.590 was magnetic her early success was built on this 00:10:56.590 --> 00:11:00.370 raw untamed energy but her career longevity depended 00:11:00.370 --> 00:11:03.750 on transformation The shift started around 1929, 00:11:03.909 --> 00:11:06.450 largely thanks to her partnership with Giuseppe 00:11:06.450 --> 00:11:09.210 Pepito Abatino. Abatino, her manager and lover, 00:11:09.409 --> 00:11:11.769 who brilliantly posed as a count, he was actually 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:14.450 a former Sicilian stonemason, was instrumental 00:11:14.450 --> 00:11:17.149 in professionalizing her image. He saw that the 00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:19.940 wild dancer persona had a shelf life. He did. 00:11:20.179 --> 00:11:22.240 Under his guidance, she began the difficult, 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:25.360 pivotal transition from dantel to vocalist. She 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:27.279 began singing professionally for the first time 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.399 in 1930. And that transition cemented her integration 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:32.919 into French culture, didn't it? It culminated 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:34.860 in her signature song of the era. J 'ai deux 00:11:34.860 --> 00:11:38.879 amours. I have two loves. Released in 1931. The 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:41.279 lyrics perfectly captured her life at that moment, 00:11:41.419 --> 00:11:43.679 stating she loved her country, meaning her adopted 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:46.720 France and Paris. By adopting the French language 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:49.340 and French standards of performance, she completed 00:11:49.340 --> 00:11:52.460 her assimilation. But the true test of her transformation 00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:56.700 from petite danseuse sauvage, that small, wild 00:11:56.700 --> 00:12:00.559 dancer, to what was called la grande diva magnifique 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:04.340 came in 1934. With her role in the opera La Correille, 00:12:04.539 --> 00:12:08.100 this was a major calculated risk. opera was the 00:12:08.100 --> 00:12:10.659 pinnacle of classical French entertainment, the 00:12:10.659 --> 00:12:13.210 antithesis of the folies bergères. So she committed 00:12:13.210 --> 00:12:15.629 to a six -month run, which required months of 00:12:15.629 --> 00:12:18.129 intensive vocal training. And a complete overhaul 00:12:18.129 --> 00:12:19.990 of her stage presence. This wasn't just singing. 00:12:20.049 --> 00:12:21.970 It was proving she could inhabit the most demanding 00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:24.789 and conventional role in French theater. She 00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:26.850 was actively trying to shed that exotic image 00:12:26.850 --> 00:12:29.210 that initially made her famous. She sought respectability. 00:12:29.529 --> 00:12:32.309 Exactly. Shirley Bassey, who looked up to Baker, 00:12:32.470 --> 00:12:34.710 noted this transformation, highlighting that 00:12:34.710 --> 00:12:36.970 shift from a figure of novelty to a respected, 00:12:37.129 --> 00:12:39.730 magnificent diva. It was proof that she could 00:12:39.730 --> 00:12:42.370 succeed entirely on technical merit. not just 00:12:42.370 --> 00:12:45.289 spectacle. And at the same time, she was becoming 00:12:45.289 --> 00:12:48.509 a significant European film star. Yes, but again, 00:12:48.649 --> 00:12:51.889 only in Europe. Four European -only films. The 00:12:51.889 --> 00:12:53.990 silent film Siren of the Tropics established 00:12:53.990 --> 00:12:57.190 her core cinematic narrative. The journey from 00:12:57.190 --> 00:12:59.889 the primitive jungle to the sophisticated Parisian. 00:13:00.070 --> 00:13:02.149 Then she starred in major vehicles like Zuzu 00:13:02.149 --> 00:13:04.929 and Princess Tam -Tam. Right. And these films 00:13:04.929 --> 00:13:07.990 solidified her position as an A -list star. But 00:13:07.990 --> 00:13:09.990 that stardom stopped abruptly at the shore of 00:13:09.990 --> 00:13:12.070 the Atlantic. This is where the narrative pivots 00:13:12.070 --> 00:13:16.809 so painfully. By 1936, Josephine Baker had achieved 00:13:16.809 --> 00:13:19.409 everything in Europe. Everything. And she decided 00:13:19.409 --> 00:13:21.450 to attempt a triumphant return to the United 00:13:21.450 --> 00:13:24.730 States to star in the revival of the Ziegfeld 00:13:24.730 --> 00:13:27.789 Follies on Broadway. She must have expected adulation. 00:13:27.870 --> 00:13:30.570 She expected the country of her birth to acknowledge 00:13:30.570 --> 00:13:33.230 the international star she had become. The result 00:13:33.230 --> 00:13:35.929 was... Well, it was heartbreaking devastation. 