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Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an African American woman who had to overcome discrimination and abuse in achieving her dream of becoming a singer and dancer. She did this during the 1920s, when African Americans faced great discrimination. She had a hard childhood. Her personal life was not easy to handle. Furthermore, she overcame poverty and racism to achieve her career dream.
Baker had a difficult family life as a child because she was illegitimate. She was the first child of her mother. Her mother blamed her for closing the door of freedom in her life. Josephine’s family was complicated. She lived with her mother Carrie, her younger siblings, and her stepfather Arthur Martin. Josephine’s father left her mother before she was born. Because of her complicated family background, the young Josephine felt extremely insecure to the point she was ashamed of her origin. In desperation, all she wanted was her real father although she did not know anything about him, including his name or his looks. She even tried to meet different men to find out if one of them was her father. She used different
She had hard time with her husband. When she was thirteen she was married to Willy Wells. They stayed together for two months, but Josephine never saw Willy as a significant partner as she once broke a bottle of beer on his head. She tried to forget this marriage. Fortunately, when she was fifteen years old, she married to another man who named is Billy Baker. Billy liked her when he saw her at the local theater. Then they got married, and she was happy that she was able to change her last name into Baker. For the first time, she no longer gets the insecure feeling from her last name. However, she still hasn’t got the perfect “personal life”. Billy’s mother disapproved of Josephine because her skin was darker than her husband’s and because she was a chorus girl with apparently no family to talk
Josephine Baker was born to Carrie McDonald, in St. Louis, MO on June 3, 1906. The situation on who Baker’s father is up to debate, it is rumored that Eddie Carson was her father. Eddie Carson was a drummer and had an entertainment act with Baker’s mother. At birth, Baker’s name was Freda Josephine McDonald. (Robinson) Later, Baker changed her name when she got into the entertainment business. In her youth, Baker was always poorly dressed and hungry; she started working at the age of 8 years old. (Whitaker 64) She worked as domestic help for a white family; the woman of the house was reportedly abusive to Baker. At the age of 12, Baker dropped out of school. After Baker dropped out of school, she became homeless. (Wood 241–318)
“But we danced to the point of exhaustion and it gave me the opportunity to look at him properly for the first time. His eyes weren’t a bluey green or hazelly green or of a mixed colour. They were just green.” (54). It is evident in these quotations that Josephine realises that she does not know Jacob Coote as well as she thought she did. Upon their first encounter several years back, Josephine had stereotyped Jacob as a troublemaker and a crook, which later on in the novel becomes a joke between them. This stereotypical event has been used by several films in the film industry; a man and a woman meet and they end up quarrelling and hold grudges against one another until the man saves the woman from danger and they fall in love and they get married.
... 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.
Willie Wells was only married to Josephine for a short brief time. She realized she would never have to depend on a man for financial stability. A habit she might have learned growing up without her real father. She remarried in 1921 to Willie Baker, whose last name she decided to keep. She remarried again in 1937 to Frenchman Jean Lion, from which she obtained French citizenship. Then a last time in 1947 to a French orchestra leader Jo Bouillon, who helped to raise her 12 adopted children. She was never again officially...
Singer/actress Lena Horne's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989; she appeared in 16 feature films and several shorts between 1938 and 1978; she performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music in 1981-1982; and she sang and acted on radio and television. Adding to the challenge of maintaining such a career was her position as an African-American facing discrimination personally and in her profession during a period of enormous social change in the U.S. Her first job in the 1930s was at the Cotton Club, where blacks could perform, but not be admitted as customers; by 1969, when she acted in the film Death of a Gunfighter, her character's marriage to a white man went unremarked in the script. Horne herself was a pivotal figure in the changing attitudes about race in the 20th century; her middle-class upbringing and musical training predisposed her to the popular music of her day, rather than the blues and jazz genres more commonly associated with African-Americans, and her photogenic looks were sufficiently close to Caucasian that frequently she was encouraged to try to "pass" for white, something she consistently refused to do. But her position in the middle of a social struggle enabled her to become a leader in that struggle, speaking out in favor of racial integration and raising money for civil rights causes. By the end of the century, she could look back at a life that was never short on conflict, but that could be seen ultimately as a triumph.
