i am sassa

Many of the women I’ve painted in this project so far share certain honors, awards, and accolades. There are civil rights activists, those with commendable military service, lots of “firsts” for women, and women of color. Josephine Baker is all of that, but has a few other claims unique to her, ones I’m not likely to find in anyone else. Like, she went from being an exotic dancer to a spy. Also she had a pet cheetah (jealous). And adopted twelve children from all over the world, calling them her “Rainbow Tribe”. And there was the outfit she was famous for, with a skirt made out of bananas. I have to say, if I’m ever running around in a banana skirt with my pet cheetah and my Rainbow Tribe, I’ll be living my best life. Or I will have fallen into an acid habit, but just let me believe the former.

Josephine Baker was born dirt poor in St. Louis, Missouri. She started working for white families when she was just eight years old, and dropped out of school at twelve. By thirteen, she was homeless, dancing on street corners for money, and married at fifteen. She began performing in the black vaudeville circuit, and her success afforded her the opportunity to travel to Paris to perform. Apparently Parisians at the time were much more welcoming to people of color than Americans were, so she stayed, becoming famous for shaking it half naked in a banana skirt. As one does. Her pet cheetah performed with her at times, fancying the occasional unscripted leap into the orchestra pit, which sounds like a real hoot for the musicians. With all the cheetahs, bananas, feathers, and boobs on display, Josephine became famous. Like, really famous. Picasso drew her, Hemingway praised her. Some dude pretending to be a count (wtf) became her agent and lover, but they couldn’t get married because technically she was still married to some other dude in the states from when she was fifteen. Probably for the best, since he was lying about being a count for God’s sake. Though I can’t say I blame him…if I wanted to get with a fancy banana-embellished, cheetah-having lady I’d probably make up some shit too. She became the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, and traded in her tassels for a vocal coach. She returned briefly to America to perform, but America, apparently unready for her jelly, gave her crap reviews and sent her packing back to France.

The next logical step for Josephine’s career was obvious. She would become a spy. She was recruited by French military intelligence in 1939, and began collecting information about German troops from military officials at highfalutin military banana parties, and was said to have stored information on sheet music with invisible ink.

Josephine’s military service cred served her entertainment career well, and she was invited back to America to perform. This is when, in my opinion, her true badassery commenced. She refused to perform for segregated crowds, and publicly fought to change the laws and rules of segregation in nightclubs and other establishments. She sold out a national tour, and the NAACP named her Woman of the Year in 1949. She wrote articles and gave talks on segregation at universities. When threatened privately by the KKK, she very publicly told them that she was not afraid of them, and just kept on keepin’ on. She spoke alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. at the march on Washington. After the assassination of MLK Jr., Coretta Scott King asked Josephine to help lead the Civil Rights Movement. She declined in order to properly care for her Rainbow Tribe.

Thank you, Josephine Baker.