00:13:35.990 --> 00:13:37.570 It was a commercial failure. She was commercially 00:13:37.570 --> 00:13:40.149 unsuccessful, the run was short, and it culminated 00:13:40.149 --> 00:13:43.090 in her being replaced by Gypsy Rose Lee. The 00:13:43.090 --> 00:13:45.590 American press, unlike the Parisian intellectuals, 00:13:45.590 --> 00:13:48.909 was brutally racist and unforgiving. What specifically 00:13:48.909 --> 00:13:51.250 did the American critics say? I mean, how bad 00:13:51.250 --> 00:13:54.509 was it? The criticism was vile. Time magazine 00:13:54.509 --> 00:13:57.049 published a review that directly and hatefully 00:13:57.049 --> 00:13:59.750 referred to her as a Negro wench, claiming her 00:13:59.750 --> 00:14:01.590 dancing and singing could be topped anywhere 00:14:01.590 --> 00:14:04.669 outside of Paris. Oh, wow. Other critics dismissed 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:07.950 her technically, calling her voice too thin and 00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:10.669 dwarf -like, claiming she lacked the presence 00:14:10.669 --> 00:14:13.250 required for a major Broadway house. So after 00:14:13.250 --> 00:14:16.110 finding freedom and respect in France, she returned 00:14:16.110 --> 00:14:18.750 to her homeland only to face the same systemic 00:14:18.750 --> 00:14:21.919 humiliation she had fled in St. Louis. The rejection 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.539 was total and deeply personal. And the source 00:14:24.539 --> 00:14:27.139 material emphasizes that this devastation directly 00:14:27.139 --> 00:14:29.460 precipitated one of the most significant decisions 00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:32.080 of her life. She formally renounced her U .S. 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:35.200 citizenship. Right. She married French industrialist 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.600 Jean Lyon in 1937 and officially became a French 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:41.120 national. This was more than a marriage. It was 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:43.679 an act of profound political protest and emotional 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:46.480 self -preservation. She chose the country that 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:49.120 valued her humanity over the one that dehumanized 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:52.230 her. And we should briefly touch on her entrepreneurial 00:14:52.230 --> 00:14:54.669 spirit here because she was constantly trying 00:14:54.669 --> 00:14:57.200 to establish footholds. She was relentless. The 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:59.659 original Chez Josephine Cabaret was a gift in 00:14:59.659 --> 00:15:03.019 1926, but she tried an ill -fated New York venture 00:15:03.019 --> 00:15:05.899 in 1936. The one with the piglet. The one with 00:15:05.899 --> 00:15:08.139 the tiny snorting piglet in a crate on opening 00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:11.899 night, a chaotic attempt to inject European flair 00:15:11.899 --> 00:15:15.519 into America. It failed. These business attempts 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:17.740 just underline the difficulty she had in finding 00:15:17.740 --> 00:15:20.679 acceptance in her homeland. And her early exposure 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:23.659 to fascism in Europe. also solidified her loyalty 00:15:23.659 --> 00:15:26.580 to France before the war even began. Indeed. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:30.080 In the late 1920s, on her European tours, she 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:32.600 faced outright hostility in Germany and Eastern 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:35.259 Europe. She was targeted by stormtroopers who 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:37.539 threw ammonia bombs at her during a performance. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.940 So having experienced that kind of raw, organized 00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:43.700 hatred, her decision to align herself completely 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:46.639 with France against Nazi aggression was, well, 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:48.960 it was a moral and political inevitability. Which 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:50.720 brings us to this next chapter, which is maybe 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:53.000 the most astonishing. of all. This is where her 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.600 story transcends celebrity. The transformation 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:57.940 from a global entertainer to a secret agent. 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:01.879 In September 1939, when France declared war on 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:04.639 Germany, Josephine Baker was immediately recruited 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:08.019 by the Deuxième Bureau. French military intelligence 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:10.940 as an Honorable correspondent. Wait, I have to 00:16:10.940 --> 00:16:12.919 stop you there. Isn't that counterintuitive? 