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Josephine Baker Research Paper

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II. Josephine Baker can be remembered as one of the most outstanding women of her time in show-business, paving the way for African-American women, an important civil-rights activist, and a fighter against racism, inequality, injustice, and Nazi regime. II. Body A. Early Life i. Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri 1906. ii. At age 12 Baker had to drop out of school to work full-time under such ghastly conditions that she chose to rather be homeless. iii. For three years she lived in the slums of St. Louis earning money by dancing on street corners. iv. She was married at 13 a. She never depended on a man so when she was bored she left b. She was married 4 times v. At the age of 19, Baker was spotted by a …show more content…

Her life in Paris was a stark contrast to the life she had growing up in the United States. Life in Paris inspired her to work for racial equality, and she remained steadfast in her beliefs. Paris is where Josephine Baker was allowed to be free and do what she wanted, and she excelled in all that she did. Josephine Baker was an extremely talented dancer, but she did so much more than simply dance around the stage in a banana skirt. iv. After the war Baker became the first American woman to receive three of the highest honors of the French state, the Croix de Guerre, the Rosette de la Resistance, and being made a Chevalier of the Legion d’honneur; all given to her by Charles de Gaulle personally. v. When the Second World War broke out in 1939 German forces occupied France in 1940, Josephine Baker immediately volunteered to spy and work for the French resistance vi. She also used her status as a celebrity to get false documents for members of the resistance and Jews who needed to flee France for fear of being deported to one of the camps. vii. She also smuggled important information and messages from France to Morocco or Spain by hiding the messages in her underwear C. Breaking

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