Her lasting career was not given to her easily, therefore, creating an inspiring story full of hardships and success. Ever since she was a little girl, her dream was to become a successful and famous dancer. In New York City, when she was trying to fulfill her dream, she was unable to find a job in the theatre department. Instead of being discouraged, she decided to make something good come from it. She choreographed her own routines, created her own costumes, and organized solo recitals for audiences to enjoy. This event led her to the biggest adventure in her life that would later impact the world. She was invited to return back to London to pursue her education in the performing arts, so that she could further improve her talents that would make up her entire career.
According to Ruth Feldstein “Nina Simone recast black activism in the 1960’s.” Feldstein goes on to say that “Simone was known to have supported the struggle for black freedom in the United States much earlier, and in a more outspoken manner around the world than many other African American entertainers.” 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 over those of her past contemporaries.
Known as the “Empress Of Blues”, Bessie Smith was said to have revolutionized the vocal end of Blues Music. She showed a lot of pride as an independent African-American woman. Her style in performance and lyrics often reflected her lifestyle. Bessie Smith was one of the first female jazz artists, and she paved the way for many musicians who followed.
Ella Fitzgerald also known as “The first lady of song” and was the first American jazz and song vocalist who inspired the world (LLC 2017). Even though Ella was a great singer, it took her a long time to become successful, and overcome the roadblocks in her life . Her life was greatly impacted by many people in her life.
Ella Fitzgerald was a great role model to many people including the members of several bands that she played in. She inspired the people of her generation and those after to pursue their dreams. She loved children that liked to play and do other fun stuff that she liked to do when she was a kid. She wanted to make people happy by singing. She is known as The First Lady of Jazz.
Jane in her younger years was practically shunned by everyone and was shown very little love and compassion, from this throughout her life she searches for these qualities through those around her. Due to Jane’s mother’s disinheritance she was disowned by Mrs. Reed and her children, and was treated like a servant consistently reminded that she lacked position and wealth.
Maslow’s Psychoanalytical perspective can be used to give an understanding of this part of Marilyn Monroe’s life. Maslow’s theory was developed and based on hierarchy of needs. Maslow wanted to know and understand what motivated people. His belief was that individuals are motivated to achieve certain needs (Feist & Feist, 2009). According to Maslow, Marilyn Monroe had some loving, belongingness needs and safety needs. Maslow believed that when people had their needs for love and belongingness in early years, they do not panic or feel devastated when they are rejected or denied of love. Whereas people who experienced love and belongingness in small doses, have stronger needs for affection and acceptance (Feist & Feist, 2009). This can be app...
Harriet Tubman was a woman who cared for others and she also was a hero to many blacks. She had an extremely hard life although it eventually got better for Harriet. She was a very lucky and intelligent girl. However, as a child growing up, she was small, slow and was picked on because of it. She was able to make history even though she was a slave, and for a slave she held her own for a long time enduring beatings and whippings.
When someone mentions Marilyn Monroe, one usually thinks off the seductive all-American sex goddess who captured the world with her woman-childlike charm. Yet not many know her as the illegitimate child who endured a childhood of poverty and misery, sexual abuse, and years in foster home and orphanages. Most people don’t realize that her disrupted loveless childhood may been the main reason to her early death. Norma Jeane Baker’s father, Edward Mortenson, had deserted her mother, Gladys Baker neè Monroe, before she was born on June, 1 1926, in the charity ward of Los Angeles General Hospital. Due to Gladys’ instability and the fact that she was unmarried at the time, Norma Jeane was placed in a foster home. At the age of 7, Norma Jeane lived briefly with her mother. Gladys began to show signs of mental depression, and a year later she was admitted to a rest home. Norma Jeane was then placed with a family friend for a year until being placed in another orphanage for another two years. Norma Jeane was once heard to reflect on this time and say: "The world around me then was kind of grim...I had to learn to pretend in order to...I don’t know.. block the grimness. The whole world seen sort of closed to me..(I felt) on the outside of everything, and all I could do was to dream up any kind of pretend game." (MarilynMonroe,http://www.ionet.net/~jellenc/mmbio3.html) In 1941, Norma Jeane again lived with a family friend when she met Jim Dougherty, who was 5 years older than her.
He started delivering newspapers at the age of twelve. He frequently stops at her house because he needs to rest, beside he couldn’t resist her hot chocolate with whipped cream and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. In addition to that she told stories about her life with Jane, and she had beautiful pictures of her daughter and Lucy.