00:16:13.159 --> 00:16:15.980 Why would they use the most famous woman in Paris, 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:19.139 a celebrity whose face was instantly recognizable 00:16:19.139 --> 00:16:22.120 across Europe, as a spy? That's the genius of 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:24.220 it. The sources make it clear that her fame wasn't 00:16:24.220 --> 00:16:27.580 a liability. It was the perfect cover. The perfect 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:30.059 cover. She socialized with the highest ranking 00:16:30.059 --> 00:16:33.019 officials, Japanese, Italian, and later Vichy 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:35.960 bureaucrats, at exclusive embassies, ministries, 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:38.220 and nightclubs. These men would never suspect 00:16:38.220 --> 00:16:40.100 the woman who was entertaining them, who was 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:42.620 the subject of endless gossip, was actually collecting 00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:44.960 critical intelligence right under their noses. 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:47.539 So she was working with Jacques Apte, the head 00:16:47.539 --> 00:16:50.120 of French counterintelligence in Paris. And she 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:52.139 could just charm secrets out of men who believed 00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:54.960 they were far too clever to be spied upon. She 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.559 collected granular intelligence on German troop 00:16:57.559 --> 00:17:01.529 movements, airfields, strategic harbors. just 00:17:01.529 --> 00:17:04.210 by observing and listening at high society events. 00:17:04.490 --> 00:17:07.509 The actual spycraft she employed reads like something 00:17:07.509 --> 00:17:09.710 out of a pulp novel. I mean, it was incredibly 00:17:09.710 --> 00:17:12.630 high stakes. The boldness is breathtaking. She 00:17:12.630 --> 00:17:15.309 couldn't risk carrying official documents, so 00:17:15.309 --> 00:17:18.269 she resorted to the most personal methods, writing 00:17:18.269 --> 00:17:21.289 crucial notes on her own hands and arms, or pinning 00:17:21.289 --> 00:17:23.529 them strategically inside her clothing and underwear. 00:17:23.910 --> 00:17:26.670 But the most iconic method involved her primary 00:17:26.670 --> 00:17:29.210 professional tool. Her sheet music. Her sheet 00:17:29.210 --> 00:17:32.410 music. Yes. She leveraged invisible ink, writing 00:17:32.410 --> 00:17:35.730 intelligence directly onto her song sheets. Think 00:17:35.730 --> 00:17:38.170 about the audacity. She was carrying military 00:17:38.170 --> 00:17:41.009 secrets on her music for Je Dés Amour. If she 00:17:41.009 --> 00:17:43.170 researched, the guards would find only sheet 00:17:43.170 --> 00:17:45.549 music. But it was actually troop locations or 00:17:45.549 --> 00:17:48.630 airfield coordinates. Exactly. Written in lemon 00:17:48.630 --> 00:17:51.109 juice or milk, it's a powerful symbol of how 00:17:51.109 --> 00:17:53.769 she weaponized her own art. And we need to emphasize 00:17:53.769 --> 00:17:55.789 she wasn't just a social collector of gossip. 00:17:55.950 --> 00:17:58.329 The sources note she took an active military 00:17:58.329 --> 00:18:01.569 role. She had a pilot's license. That's a detail 00:18:01.569 --> 00:18:04.029 that often gets overlooked. She flew missions. 00:18:04.049 --> 00:18:06.950 She was literally engaging in aerial reconnaissance. 00:18:07.230 --> 00:18:09.529 And when the Ducey M. Bureau was forced to go 00:18:09.529 --> 00:18:13.210 underground, her contacts escalated. She moved 00:18:13.210 --> 00:18:15.910 from reporting to ABT to reporting directly to 00:18:15.910 --> 00:18:18.369 Wilfred Dunderdale at MI6 in London. She was 00:18:18.369 --> 00:18:20.750 a crucial node in the Allied intelligence network. 00:18:20.970 --> 00:18:23.910 Truly. Once the Germans invaded in 1940, her 00:18:23.910 --> 00:18:27.230 operational base shifted entirely. She left Paris 00:18:27.230 --> 00:18:29.829 and relocated to her home in the Dordogne region, 00:18:30.069 --> 00:18:32.670 the magnificent Chateau de Milan. And she turned 00:18:32.670 --> 00:18:35.170 a picturesque country estate into a strategic 00:18:35.170 --> 00:18:38.109 resistance headquarters. It became a hub of covert 00:18:38.109 --> 00:18:40.869 activity. She installed a radio transmitter to 00:18:40.869 --> 00:18:43.289 maintain contact with free French and Allied 00:18:43.289 --> 00:18:46.470 forces, stored weapons in the cellar, and most 00:18:46.470 --> 00:18:48.670 importantly, sheltered resistance fighters and 00:18:48.670 --> 00:18:51.289 Jewish refugees who were fleeing the Nazi occupation. 