FROM ARTISTIC PERFORMANCE TO CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERSHIP

THE LIFE JOURNEY OF JOSEPHINE BAKER

• William W. Bostock, Ph.D• University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia• bostock@utas.edu.au

• Josephine Baker's life journey took her from poverty and marginalization through conflict and war to civil rights leadership. Her journey can be interpreted in terms of spiritual leadership in response to a sense of a calling, of having meaning, and of making a difference.

• SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP• Spiritual leadership has been defined as

comprising the values, attitudes and behaviors that are necessary to intrinsically motivate one's self and others so that they can attain a sense of spiritual survival

• THE METAPHOR OF THE JOURNEY• Metaphor is defined by Webster's dictionary

as a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as if it were another, with the example given of the "curtain of night."

• Metaphors have many functions: clarifying, expressing the subjective, assisting thought, and giving meaning to something otherwise difficult to comprehend.

• The metaphor of the journey is a very common one, often used in literature, and it has particular value in assessing the life of a person.

• In a life journey, it is the same individual in essence at the finish, as it was at the start, but with many changes brought about by the necessity of travelling through many different terrains and confronting many challenges.

• JOSEPHINE BAKER: THE FORMATIVE YEARS• She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1906,

the illegitimate daughter of an African-American mother and passing Spaniard or 'Spinach' as they were called, and granddaughter of emancipated slaves. Her childhood world was one of indescribable poverty, discrimination and humiliation.

• On one terrifying day, Josephine Baker the child saw an unexplained explosion of a rumor into arson, murder, torture, and meaningless violence against the members of a targeted group, regardless of age, sex or infirmity, a traumatic memory that was to last her lifetime.

• Despite the handicaps of poverty and illiteracy on top of her racial background, Josephine Baker's singing and dancing ability and her beauty got her to The Plantation night club in New York.

• From there she was taken in 1925 to Paris, but even then, as the ship flew the American flag, she was, like all African-American passengers, restricted to specially designated areas while on board.

• JOSEPHINE BAKER'S ROLE IN WORLD WAR II• The Fall of France in 1940 caused all

performing artists to declare their political position in Nazi-controlled France.

• When Free French leader Charles de Gaulle called for the French people to join him in resistance as the Free French, she offered her services.

• Josephine Baker went on to be one of the most effective agents, using her cover as an entertainer to transmit information as she traveled throughout France to Portugal, Spain and North Africa.

• RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES• Although at the end of World War II she was a

French heroine and had been a French citizen for over ten years, Josephine Baker was never to lose the love of her country of origin, and so a tour of the United States was arranged after appearances in Cuba, then under U.S. tutelage.

• In Havana she was denied accommodation in the hotel that had been booked many months in advance, on account of her racial background. In Cuba as in all areas of American influence, the color bar was then the rule.

• While in the prestigious Stork Club in New York she was refused service.

• Although some papers such as the New York Times remained detached, a national campaign of hatred and denunciation of Josephine Baker was created. This was occurring at a time when Cold War fears were developing.

• THE LATER YEARS AS A LEADER• As the Cold War hysteria died down,

Josephine Baker became less controversial and frequently visited the United States to perform shows and to continue her civil rights work.

• In U.S. politics she vigorously supported John and Robert Kennedy for election, and also Martin Luther King, and suffered her darkest days as each one of these great figures fell.

• She was on the point of accepting Martin Luther King's mantle of leadership when she suffered a heart attack and was thus prevented from assuming this role.

• CONCLUSION• Josephine Baker's life journey did not achieve

world peace, nor was the founding of her College of Brotherhood to be realized.

• If one considers spiritual leadership as a journey that, when undertaken, will give one a sense of a calling, of one's life having meaning, and of making a difference, then Josephine Baker clearly met those criteria.

In making a positive contribution to the struggle for civil rights in the United States, she showed that a performing artist can successfully undertake a journey of spiritual leadership by helping to bring about social and political change.