AV Highlights Ship's Reporter

Despite being based in France, where she would spend most of her life, Baker was a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. She published articles about segregation in the United States, she traveled to Tennessee to give speeches at Fisk University, and, most notably, refused to perform for segregated audiences. In one instance, a Miami nightclub offered her $10,000 to do so, and she flatly refused. Her insistence was largely responsible for the move towards integrated crowds comes the 60s. Baker also worked closely with the NAACP, to the point where the organization dubbed May 20th “Josephine Baker Day.” Watch an interview from the inaugural 1951 ceremony above.