00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:54.309 And this came at immense personal risk and financial 00:18:54.309 --> 00:18:57.589 cost. Absolutely. The sources note she didn't 00:18:57.589 --> 00:19:00.170 just provide shelter. She personally subsidized 00:19:00.170 --> 00:19:03.410 the entire operation. She paid for food, clothing, 00:19:03.569 --> 00:19:06.369 and the creation of forged documents. This wasn't 00:19:06.369 --> 00:19:09.230 passive support. It was a total, costly commitment 00:19:09.230 --> 00:19:12.029 that showcased the depth of her French loyalty. 00:19:12.349 --> 00:19:15.549 Her global fame, which initially made her a spy, 00:19:15.829 --> 00:19:19.180 then made her the perfect courier. Right. Using 00:19:19.180 --> 00:19:21.480 the pretext of ill health recovering from pneumonia, 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:24.980 she began touring neutral nations. Places like 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:27.660 Portugal, South America. Carrying vital intelligence 00:19:27.660 --> 00:19:29.779 that could then be transmitted to England via 00:19:29.779 --> 00:19:32.740 Lisbon, often still concealed on those innocuous 00:19:32.740 --> 00:19:36.480 sheet music pages. Her identity as a famous entertainer 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.839 was the perfect explanation for her constant 00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:42.059 travel. No one questioned the diva on tour. In 00:19:42.059 --> 00:19:45.400 1941, her focus shifted to North Africa, operating 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:48.190 from a base in Morocco. Her primary role shifted 00:19:48.190 --> 00:19:50.450 slightly to morale and logistical support, though 00:19:50.450 --> 00:19:52.730 she was still doing intelligence work. She organized 00:19:52.730 --> 00:19:54.990 tours to entertain British, Free French, and 00:19:54.990 --> 00:19:57.069 American soldiers stationed across North Africa. 00:19:57.309 --> 00:19:59.029 And this was critical because the Free French 00:19:59.029 --> 00:20:01.130 forces didn't have an organized entertainment 00:20:01.130 --> 00:20:04.750 structure like the USO. Exactly. And her commitment 00:20:04.750 --> 00:20:07.369 to the war effort over commercial gain was absolute 00:20:07.369 --> 00:20:10.690 here. She operated independently, charging no 00:20:10.690 --> 00:20:12.950 admission, and strictly barring civilians from 00:20:12.950 --> 00:20:15.630 attending her shows. The focus was entirely on 00:20:15.630 --> 00:20:18.269 the troops. Entirely. However, this period was 00:20:18.269 --> 00:20:21.150 also incredibly taxing on her physically. She 00:20:21.150 --> 00:20:23.230 suffered a devastating health crisis in Morocco. 00:20:23.630 --> 00:20:26.470 Following a miscarriage, she developed a severe 00:20:26.470 --> 00:20:29.109 infection, peritonitis, which quickly advanced 00:20:29.109 --> 00:20:32.190 to sepsis. She required an emergency hysterectomy 00:20:32.190 --> 00:20:34.930 and spent months recovering. It highlights the 00:20:34.930 --> 00:20:37.630 immense physical and emotional toll that her 00:20:37.630 --> 00:20:39.869 wartime commitment took. She was essentially 00:20:39.869 --> 00:20:42.529 operating as a soldier, suffering the hardships 00:20:42.529 --> 00:20:44.990 of the field, even while performing. And that 00:20:44.990 --> 00:20:47.750 staggering commitment was recognized after the 00:20:47.750 --> 00:20:50.549 war. She received the highest honors France could 00:20:50.549 --> 00:20:53.230 bestow. The Resistance Medal, the Croix de Guerre. 00:20:53.470 --> 00:20:56.569 And she was named a Chevalier of the Légion d 00:20:56.569 --> 00:20:58.650 'Honneur by General Charles de Gaulle himself. 00:20:59.230 --> 00:21:02.009 These honors permanently elevated her status 00:21:02.009 --> 00:21:04.329 in France from a celebrity to a national hero. 00:21:04.769 --> 00:21:07.609 She earned the title Agent Josephine, confirming 00:21:07.609 --> 00:21:09.990 that the playful exoticism of the banana skirt 00:21:09.990 --> 00:21:12.769 was merely the disguise for a steel -spined patriot. 00:21:13.360 --> 00:21:16.279 With the war won and her status as a decorated 00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:19.160 hero confirmed, Baker returned to the U .S. in 00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:22.380 1951, leveraging her French honors as a shield. 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:25.140 And she didn't hesitate to apply the same fearlessness 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:27.539 she showed in the resistance to fight segregation 00:21:27.539 --> 00:21:30.500 at home. Her return immediately sparked public 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:33.160 battles. Her first engagement in Miami involved 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:35.359 fighting to desegregate the nightclub audience. 