Josephine Baker Research Paper

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Recommended: Gender roles in the late 19th century

“Josephine Baker”
In the 1920's the KKK reportedly had as many as four million members. During WWI white men went off to fight and colored people took part in the workforce. Upon arriving back from fighting, the white men were aggressive and angry towards those who took their jobs, increasing the racist mindset. (“1920’s Racism and Discrimination”) Josephine Baker, who was a dancer and singer wildly popular in France during the 1920s, wasn't as successful in the US for these exact reasons. (“The Official Site of Josephine Baker”) Baker was an example of a divide in the country between race, wealth, and gender.
Many African Americans took it upon themselves to leave the United States in hopes of escaping a life of racism and segregation. As …show more content…

(“The Readex Blog”) This made it very hard for African Americans to live peacefully or even prosper in a career. However, in Europe Josephine Baker was accepted for her contribution to the entertainment industry and her talents rather than being discriminated for her skin color. Race was not the only setback for Josephine in this time period. Women and men were not equal and therefore did not have equal opportunities in most aspects of life including in a workplace. Even to this day, Women can receive lower pay for doing the same job as a man. This was an obstacle for Baker because she was not given the highest amount of respect that she could have received if she had been a male. Through politics, the workplace, the home, and education men had an upper hand on women. The attitudes toward women in society were very unfavorable. (“A New Woman Emerges”) People would look at a female and see her as weak or incapable of making a difference as large as the one Josephine made. Everyone was constantly being divided into groups and being labeled, even for things such as wealth. The upper class associated with the upper class and the lower class stayed with their own. This made it hard for people of lower wealth to escape a life of minimum wage jobs and to rise up in the classes. Josephine herself was among many of the poor families around her, but she stood out in the

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