Changemaker 7: Josephine Baker

Today’s changemaker is Josephine Baker. Born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, she became a successful singer, dancer and actor who was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics. She became a French citizen, joined the French Resistance during World War II, and collected information from German officials she met at parties. She was also a civil rights activist and participated in 1963 in the March on Washington for jobs and freedom alongside Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his “I Have A Dream” speech then. After her death in 1975, Baker was buried in Monaco, dressed in a French military uniform with the medals she received for her role as part of the French Resistance during the war.

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Photo credit: Keystone / Getty Images / 1945