Josephine Baker
American-born, French singer, performer, French Resistance agent, civil rights activist and adopted mother to many, Josephine Baker is the first Black woman to be honored at the Panthéon in Paris.
Josephine Baker signs a contract at the Prince Edward Theatre in London, England, on Aug. 28, 1933. (AP Photo)
Charlie Chaplin congratulates entertainer Josephine Baker after her performance at the charity gala "Le Bal des Petits Lits Blancs," at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France, on May 20, 1953. (AP Photo)
Performer Josephine Baker during her Ziegfeld Follies performance of "The Conga" on the Winter Garden Theater stage in New York, around Feb. 11, 1936. (AP Photo)
Josephine Baker with patients at a American hospital in Paris, France, where she sang for French soldiers on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1939. (AP Photo)
The files of Josephine Baker displayed as part of a collection of documents, stored for years in the archive rooms of the medieval castle of Vincennes, east of Paris, March 16, 2016. A team of French historians unveiled secret services' archives from WWII, letters, reports, cables and photos from the rival intelligence agencies of the French Resistance, the collaborationist Vichy regime and the Nazi German authorities. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
French cabaret star Josephine Baker models a glamorous dress during a private preview of the gowns and hats she will wear when she tours with E.N.S.A. (The Entertainments National Service Association) shortly, at Jean Dresses, her dressmakers in Paris, France, in March 1945. (AP Photo/Peter J. Carroll)
Josephine Baker, touring with her musical revue, tries on a gown in the fashion house of Italian designer Emilio Schuberth, who helps with the fitting, in Rome, Italy, on May 22, 1950. The evening gown is styled in pale blue and pink linen featuring a skirt panel of hand painted and embroidered flowers. (AP Photo/Mario Torrisi)
Josephine Baker and orchestra leader Jo Bouillon leave the Chapel of Mirandes, near St. Cyprien, France, after their marriage ceremony on June 3, 1947. (AP Photo)
Josephine Baker sings on the opening night of her new night club on Dec. 31, 1955, at the Chateau des Milandes in central France. Baker and her musician husband Jo Bouillon have opened a nightclub in their home, where they also live with their adopted children. (AP Photo/Pierre Godot)
Josephine Baker performs at the Chateau des Milandes in central France on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 1955. (AP Photo/Pierre Godot)
Entertainer Josephine Baker performs at the nightclub “Imperial” in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 12, 1963. (AP Photo/Peter Hillebrecht)
A view of the Chateau des Milandes in central France, where the singer Josephine Baker and her husband Jo Bouillon are raising their family, shown around Jan. 3, 1956. (AP Photo/Pierre Godot)
In the Jorama, Josephine Baker's private wax museum, a boy pauses in front of a scene showing Josephine Baker holding hands with children from around the world, at the Chateau des Milandes in France, on March. 1, 1956. (AP Photo/Pierre Godot)
Josephine Baker shows a basket of toys, as she arrived at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France, on March 5, 1956. (AP Photo)
Josephine Baker and husband Jo Bouillon are seen with their children, who were adopted from different countries and are often referred to as her “Rainbow Tribe”, at tea in the newly opened nightclub at their home, the Chateau des Milandes, in France, 1956. At right is the children's nanny, and the nightclub's organizer stands at left. (AP Photo/Pierre Godot)
Josephine Baker who resides at the moment in Hamburg, Germany, during her tour, serves hot chocolate and cake for over 100 refugee children on Nov. 5, 1957. Baker also gave a copy of her children book 'The Rainbow Children' to every child with a helping hand from German composer Peter Kreuder. (AP Photo/Henry Brueggemann)
Entertainer and American ex-patriate Josephine Baker boards a bus at New York's Idlewild Airport after being detained by immigration authorities on her arrival from Paris, June 5, 1954, and then permitted to stay until July 1. Ms. Baker, an outspoken champion of civil rights, left the U.S. in 1951 charging that she had been discriminated against in a New York nightclub. (AP Photo)
The crowds seen at the March on Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. Josephine Baker spoke at the speaker’s platform, saying “Fight for your rights, the rights of man. Continue on, you can’t go wrong.” In March 1964 she commented, “All I did, like millions of others, was to come to be beside everybody else who feels the same way.” (AP Photo)
Excerpt from AP story published on March 8, 1964. (William Glover/AP Corporate Archives)
Flamboyant entertainer Josephine Baker appears with a young elephant on stage during her gala premiere at the Olympia Theatre, in Paris, France, on April 4, 1968. (AP Photo)
Entertainer and American ex-patriate Josephine Baker gestures as she discusses the American Black Power movement, around Aug. 29, 1970, in Roquebrune, France. Miss Baker said she had an offer to return to the US with her show, “When the man came around he said I can make the offer if you promise you won’t talk while you are there. […] I told him that I wanted to, that I need the money, but that he would need to keep me in a cage because when people ask me what’s on my mind I tell them”. “I always do what I think is right and I always say what is on my mind”, she commented. (AP Photo)
Ingrid Bergman, jury president, left, and Josephine Baker, right, leave the Festival Palace in Cannes, France, after viewing the Swedish film "Cries and Whispers", on May 25, 1973. (AP Photo)
Huge crowds gathered at the Catholic Mass for Josephine Baker, April 15, 1975. (AP Archive)
Josephine Baker's star, on the St. Louis Walk of Fame on June 7, 2006, is one of the ways she is remembered in St. Louis, her hometown. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)
Photo editing and text by Katherine O'Mara
For more see In French Pantheon, Josephine Baker makes history yet again