A Biography of Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine MacDonald in St. Louis, Missouri to her unwed parents: Carrie McDonald and Eddie Carson. Her father soon left the family and Josephine had to help her mother support herself and her three younger half-siblings. At age eight, she got a job working as a maid for a white family (Robinson). At age 12, she had dropped out of school to work. By age 14, she had moved out, been married, and separated from her first husband. She would later go onto marry and divorce three more men. Never was she financially dependent on any man, including her husbands.
Her stage career began in 1919 in the United States when she toured with The Jones Family Band and The Dixie Steppers (About Josephine Baker). During that time she did comical skits, but wished to advance to a chorus girl. Originally she was thought to be “too skinny and too dark,” but when one of the dancers left, she was able to fill in (About). The audience loved her.
Not until Josephine moved to racially integrated Paris did she gain real fame with La Revue Nègre. Her more exotic and erotic stylings began at this time as well. Her clothes were unheard of and her movements were uninhibited. One her most famous outfits was a feather skirt, and nothing else. The costume that cemented her celebrity status included a skirt that composed of 16 bananas strung together which she wore in La Folie du Jour at the Follies-Bergère Theater after La Revue Nègre closed.
Money was no longer a problem for Josephine. She “rivaled Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford as the most photographed women in the world” (About). By 1927, she was raking in more money than any other ente...
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...selves onto the streets of Paris for her funeral procession. She was the first American woman ever buried in France with military honors.
Sources Cited
“About Josephine Baker.” Official Site of Josephine Baker. On-line. Internet. 16 Nov.
2002. Available: http://www.cmgww.com/stars/baker/home.html - An informative and thorough site on Josephine Baker, includes photos.
Lewis, Jone Johnson . “Josephine Baker.” The History Net. 16 Nov. 2002. Available:
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_baker_josephine.htm - A more basic look at Josephine Bakers’ life, but through a slightly more feminist point of view.
Robinson, Lisa Clayton. “Entertainment: Josephine Baker.” Africana.com. 17 Nov. 2002.
Available: http://www.africana.com/Articles/tt_036.htm - A basic biography of Josephine Baker’s life, but from the African American point of view.
Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. When alled “The First Lady of Song” by some fans. She was known for having beautiful tone, extended range, and great intonation, and famous for her improvisational scat singing. Ella sang during the her most famous song was “A-tiscket A-tasket”. Fitzgerald sang in the period of swing, ballads, and bebop; she made some great albums with other great jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. She influenced countless American popular singers of the post-swing period and also international performers such as the singer Miriam Makeba. She didn’t really write any of her own songs. Instead she sang songs by other people in a new and great way. The main exception
gravesite, but she felt it was her duty to properly honor her in her achievements. On September 1,
... treasury in 1934 (Abbott, Leonard, Noel, 2013, pp 479). Josephine was an inspiration to others and was a driven woman. She wanted to help others and that is exactly what she did in her life. She helped women and their families, as well as mine workers. Her successful life ended in 1976 in Washington, DC.
Throughout history we see monsters taking many different shapes and sizes. Whether it be a ghoul in the midst of a cold nightly stroll or a mass genocide, monsters are lurking everywhere and our perception of what monsters truly are, is enhancing their growth as a force with which to be reckoned. Fear of the unknown is seen throughout time, but as humans progress we are finding that things we once were afraid of we are less frightening than they once were. Monsters can evoke fear in their targeted victims rather than physically harm their victims. For instance, every year a new horror film is released with the next scary beast, but why do we call something a monster even if we know it is not real? Even certain people and creatures are classified as monsters, but are they really monsters, or do their actions speak of monstrous doings? In his article and book chapter Monsters and the Moral Imagination and chapter 5 of On Monsters, Stephen Asma suggests that monstrosity, as we know it, is on the rise as humans progress, and how we perceive monsters can often define monstrosities in itself, providing evidence as to why monster cultures are on the rise, and showing how human progress has evolved our perception of how we think on the topic that is monsters.
Gaddis, John Lewis. We Now Know: Rethinking the Cold War: Dividing the World. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. Publishing.
The movie Lady Day: The Many Faces Of Billie Holiday paints an interesting, and thought provoking portrait of one of jazz and blues most charismatic, and influential artists. The incomparable talent of Billie Holiday, both truth and legend are immortalized in this one-hour documentary film. The film follows Holiday, also referred to as “Lady Day” or “Lady”, through the many triumphs and trials of her career, and does it’s very best to separate the facts from fiction. Her autobiography Lady Sings The Blues is used as a rough guide of how she desired her life story to be viewed by her public. Those who knew her, worked with her, and loved her paint a different picture than this popular, and mostly fictional autobiography.
Her family ties to the south, her unique talent, her ability to travel and make money are similar to the Blues women movement that preceded her. It can be said that Nina Simone goes a step further the by directly attacking inequities pertaining to race and gender in her music. However, what distinguishes her is her unique musicianship and that is what ultimately garners her massive exposure and experiences than those of her past contemporaries. Like the Blues women Simone expands ideas pertaining to self-expression, identity and beauty as they relate to black women. She does this by embracing what is definitively African American and connecting that to a historical context. By doing so she is the embodiment of a political statement. Her journey which began like many entertaine...
Gaddis, John Lewis. “We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History.” Taking Sides: Clashing Views On Controversial Issues in United States History. Ed. Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle. 14th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 302-308.
DeMillio, A. D. (2013, July 30). Guns in school: Ark. district arming more than 20 teachers,
Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco on December 14, 1916, a year prior to the U.S. entering World War I. It was a very tumultuous time in the world and especially influential in Ms. Jackson’s life as she developed through childhood. Events of the time that may have influenced Ms. Jackson’s view of society when growing up included the introduction of prohibition, the Roaring 20’s, women’s suffrage, and the advent of the Great Depression. Women were beginning to exercise their independence and more exciting opportunities to develop creativity as a female finally seemed a real possibility.
In her sixties, she came back to the South. In the South prison, she talked with some black people about what happened over there. She also gave them courage to be free and alive, before she came back to Chicago. In her last life, she wrote the autobiography so the young people knew what happen to their grandparents and parents during the reconstruction
Shah, Nirvi. "Teachers Already Armed in some Districts." Education Week 32.21 (2013): 1,1, 14, 15. ProQuest. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Allowing teachers to carry guns could help lower school shootings. “While some believe tighter gun controls are the answer, others believe the best solution comes in giving more people — like teachers and administrators — more training and more access to firearms that can save lives as well as take them away” (Evensen guns and teachers). “Our organization
Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: a Radical Democratic Vision. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2003. Print.
After coming to North Carolina Central University I have distinct opinion of what the social work profession is. Before, when I was still in high school I had a poor general idea of social workers. I was aware that school social workers had a degree but, I was under the impression that such degree was not needed to work in a place like the department of social services and both positions carried the same title. I knew of someone who worked at DSS for many years and they had begun working there straight out of high school. I know now that I was wrong, however, was my predetermine opinion that much different than the public’s? The only reason I have a more precise knowledge of the field is because I am a social work major. However, the vast majority of the population are not social work majors and thus their impression is based on what they have experienced and seen. In this paper I argue the different publics views based on interviews, readings, and personal experience.