Josephine Baker

The 2nd place in the list of the best American dancers is Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalized French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975). She was a French dancer, singer, and actress who was born in the United States. Her career was mostly focused in Europe, particularly in her adopted country of France. She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant's silent film Siren of the Tropics, released in 1927. Baker was one of the most famous performers to headline the Folies Bergère revues in Paris during her early career. In 1927, her participation in the revue Un vent de folie created a stir in the city.

Her outfit, which consisted just of an artificial banana short skirt and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and symbol of both the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Baker was referred to as the "Black Venus," the "Black Pearl," the "Bronze Venus," and the "Creole Goddess" by artists and thinkers of the time. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but after marrying French industrialist Jean Lion in 1937, she renounced her American citizenship and became a French citizen. In France, she reared her children. During World War II, she aided the French Resistance.

After the war, she received the Resistance Medal from the French Committee for National Liberation, the Croix de Guerre from the French military, and General Charles de Gaulle appointed her a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. "I have two loves, my nation and Paris," Baker sang. Baker is known for her efforts to the civil rights movement in the United States, when she refused to perform for segregated audiences.

Following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Coretta Scott King volunteered her unofficial leadership in the civil rights movement in the United States in 1968. Baker declined the offer after giving it some thought because she was concerned about her children's safety. She was buried in the Panthéon in Paris on November 30, 2021, making her the first black woman to receive one of France's highest honors. Because she is buried at Monaco Cemetery, a cenotaph was erected in vault 13 of the Panthéon's crypt.

• Born: 3 June 1906St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
• Died: 12 April 1975 (aged 68)Paris, France
• Known for: Vedette, singer, dancer, actress, civil rights activist, French Resistance agent