Josephine Baker Analysis

There have been few people, if any, who could subvert stereotypes in such fascinating and iconic ways like Josephine Baker, and none of them did it while wearing a banana skirt. America’s most famous expatriate, Josephine Baker, has maintained a cultural impact over 42 years after her death. She exploded onto the 1920’s jazz scene in New York and shortly after took her talents to Paris, where she performed an original burlesque show, La Revue Negre (Lampley). This performance made her a star, and she quickly became the face of African-American jazz culture. There are many photographs that capture Josephine performing at the height of her career, but the problem with these photographs is that they only show a single facet of Josephine Baker.

She established this early on in her career as she took the stage during the show La Folie du Jour in nothing but a layered beaded necklace and a skirt made of bananas. She instantly captured the attention of French audiences during the height of their fascination with “exotic” and “primitive” cultures, like African-American jazz, and she subverted the stereotypes of what it meant to be a black woman during the 1920s. Rather than being cast with the label of "primitive," Baker owned her sensuality, captured the male gaze of her audience, and “flipped the script… [becoming] a symbol [and] the epitome of the New Woman to the French” (Lampley). She was unapologetically herself and quickly gained the status of "superstar."Many photographs of Josephine capture her posing in one of her bold, original costumes. While the ensemble she wears in the photo I selected to illustrate her is one of her more modest ones, its exaggerated collar and peplum waist was a Josephine Baker piece at its core: bold, unique and simply stunning. She was never one to shy away from a skimpy costume, but she never required one to maintain her status as a fashion

Her boldness and bravery stemmed from so much more than her ability to take pride in wearing a revealing costume. Josephine was a woman unafraid to stand for what she felt was right and take action. Shortly after gaining her French citizenship, World War II erupted, and Baker found herself as an aid in the French resistance. She used her celebrity to establish herself as an intelligence liaison and smuggled secret messages within her sheet music and luggage (Josephine Baker). After the liberation of France and the end of World War II, Baker found herself traveling back to her home country, the United States, and joining the fight for Civil Rights and the end of the Jim Crow era. According to Griffith’s article, she dealt with Jim Crow “head on [and she] refused to perform in venues that would not allow a racially mixed audience, even in the deeply divided South” (Griffith). Baker was also notably at the 1963 March on Washington, where she was the only woman to give a speech on that historic day (Griffith). These courageous acts should never go unmentioned when there is any discussion of the legacy of Josephine Baker. The use of her platform as a beloved icon to speak out and act against oppressive institutions served to be vital in the fight for