Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Josephine Baker

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: 

Josephine Baker

In my own personal big gay church there are many wings. In one such wing reside those who have forged careers by marching to a beat only they can hear. They are originals - unlike any other. Their styles created archetypes upon which many careers were built, but it all began with them. They created it. They own it.

Has there ever been one as beguiling as... 

Josephine Baker.

Call her what you will... Black Venus, Black Pearl, Bronze Venus , or  Creole Goddess.

She spoke her truth.

Whether dancing, singing, or telling her story...

She spoke her truth.

She had always been one with the music, it reverberated through her body and left audiences in awe.

Her sense of style, bigger than life. 

Her singing, melodic and rhapsodic.

Her energy, as inescapable as her many charms.

And charm she did. She could wrap the world around her little finger with a wink. 

Even when she became a worldwide sensation, she didn't shy away from who she was... she still spoke her truth. 

Baker refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States, and she wasn't afraid to say why - her contributions to the civil rights movement? Undeniable.

That was her power. Her dignity. 

She may have chosen to jump around in outrageous outfits in order to entertain. But that was her choice - her joy. No one may deny her humanness. 

And in the end, before the applause, you must acknowledge exactly that.

This courageous human.

Who shared her gifts... and truth, with the world. 

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.

The topic? Racism In America

 

When I was a child and they burned me out of my home, I was frightened and I ran away. Eventually I ran far away. It was to a place called France. Many of you have been there, and many have not. But I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, in that country I never feared. It was like a fairyland place.

 
I wanted to get far away from those who believed in cruelty, so then I went to France, a land of true freedom, democracy, equality and fraternity.
 

I ran away from home. I ran away from St. Louis, and then I ran away from the United States of America, because of that terror of discrimination, that horrible beast which paralyzes one's very soul and body. 

The hate directed against the colored people here in St. Louis has always given me a sad feeling because when I was a little girl I remember the horror of the East St. Louis race riot.
 
Friends, to me for years St. Louis represented a city of fear... humiliation... misery and terror... A city where in the eyes of the white man a Negro should know his place and had better stay in it.

 

I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad.

Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul, when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.
 
All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.
 
I believe if the white and colored people could get together and be let alone, they would understand each other and consequently love each other.
 
All men can live together, if they wish to.

Americans, the eyes of the world are upon you. How can you expect the world to believe in you and respect your preaching of democracy when you yourself treat your colored brothers as you do?

You must get an education. You must go to school, and you must learn to protect yourself. And you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the gun.

My people have a country of their own to go to if they choose... Africa... but, this America belongs to them just as much as it does to any of the white race... in some ways even more so, because they gave the sweat of their brow and their blood in slavery so that many parts of America could become prosperous and recognized in the world.

Let us stop saying 'white Americans' and 'colored Americans,' let us try once and for all saying... Americans. Let human beings be equal on Earth as in Heaven.

God dislikes evil, and no happiness can be built on hate. Love one another as brothers. 

C'est Lui - Josephine Baker

(1934)

Medley - Josephine Baker

(1955)

Royal Variety Performance - Josephine Baker 

(1974)

And one more parting shot...

"I wasn't really naked. I simply didn't have any clothes on."