00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:38.099 And she won. She persisted until they relented, 00:21:38.259 --> 00:21:41.319 successfully integrating that space. That early 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:44.500 victory set the tone. She received KKK threats 00:21:44.500 --> 00:21:47.119 over the phone, but she publicly stated she was 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.759 unafraid, dismissing them as cowards hiding behind 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:52.549 hoods. She followed this with a... out national 00:21:52.549 --> 00:21:55.910 tour. Her triumphant momentum culminated in Harlem, 00:21:56.049 --> 00:21:58.210 where she was honored with a parade and named 00:21:58.210 --> 00:22:00.789 the NAACP's Woman of the Year. The Nobel Peace 00:22:00.789 --> 00:22:03.210 Prize winner, Ralph Bunche, personally gave her 00:22:03.210 --> 00:22:05.789 a life membership. She was at the absolute height 00:22:05.789 --> 00:22:07.990 of her influence in America. And that influence 00:22:07.990 --> 00:22:09.950 was viewed as a direct threat by conservative 00:22:09.950 --> 00:22:12.859 power structures. Which leads us to the infamous 00:22:12.859 --> 00:22:16.640 Stork Club incident in Manhattan in October 1951. 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:19.779 She was refused service at the upscale club due 00:22:19.779 --> 00:22:23.180 to her race. Her reaction was immediate. She 00:22:23.180 --> 00:22:26.019 sought out Walter Winchell. One of the club's 00:22:26.019 --> 00:22:28.059 regulars and crucially one of the most powerful 00:22:28.059 --> 00:22:30.819 conservative columnists in America, she expected 00:22:30.819 --> 00:22:33.700 him to publicly champion her cause. But the reality 00:22:33.700 --> 00:22:36.299 of Cold War politics hit hard. Winchell didn't 00:22:36.299 --> 00:22:39.140 help. He attacked. What did he do? He unleashed 00:22:39.140 --> 00:22:41.720 a cruel and devastating public counterattack, 00:22:41.980 --> 00:22:44.740 accusing Baker of being an anti -American communist 00:22:44.740 --> 00:22:47.740 sympathizer. This was the McCarthy era. Such 00:22:47.740 --> 00:22:49.920 an accusation was the most potent weapon available 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:52.259 to silence a dissenting voice. He successfully 00:22:52.259 --> 00:22:54.920 reframed the incident. He shifted the conversation 00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:57.359 entirely away from racial discrimination and 00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:59.940 turned it into a loyalty test. And that political 00:22:59.940 --> 00:23:02.460 smear campaign had almost immediate crippling 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:05.259 consequences for her career in the U .S. It was 00:23:05.259 --> 00:23:07.900 fatal. The negative publicity. fueled by those 00:23:07.900 --> 00:23:10.640 communism accusations, led the U .S. government 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:13.279 to terminate her work visa. She was forced to 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:15.579 cancel all remaining engagements and return to 00:23:15.579 --> 00:23:18.359 France, effectively exiled from the country for 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:21.599 nearly a decade. The FBI also opened a file on 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:23.940 her and tracked her activities overseas. But 00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:26.599 the sources show she was unwavering, continuing 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:29.519 her activism from abroad. She refused to perform 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:32.619 for segregated audiences. She constantly leveraged 00:23:32.619 --> 00:23:34.799 her influence overseas to shine a spotlight on 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:37.960 U .S. discrimination, making America deeply uncomfortable 00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:41.559 on the world stage. She also personally intervened 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:44.180 in specific cases, like writing letters to the 00:23:44.180 --> 00:23:46.519 governor of Mississippi asking for clemency for 00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:49.119 Willie McGee. A black man convicted of rape on 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.740 highly dubious evidence. Right. Despite her international 00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:55.220 appeal, McGee was executed in 1951, a painful 00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:57.319 reminder of the limits of celebrity activism. 00:23:57.609 --> 00:23:59.549 Her enduring legacy in American civil rights 00:23:59.549 --> 00:24:02.910 culminated in 1963. After nearly a decade of 00:24:02.910 --> 00:24:05.150 being politically banned, she returned and stood 00:24:05.150 --> 00:24:07.910 alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the March 00:24:07.910 --> 00:24:10.470 on Washington. That moment was critical, not 00:24:10.470 --> 00:24:13.049 just for the movement, but for her personal redemption 00:24:13.049 --> 00:24:16.470 in America. She deliberately wore her free French 00:24:16.470 --> 00:24:19.670 uniform, proudly displaying the Légion d 'honneur 00:24:19.670 --> 00:24:22.309 medal. She was showing America, you rejected 00:24:22.309 --> 00:24:24.950 me, but France honored me for fighting fascism. 