Josephine Baker in 1926

Born into poverty in Saint-Louis, Josephine Baker rose thanks to her talent and hard work to the rank of an international star, becoming the first black icon. In Paris, in 1925, the new show "La Revue Nègre" was a huge success. The Théâtre des Champs Elysées was full every evening with a crowd listening to Sydney Bechet’s music and watching the contortions of Miss Baker, a dancer and singer who was still unknown in France. As the star of the revue, skimpily dressed in a belt of bananas, Josephine Baker set Paris alight. Back in the USA after the war, she confronted the Ku Klux Klan and the humiliations of racial segregation. At Copa City in Miami, Josephine Baker would only perform if Blacks were allowed in the audience, and this was to become the rule for all her shows in the USA. She was committed to obtaining civil rights for Afro-Americans and in 1963 marched alongside Martin Luther King to Washington. Josephine Baker was the only woman, along with the militant Daisy Bates, to speak on the tribune in front of 250,000 people. Josephine Baker, the Queen of the Music-Hall, was one of the emblematic figures of Paris during the "Années folles".

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