Essay about Josephine Baker

     We will look into the life of James Brown. He is known for his music. In his life, he had to face many obstacles, but through determination, he changed his life cycle. We will touch on the influences in his life, developmental stage and theories that best fit his personality.

Hollywood is a very powerful modern day institution, where a star's image can characterize, shape and circulate societal myths and ideologies. The construction of a star's image as a commodity of their societal myths and ideologies has the extraordinary power to exert messages so that even the smallest details become significant yet not overtly obvious. How a star's image is produced and then consumed can justify a society's relationship with that image and therefore aid in explaining the social construction of what society deems as their 'reality'. A star's image is created through a range of representations churned out by Hollywood. Capitalism from the commercialization of these images has made Hollywood the dominant force it is

Many Renaissance writers felt some hesitancy about the use of the black lingo as well as an onus to maintain the separation between high and low art, an issue that continues to be debated. How to confront questions of race commonly had to be more nuanced and subtle as well. Advances in black music were somewhat more efficacious because of the high demand for black talented artistes like Count Basie, Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong. New York nightclubs regularly featured black musicians, whose innovations in jazz embodied America 's first original music form. Black women vocalists also found success as the music industry quickly discovered the commercial advantages of race music.

Music changed through the Renaissance as well, picking up a new flavor from the black community. Jazz originated in New Orleans and traveled north to Harlem. Black musicians enjoyed the sounds of jazz and its sorrows. Musicians capitalized on the sound, adding in personal stories of struggle, love, and faith. These musicians took their talents to the night clubs of Harlem; some places became famous like the Cotton Club. White musicians joined black jazz bands, and for the first-time multiracial bands were formed (Carney). One of the most famous musicians to come out of the Renaissance was a trumpet by the name of Louis Armstrong. “Having come from a poor family in New Orleans, Armstrong began to perform with bands in small clubs and play at funerals and parades around town in New Orleans” (Burns). Due to the mixing of races, race relations got better and people came together to appreciate the talents of others, race didn’t matter!

Lena Horne was born on June 30, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents were Teddy and Edna Scottron Horne. After her father left her at the age of two in order to pursue his gambling career; her mother leaving soon after that to pursue her acting career; she went to live with her grandparents. Through her grandparents influence she became involved with organizations like the NAACP, at an early age.

One of the two most important musical influences was Ragtime, a style of music of insistent syncopated “ragged” rhythm created by black piano players. Photos and video clips of people playing and dancing to ragtime are examples of Burns amazing use of art photography and photojournalism to make the story more vivid for the viewers. Ragtime was a style of music the youth enjoyed to listen and dance to while the older generation of white men considered it a product of anarchism. A quote by a Massachusetts attorney and politician of the nineteenth century, Edward Baxter Perry explains that “ victims in [his] opinion can be treated successfully only like the dog with rabies, with a dose of led,” when talking about people who listened, and danced to ragtime. As segregation took over New Orleans, formerly freed creoles, whites who were of black descendants began to play together with the African Americans, combining their musical styles and creating an entirely new one that incorporated which came to be known as jazz. Creoles were affluent in classical music and piano, which they incorporated into the making of jazz music.

expanding, sharing it’s enthusiasm throughout the world. The evolution of jazz aroused the curiosity of the nation. As Blacks received their freedom, they were able to

She has one of the most recognized faces in the world. Over forty years after her death, Marilyn Monroe‘s life and death is still in question. Her trademark platinum hair and beauty mark, her famous skirt-blowing scene, which eventually she became ashamed of because no one could see the woman who was intellectual had feelings and worked hard behind the glitter, the gold and the smiles. Everyone knew this Marilyn Monroe, but did anybody know Norma Jeane Baker? Marilyn Monroe was a Hollywood icon, maybe even a legend, but who was this luminous woman, and was the happy woman that everyone knew capable of killing herself?

To understand the controversy that Billie presented one must first go to the root or source of such controversy and examine Billie's childhood. Billie was born Eleanora Harris to her father Clarence Holiday and mother Sadie Fagan who were just fifteen and thirteen years old, respectively, at the time (A 91). Born between 1912 and 1915 in Baltimore, the date unsure, Billie grew up without her father, who moved away early on in her life.

Dubbed "The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.

     Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Baker on June 1, 1926. Her mother’s name was Gladys Baker Mortensen. Baker being the name of her other two children and Mortensen the name of her last husband who disappeared just months after their marriage in 1924. Although Edward Mortensen was Gladys’ husband at the time of Norma’s birth, he was not her father. No one knows for sure who her father was, but it was believed that it was Gladys’ lover C. Stanley Gifford .

In the 50s and 60s, Josephine returned to the United States to help fight racism. She refused to perform in any club or theatre that was not integrated (Lewis). This resulted in the breaking of the color bar in many establishments, especially in Las Vegas. May 20 was named Josephine Baker day by the NAACP for her efforts. Part of her fight against racism came in the form of the “Rainbow Tribe.” She adopted 12 children to demonstrate that “children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers” (About). The children would sometimes

Billie was born to the name, Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915. She was born in Philadelphia but grew up in the Fell's Point section of Baltimore. Her mother, was just 13 at the time of her birth; her father, was 15. Holidays' teenage parents, Sadie Harris (aka Fagan) and probable father, Clarence Holiday, never married, and they did not live together for a long time. Clarence, a banjo and guitar player worked with Fletcher Henderson's band in the early 30s. He remains a shady figure who left his family. Clarence would often be away from home, and during the stay with Henderson, which lasted until 1932, the guitarist severed connections with the Fagans. Billie was an angry chile who lived a hard life. She was raped at the age of 10 soon

Mrs. Ivy Conner is a 77 year old female who grew up in rural Pennsylvania on a farm. Ivy was the youngest child born to Jane and Bill Conner. Growing up on a farm, proved to be difficult for Mrs. Conner and her Siblings. First, their parents worked long hours, so they were left in the care of their nana. Second, they experienced financial hard times when the farm unprofitable. Most of her young life, the client and her family were poor. Then when Ivy was 16 her mother passed away from stomach cancer. As a result, Mrs. Conner suffered from grief and depression as an adolescent.

Throughout this course we discussed the Jazz Age, cultural appropriation, racial and gender differences, and African Americans and Parisians during the interwar years. We looked at many African American performers and performances that had a huge impact on France’s cultural identity. After learning about all of this in class, I wanted to take my research further. I decided to research female foreign performers who have had a major influence on the Jazz Age in Paris. I decided to focus specifically on three foreign females, and they are: singer and dancer Josephine Baker, dancer Molly Spotted Elk, and dancer Ada “Bricktop” Smith. Each of these female performers had a large impact on taking the Jazz Age in Paris to another level.