00:24:24.990 --> 00:24:28.680 Now I fight your injustice. And she held a very 00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:31.500 unique, highly respected position on that platform. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:34.579 She was the only official female speaker that 00:24:34.579 --> 00:24:37.079 day. Wheelie won. She used her time not only 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:39.980 for her own address, but to introduce a contingent 00:24:39.980 --> 00:24:43.400 of Negro women for civil rights, making sure 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:46.000 to acknowledge and honor figures like Rosa Parks 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.420 and Daisy Bates. And her speech perfectly synthesized 00:24:49.420 --> 00:24:52.339 her entire life's experience of injustice versus 00:24:52.339 --> 00:24:54.809 adulation. It's the speech where she delivered 00:24:54.809 --> 00:24:57.309 the famous, powerful line, I have walked into 00:24:57.309 --> 00:24:59.769 the palaces of kings and queens, but I could 00:24:59.769 --> 00:25:01.730 not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup 00:25:01.730 --> 00:25:04.069 of coffee, and that made me mad. And when I get 00:25:04.069 --> 00:25:07.130 mad, you know that I open my big mouth and then 00:25:07.130 --> 00:25:09.170 look out. Because when Josephine opens her mouth, 00:25:09.230 --> 00:25:11.309 they hear it all over the world. It's a concise 00:25:11.309 --> 00:25:13.809 and brutal indictment of American hypocrisy. 00:25:14.009 --> 00:25:16.569 Her recognized status within the movement led 00:25:16.569 --> 00:25:19.490 to an extraordinary offer later, following Dr. 00:25:19.670 --> 00:25:22.720 King's assassination. After Ping's death, Coretta 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:24.940 Scott King approached Baker in the Netherlands 00:25:24.940 --> 00:25:27.180 and asked her to take her husband's place as 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:29.220 the leader of the civil rights movement. Wow. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.079 It was a testament to the moral authority she 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:34.819 had built. Baker considered the offer for days, 00:25:34.819 --> 00:25:37.680 but ultimately declined, stating that her 12 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:39.920 adopted children were too young to lose their 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:42.220 mother. Which brings us to that complex private 00:25:42.220 --> 00:25:45.640 commitment. The Rainbow Tribe. Her greatest social 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:48.420 experiment. What was the motivation behind adopting 00:25:48.420 --> 00:25:51.500 12 children from such diverse backgrounds? Her 00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:54.900 explicit motivation was ideological. She wanted 00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.240 to prove to the world that children of different 00:25:57.240 --> 00:25:59.539 ethnicities and religions could grow up together 00:25:59.539 --> 00:26:02.559 as brothers and sisters in harmony. She truly 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:04.759 believed this family could be a blueprint for 00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:07.579 global peace. So she adopted children from all 00:26:07.579 --> 00:26:10.019 corners of the world. Japanese, Colombian, Finnish, 00:26:10.279 --> 00:26:13.359 French, Algerian, Ivorian, Venezuelan, and raised 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.279 them in both the Catholic and Muslim faiths. 00:26:15.299 --> 00:26:18.559 Ten sons and two daughters. It truly reflected 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:21.359 her globalist vision. But the experiment was 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:24.059 fraught with contradiction. It was. While the 00:26:24.059 --> 00:26:26.279 intention was noble, the reality of running the 00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:28.839 massive Chateau de Milan with 12 children was 00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:32.000 financially ruinous. Furthermore, her foster 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:35.259 son, Jean -Claude Baker, later reflected on the 00:26:35.259 --> 00:26:37.900 contradictory nature of their life, noting that 00:26:37.900 --> 00:26:41.599 she wanted a doll. There was an element of performance 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:43.279 in the family life, too. And that performance 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:46.410 was literal, wasn't it? To manage the immense 00:26:46.410 --> 00:26:50.009 costs, she arranged tours of the chateau, charging 00:26:50.009 --> 00:26:52.650 visitors admission to walk the grounds and actually 00:26:52.650 --> 00:26:55.109 watch the children play. So the Rainbow Tribe 00:26:55.109 --> 00:26:58.730 became part museum exhibit. Part museum exhibit, 00:26:58.990 --> 00:27:01.490 part social experiment, which certainly complicated 00:27:01.490 --> 00:27:03.930 the children's experience of growing up. The 00:27:03.930 --> 00:27:05.950 financial burden eventually overwhelmed her. