"Everything was for the moment with Josephine, she coudn't see past today."
- Ada "Bricktop" Smith
Motivation
Growing up in Missouri, Josephine Baker felt the discrimination against her and her family because of her skin color, she lived through the East St. Louis Riot and other racial riots that broke out in the South. After seeing all of the traumatized and displaced families, she knew that she needed to be strong and not let the racism get to her, and she realized that she was living in a "white man's world". From that day on, Baker made a vow to herself that she would "try to make it easier for blacks and whites to get along." Even after she began performing, her and her bandmates faced discrimination and racsim from whites in the South, " For Whites Only" signs on public doors and not being treated the same as white people were two things that really bothered her. She was also even looked down upon by her other black co-workers just because her skin was darker, she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere in this buisness without holding to her own and fighting back. After she moved to Paris with the feeling of freedom she had among other people, she still knew it was her duty to go back and help the people of her race in her home land. With her hard childhood behind her, she felt an obligation to help in anyway she could.
A lot of people still thought that it was wrong for a woman to be this famous especially a black woman. Baker's style of performing, which some people thought to be far too raunchy and revealing, like the people in Vienna, Austria thought her to be the Devil in disguise because of her style. However, she knew that she had the power to make a change and that enough people all over the world loved watching her perform and would listen to what she had to say, she felt moraly obligated to defend her people, both her racial brothers and sisters and the people of her new home, Paris. The people also thought that her routine was getting old and too predictable so she wanted something new in her life, volenteering in the Red Cross was just what she was looking for.
Action
Even though Josephine lived in Paris for most of her early life, where they don't discriminate based on race, she knew it was important for her to go back to America and help with civil rights for her people in her birth land. After she became known as a living legend and people from all over Europe and the world adored her, she knew that people would acomidate her if she asked for something in order to perform. For example, she refused to perform in any segregated clubs or an audience where all the white people got the front seats and black people had to sit in the back. another way in which she was a civil rights activist was by adopting her 12 children, each of which were adopted from different countries. She was trying to prove to people that people of different races could all live together in peace.
She was extremely honored when the French Military police asked her to do undercover work for the army. To defend the Parisians in the French Revolution, she collected information in the French in World War II. She helped work in the Red Cross and she entertained troops in the army which was a good moral boost. She decided to move into this kind of work when her entertaining started to become too predictable for the people, she also wanted to make a difference for everyone in the world. She was an inspiration to every woman, she gave them the courage to follow in her footsteps and change how some people think.
Effects
Josephine Baker paved the way for many other performers to come, both for black performers and women performers. She stood up for herself and who she was all through out her career, even when times got hard. She proved that she could do anything despite the fact that some people thought her race and gender would hold her back in life. Not only did Baker excel as an entertainer, she also made a difference in the world as a civil rights activist and an undercover work in World War II. Even though some people always had a problem that a black woman was so popular all over the world, she never let that stop her or affect her job.
She was also the first black woman ever to receive an award at her funeral, she got awards for her work in the War. Baker never let anyone hold her back, she kept trying even though she was turned down a number of times and she finally made it big. She established a place in this world and made her name big which was trully amazing coming from the childhood she had in St. Louis. Still today she is an inspiration to all that you can make a difference and do what you want despite what other people think.