This week the gal-pals talk about the mythic creature Josephine Baker. Josephine was a burlesque performer, a French spy, and a civil rights advocate who stood up to the KKK. She also walked her pet cheetah down the streets of Paris, had a goat in her dressing room and a pig living in her night club kitchen. Josephine is flippin’ amazing!!!
YouTube Version
This week’s episode on YouTube has live Zoom video!
Show Notes & Extras
- We’re recording on Zoom so that means video!!!!
- The gal-pals this month are Dr. Leah Leah, Bonnie Fillenwarth, Katie Harris and Rebecca Berfanger
- We have already talked about Virginia Woolf and her dog and Mollie Beattie
- Get to know you question for this week is: if you could have any animal as a pet what would it be?
- Leah’s 1 Cool Animal Thing is Josephine Baker who was a burlesque performer, World War 2 spy, and Civil Rights advocate
- She had a pet cheetah, pet goat and pet pig
- Leah did do a history bit story on her that you can read here
- Quickly going past her terrible childhood
- Harlem Renessance
- Liberation in Paris
- Banana skirt and her cheetah named Chiquita
- The full story of Harper’s Bazzar editor Diana Vreeland running into Josephine at a movie theater with her cheetah (Lisa’s History Room)
- Chez Josephine – nightclub
- Toute-Toute her goat
- Albert her pig
- Weird fact – two men had a dual with awards over her honor in Budapest “you and I remember Budapest very differently”
- Bisexual
- Frida Kahlo romance rumor
- World War 2
- All nude parties in Germany
- Josephine became a spy for the French Reistance
- First American woman ever to receive the Croix de Guerre
- Then things got weird
- She did NOT put up with segregation
- KKK threatened her
- 1951 NAACP Woman of the Year
- March on Washington 1963. She was there in uniform and spoke to the crowd. She might have been the only female speaker that day.
- Backlash in America
- BFF with Grace Kelly
- Possible replacement to MLK?
- Rainbow Tribe – her adopted children
- Found dead in a hotel room
- May 20, Josephine Baker Day
- CORRECTION Josephine Baker Day was designated by the NAACP in 1951 not 1961 and it was because of an appearance in New York on that date.
- You don’t have to be one thing!
- CONFORMATION she did sing “Things They Are a Changin'”
- One woman show
- Triplets of Bellville movie
- Paul Robeson
- Nichelle Nichols
- Bessie Coleman (Your Gal Friday episode about her life)
- Is Josephine Baker a mythic creature?
- Marriages
- CORRECTION – Josephine died when she was 68 years old in 1975.
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What if you could only share 1 cool thing about a topic? Would it be about ancient history? Would it be breaking news? Would it be safe for work? A group of gals gathers to present to you one cool thing on topics like painting, gaming, movies, music and more.
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