Josephine Baker A Universal Treasure On The Paris Noir Trail

Paris Noir, (Black Paris) is less than a place and more so a memory lane to where many African American’s make their pilgrimages every year. Their journey is as sacred to them as one going to Mecca, Benares or the Vatican. Along this trail one of the most universally recognized treasures is Josephine Baker (b. 1903).

At 18 years old, Baker a native of St. Louis, Missouri, was a dancer. She, had come to Paris to perform at the popular café, Bricktop’s (66 Rue Pigalle. The club’s owner was what was then termed, a Negro woman named Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Smith from West Virginia. Smith was in her business the equivalent to an Empress who held all of Europe’s royals, American dignitaries, celebrities and writers who had haunted her place till many early morning dawns in Paris, in the palm of her hands. It would be for nearly a half century that Bricktops was the place to be and to slum with America’s writer Ernest Hemingway and music composer Cole Porter and Europe’s Duke and Duchess of Windsor, to name a few blue bloods and luminaries.

After World War Two had ended, Baker stayed on in Paris and would eventually adopt France as her country. She is still loved and remembered by the French people who claimed her as their own, had anointed her “La Baker”, connoting her stature and unique qualities, as an entertainer, a screen actor a humanitarian and citizen of France.

During her life, Baker’s image was the face (and body) on products from theatrical stage bills to automobile engine lubricant and everything in between the two. Today, her iconic image is highly valued by interior designers and collectors of objects baring her recognizable banana skirt and bare breasts found on curios, posters, caricatures, lithographs picture postcards and book covers, such as “Negrophilia, Avant-Garde Paris and Black Culture in the 1920s” where Baker is posing with her famous pet cheetah.  It is also very important to remember that Baker, though having left her native country, America she had returned there to join Dr. Martin Luther King in his march for Civil Rights and racial equality, in the country where she was born, but one that never fully embraced her.

While visiting Paris, visitors and natives alike can take a dive in the Josephine Baker Swimming Pool, located on the banks of the Seine. (Paris’s famed river), known for its nine bridges that connect the Right and Left banks of the city, including the oldest one of all Pont Neuf.

During Baker’s lifetime, she held the prominence of being the most fabulously dressed, and most famous and wealthiest female entertainer in the world. And as a patriot of her adopted country, Baker was awarded the highest medal of honor in France for her bravery (working as a spy) in General Charles De Gaulle’s war against the Germans who invaded Paris in 1939. Tragically, she died a poor woman.

Baker’s last home, a Château located in the French Countryside is now a museum and though off the beaten track is included on the Paris Noir Trail.

It is there where Baker had lived almost to the end of her life, and where she raised her 13 adopted children, born in different countries,  who she called her Rainbow Tribe.

In New York City, on West 42^nd Street, is located Chez Josephine. The restaurant’s owner is Baker’s son, Jean Claude Baker (#13) of the tribe. It is a charming place, evoking France and a befitting tribute to his mother’s style and class and most significantly, Josephine Baker’s contribution to World Peace, World Culture Fashion and History.

Thanks again for coming to Moi, Mahmoudah. This blog is written in celebration and acknowledgment of Women’s History Month 2011.

Collague Mahmoudah Young