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.819 leading to her eventual heartbreaking loss of 00:27:08.819 --> 00:27:10.700 the chateau. And this is when Princess Grace 00:27:10.700 --> 00:27:13.000 of Monaco stepped in. The former Grace Kelly 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:15.200 who stood by her during the Stork Club incident. 00:27:15.460 --> 00:27:17.720 She offered her an apartment in Roke Broon to 00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:20.059 live in when she was near bankruptcy. And despite 00:27:20.059 --> 00:27:22.079 founding the family on principles of tolerance, 00:27:22.359 --> 00:27:25.339 there were deep personal struggles within the 00:27:25.339 --> 00:27:28.059 tribe itself. The sources reveal moments of profound 00:27:28.059 --> 00:27:32.119 pain. She famously forced her Finnish -born adoptive 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:35.140 son, Jerry, to leave the chateau at 15 after 00:27:35.140 --> 00:27:37.740 discovering he was gay. That seems like a huge 00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:40.400 contradiction. It was a deeply painful chapter, 00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:42.319 highlighting the limits of her own progressive 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:45.200 ideals. While they eventually reconciled, it 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:47.380 was a major fissure, and the sorrow continued 00:27:47.380 --> 00:27:50.859 later in life. Her son Moise died of cancer, 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:53.720 Noelle developed schizophrenia, and Jean -Claude 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:55.960 Baker, who carried on her legacy, later died 00:27:55.960 --> 00:27:58.400 by suicide. So it was a beautiful vision, but 00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:01.000 a difficult, complex reality defined by both 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:03.700 love and profound loss. Absolutely. Despite the 00:28:03.700 --> 00:28:06.259 financial ruin and personal heartbreak, Josephine 00:28:06.259 --> 00:28:09.180 Baker staged an incredible final chapter, a grand 00:28:09.180 --> 00:28:11.619 finale to her performing career that affirmed 00:28:11.619 --> 00:28:15.240 her status as an eternal icon. In 1975, she starred 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:18.299 in a retrospective review in Paris titled Josephine 00:28:18.299 --> 00:28:22.119 Abubino, 1975, celebrating 50 years in show business. 00:28:22.420 --> 00:28:24.839 The production itself was a testament to her 00:28:24.839 --> 00:28:27.099 enduring global influence. Because it wasn't 00:28:27.099 --> 00:28:30.640 just financed by French patrons. No. Prince Rainier 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:33.460 and Princess Grace of Monaco, along with Jacqueline 00:28:33.460 --> 00:28:36.099 Kennedy Onassis, were among the high -profile 00:28:36.099 --> 00:28:39.119 financiers. This wasn't merely a show. It was 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:41.799 an international celebrity -backed tribute to 00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:43.460 her life. And the opening night was legendary. 00:28:43.619 --> 00:28:46.960 A monumental event. The audience was a who's 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:51.359 who of global celebrity. Sophia Loren, Mick Jagger, 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:53.779 Diana Ross, and Liza Minnelli were all there. 00:28:54.140 --> 00:28:57.779 The show opened to rave reviews. A definitive, 00:28:58.019 --> 00:29:00.880 magnificent triumph. And tragically, that triumph 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:04.000 was short -lived. Just four days after the glittering 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.740 opening, Baker was found in a coma in her bed. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:08.920 Surrounded by the glowing newspaper reviews of 00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:11.220 her show. She had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage 00:29:11.220 --> 00:29:14.460 and died peacefully on April 12, 1975, at the 00:29:14.460 --> 00:29:16.720 age of 68. The French response was extraordinary, 00:29:17.059 --> 00:29:18.880 cementing her place not just as an entertainer, 00:29:18.900 --> 00:29:21.339 but as a national figure. Her funeral was a monumental 00:29:21.339 --> 00:29:23.720 national event. She received a full Catholic 00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:26.200 funeral and the procession drew over 20 ,000 00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:28.759 mourners. And here's the fact that truly defines 00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:31.319 her unique bond with France. Josephine Baker 00:29:31.319 --> 00:29:33.619 remains the only American -born woman to receive 00:29:33.619 --> 00:29:36.079 full French military honors at her funeral. The 00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:39.039 only one. She was buried later in Monaco. But 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:41.279 that honor was expanded significantly decades 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:45.019 later. In 2021, she was posthumously inducted 00:29:45.019 --> 00:29:47.569 into the Pantheon in Paris. The secular temple 00:29:47.569 --> 00:29:49.829 dedicated to the great men of the French Republic. 