Activist and Performer Josephine Baker Honored in Paris
A mural of Josephine Baker by FKDL, “meant to symbolize freedom and resistance”, is one among many that have been recently installed in a diverse northeast Paris neighborhood. The installation was organized by the association Paris Colors Ourq and it is honoring the American/French Black entertainer and civil rights activist, according to AP News.
With an emphasis on ‘’bringing women back into the urban landscape,” FKDL says that, “Josephine Baker has always been, for me, a somewhat iconic figure of that era. Both wild and free-spirited, but also deeply connected to music, musicals, and dance,″ he continued. “She was an extraordinary character, an incredible woman.”
Renowned for spying on the Nazis in the name of the French Resistance, Baker also marched alongside civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Before being an international spy and activist, Baker was born in St. Louis and emerged as an electric stage performer in the 1930s. Seeking freedom from racism and segregation in the United States, much like other Black artists and intellectual thinkers Baker moved to Europe.
Her son, Brian Baker, shared this with the Associated Press at the unveiling of the mural on Saturday, July 19: "I feel moved and I feel happy, because this is part of a memory of my mother.” Brian Baker was one of the 12 children Josephine Baker had adopted from around the world. She called her children her ″rainbow tribe″ and her son affectionately referred to them as "a little United Nations.″
"My mother wouldn’t have liked words like iconic, star, or celebrity. She would have said, no, no let’s keep it simple,″ her son said.
Now, fifty years after the dynamic performer passed, Josephine Baker will continue to be remembered as an artist, activist, and iconic figure.
