Josephine Baker Research Paper

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Pages: 3

Josephine Baker was an African American performer, who performed in France and the United States around the middle of the 1900s. Josephine Baker was also known as “Black Venus”, “Black Pearl”, and “Creole Goddess”. She became famous when she was about 30 years old. Her fame lasted for 50 years until she died in 1975. Josephine Baker’s full name was Freda Josephine McDonald She was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 3, 1906. She was raised by her mother, because her dad left them we she was young. Her mom later remarried and Josephine Baker now had a stepbrother and two step sisters. In order to make money for the family, she had to clean the houses and babysit the children of the white families. She slept in a coal cellar with the white family’s dog. When she was 10 years old, Josephine went back to school. …show more content…
Louis Chorus and was apart of the vaudeville show. She also married William Howard Baker at this time. When she ran away to live with her grandmother in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she left her husband. But even after their divorce, she kept his last name. Josephine Baker felt that there was too much racial discrimination there. Josephine then moved to Paris, France and became one of the highest paid performers. One of her most popular performances was with Joe Alex. It was a wild performance that caught a lot of audience’s attention. One of the many things that Josephine Baker was known for during her performances was the costumes that she would wear. During some of them, she would wear nothing but a feathered skirt or a shirt with bananas sewn into