00:29:50.130 --> 00:29:52.990 By becoming the first black woman inducted, France 00:29:52.990 --> 00:29:55.390 fully claimed her as one of its defining citizens. 00:29:55.750 --> 00:29:58.089 And since her actual remains stayed in Monaco, 00:29:58.250 --> 00:30:01.609 the induction involved a symbolic casket. The 00:30:01.609 --> 00:30:04.490 symbolism is incredibly powerful. It is. The 00:30:04.490 --> 00:30:06.549 casket installed on the crypt was filled with 00:30:06.549 --> 00:30:09.339 soil. But not just any soil. It contained soil 00:30:09.339 --> 00:30:11.279 gathered from the key places that defined her 00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:14.119 geography. St. Louis, where she was born in poverty. 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:16.299 Paris, where she found fame and freedom. The 00:30:16.299 --> 00:30:18.160 south of France, where she operated the resistance. 00:30:18.539 --> 00:30:21.200 And Monaco, where she was interred. This symbolic 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:23.920 burial created a final synthesis of her global, 00:30:24.019 --> 00:30:26.500 conflicted life. Her cultural impact continues 00:30:26.500 --> 00:30:29.140 to resonate deeply in the 21st century. Absolutely. 00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:31.579 Think about her influence on modern celebrity. 00:30:31.859 --> 00:30:34.799 In 2006, Beyoncé replicated the banana dance 00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:37.400 costume and has consistently cited Baker as a 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:40.440 major influence. And Angelina Jolie cited the 00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:43.400 rainbow tribe concept as a model for her own 00:30:43.400 --> 00:30:46.349 multinational adoption philosophy. Right. And 00:30:46.349 --> 00:30:49.089 her story is reflected in other media like Lynn 00:30:49.089 --> 00:30:51.190 Whitfield winning an Emmy for portraying her. 00:30:51.289 --> 00:30:54.349 And her impact extends to pure commerce and daily 00:30:54.349 --> 00:30:57.589 life in France. The euro coins. Yes. Perhaps 00:30:57.589 --> 00:31:00.410 the most tangible modern sign of her legacy came 00:31:00.410 --> 00:31:03.769 in March 2024 when her face appeared on the French 00:31:03.769 --> 00:31:07.450 20 cent euro coins. She has transitioned from 00:31:07.450 --> 00:31:10.069 his historical figure to a symbol embedded in 00:31:10.069 --> 00:31:12.210 the economic and cultural identity of the French 00:31:12.210 --> 00:31:14.650 nation. So the narrative of Josephine Baker. 00:31:14.890 --> 00:31:17.369 is this profound lesson in reinvention and resilience. 00:31:17.769 --> 00:31:20.329 She took the stereotype thrust upon her, the 00:31:20.329 --> 00:31:23.589 exotic dancer in a banana skirt. That persona 00:31:23.589 --> 00:31:25.950 became her shield, her disguise, and her weapon 00:31:25.950 --> 00:31:27.609 in the fight against fascism and segregation. 00:31:28.089 --> 00:31:30.630 She was a true global citizen who seamlessly 00:31:30.630 --> 00:31:33.029 blended the worlds of high art, counterintelligence, 00:31:33.150 --> 00:31:35.730 and unapologetic political activism. When we 00:31:35.730 --> 00:31:38.549 do deep dives into lives like hers, you realize 00:31:38.549 --> 00:31:41.309 the value of connecting personal trauma like 00:31:41.309 --> 00:31:44.509 the East St. Louis riots and the burned hands 00:31:44.509 --> 00:31:47.950 of a child to global action. Her personal choices 00:31:47.950 --> 00:31:50.720 were often forced by systemic cruelty. And she 00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:53.140 responded with immense dignity and sacrifice. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:55.339 It leaves us with a final provocative thought 00:31:55.339 --> 00:31:57.740 for you to explore. Considering the virulent 00:31:57.740 --> 00:32:00.519 racism, the FBI surveillance, and the ultimate 00:32:00.519 --> 00:32:02.960 termination of her visa she faced in the U .S. 00:32:03.019 --> 00:32:05.500 The country that was meant to be her home. Versus 00:32:05.500 --> 00:32:08.279 the extreme loyalty, military honors, and eventual 00:32:08.279 --> 00:32:11.019 pantheon induction she received in France. Was 00:32:11.019 --> 00:32:13.339 her adoption of French citizenship the ultimate, 00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:15.599 most effective act of both self -preservation 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:17.799 and political protest against American segregation? 00:32:18.279 --> 00:32:20.740 Did her rejection by the U .S. ultimately enable 00:32:20.740 --> 00:32:22.380 her greatest global triumphs.