Josephine Baker (HM6)

Joséphine Baker (born as Freda Josephine McDonald; * June 3rd, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a dancer, Singer, and actress. In 1937, the US American got the French citizenship.
She was born into a poor family and witnessed anti-black Pogroms in her youth. At 16, she started working as a dancer. In 1925, she went to , where she became famous thanks to her dances in a banana skirt. Since 1927, she acted in movies and became celebrated as "Black Venus". In , , , and her shows were actually forbidden, which only helped her to become even more famous. In 1937, she married the Industrialist Jean Lion - her third marriage. Besides of that, she had relationships with e.g. Le Corbusier, Colette, and Georges Simenon.
When declared war on in 1939, she was recruited by the Deuxième Bureau, the French Military secret service - at first as a honorary correspondent.
In 1940, when the occupied Paris, she moved her principal residence into the Dordogne.
Being a celebrity helps her to get admission everywhere (even into embassies), travel to neutral countries, and seduce people who know secrets. This despite the fact that she's in at least three kinds of dangers getting seized by the Nazis, being black, Bisexual, and a nude dancer - all of which they hate.
Category:Resistance (HM6)
de:Josephine Baker (W6)