(June 3rd 1906 - April 12th 1975)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906 Freda Josephine McDonald began her career performing with her parents singer Carrie McDonald and vaudeville drummer Eddie Carson when she was only one. After her father abandon the family she worked as a domestic servant and dropped out of school before traveling to New York as a chorus girl in a vaudeville show when she was fifteen.

In 1921 while performing at Harlem's Plantation Club, Josephine appeared in the chorus of pianist and composer Eubie Blake's hit musical "Shuffle Along" with Adelaide Hall and later left for Paris to star in the opening of "La Revue Nègre" at Champs Elysées theater on October 2nd 1925. Tired of the racism endured by black performers in the United States, Josephine Baker decided to make France her permanent home where she became a true champion of the people.