Happy Birthday to African American star performer Josephine Baker (b. June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, MO), who performed across the globe and became most famous living in Paris, France. After she spoke out against American racism during international shows in the early 1950s, she was targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Baker’s case was particularly challenging for the FBI since she was granted citizenship in her adopted home of France. She leveraged her French passport to prevent the FBI from restricting her travel. Life in Paris had its benefits. As historian Mary L. Dudziak writes, “In Paris, Baker was generally free of the day-to-day insults of American style racism. She lived a glamorous lifestyle free from racial segregation. Like many other African Americans, she found the city a haven in the years between the two world wars.” Some of her FBI documents are declassified, but they are heavily redacted. One report shows the FBI was especially concerned with her efforts to aid the defense of Willie McGee, who was accused of the rape of a white woman. The report notes that he “subsequently during May, 1951, was executed by the State of Mississippi for that offense.” But that did not seem to lessen their concerns about Baker’s anti-racism work.
Citations: Mary L. Dudziak, “Josephine Baker, Racial Protest, and the Cold War,” The Journal of American History 81, no. 2 (September 1994): 543, 546-548, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2081171; Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Josephine Baker Part 01 of 03,” 16, https://vault.fbi.gov/josephine-baker/josephine-baker-part-01-of-03/view; Carl Van Vechten, “[Portrait of Josephine Baker, Paris],” photograph (Paris, France, October 20, 1949), https://www.loc.gov/item/2004662545/.
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