A paler shade of black

"Si j'etais blanche," sang Josephine Baker in 1932. In Oples translation: "I wish I were white, what a joy that would be."

Freda Josephine McDonald was born in Missouri in 1906. (I love that her first name was Freda -- must have been especially entertaining for the bisexual Josephine to fling with her homonym, Frida Kahlo, as [apocryphally?] suggested in this flick, an otherwise ridiculously, overwhelming, hetero film).

This biography reads: "Josephine grew up cleaning houses and babysitting for wealthy white families who reminded her 'be sure not to kiss the baby.' She got a job waitressing at The Old Chauffeur's Club when she was 13 years old. While waiting tables she met and had a brief marriage to Willie Wells. While it was unusual for a woman during her era, Josephine never depended on a man for financial support. Therefore, she never hesitated to leave when a relationship soured. She was married and divorced three more times, to American Willie Baker in 1921 (whose last name she chose to keep), Frenchman Jean Lion in 1937 (from whom she attained French citizenship) and French orchestra leader Jo Bouillon in 1947 (who helped to raise her 12 adopted children)."

We all know the tale. Baker moved to Paris and became a star by wiggling her naked boobies while twirling in a banana skirt. (Her movies "Zou-Zou" and "Princess Tam-Tam" are now out on DVD.)

Nowadays many see Baker's stage routine as offensive, and her as a racial sell-out.

Baker's power is best shown by this American reaction: "A 1936 return to the United States to star in the Ziegfield Follies proved disastrous, despite the fact that she was a major celebrity in Europe. American audiences rejected the idea of a black woman with so much sophistication and power, newspaper reviews were equally cruel (The New York Times called her a 'Negro wench'), and Josephine returned to Europe heartbroken."

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Baker would pop back into the U.S. every so often: "Josephine felt it was her duty to help advance the civil rights movement in America," it sez here. "She wouldn't perform in theaters that discriminated, refusing to go on stage until blacks were allowed to sit in the same areas as whites. Josephine also spoke at the 1963 March on Washington, telling the crowd they looked like 'Salt and pepper. Just what it should be.'"

And "Josephine visited the United States during the '50s and '60s with renewed vigor to fight racism. When New York's popular Stork Club refused her service, she engaged a head-on media battle with pro-segregation columnist Walter Winchell. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) named May 20 Josephine Baker Day in honor of her efforts."

Josephine Baker, desperate to be blanche? I don't think so.

But different strokes for different folks. I am reminded of Baker's song every time I walk into a North American pharmacy. Check out Daggett & Ramsdell's "Moisturing Lightening Soap: Helps Lighten and Even Skin Tone." Or this ad for a similar product from the same company, Facial Fade Cream -- "As seen in Essence magazine," with before and after pix. There is no judgement in this paragraph: I believe in freedom of choice, and that means across the board.