Josephine Baker overcame significant racial barriers, became an influential advocate for civil rights and women’s empowerment, and achieved immense popularity in France during the 1920s and 1930s. To the public, she was best known for her celebrated stage performances—including her iconic banana-skirt act—as well as her work in film and vaudeville. Behind that glamorous image, however, she was also engaged in activities far removed from the spotlight.
During World War II, Baker used her fame and international connections to support the French Resistance. Her status as a renowned entertainer enabled her to gather information and assist in the movement of intelligence concerning Axis operations. Among her many accomplishments, her wartime espionage efforts are often considered one of the most extraordinary aspects of her legacy.
Josephine Baker’s early life
Josephine Baker was born on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis. Growing up in poverty and without her father in the household, she left school while still a child—somewhere between the ages of eight and ten—and took on a variety of jobs to help contribute to her family’s income.
At age 16, Baker joined a dance company based in Philadelphia and began traveling as a performer. She later appeared as a chorus girl in New York productions such as Shuffle Along and The Chocolate Dandies.
Her life changed dramatically in 1925 when she relocated to Paris. There, she rapidly gained fame, first as a dancer known for her provocative performances and later as a singer and film actress. During these years, she moved within influential artistic circles, spending time with figures such as Ernest Hemingway. She was also sketched on multiple occasions by Pablo Picasso and developed a friendship with Jean Cocteau, whose support helped her become one of the highest-paid entertainers in France before World War II.
By 1937, after obtaining French citizenship, Baker was ready to place herself at considerable risk in support of the country she had come to call home.
Beginning of the Second World War
When France declared war on Germany in September 1939, intelligence agent Jacques Abtey met with Josephine Baker to recruit her to the Deuxième Bureau de l’Etat-major général — the country’s military intelligence agency. The agency didn’t usually recruit female correspondents, but Baker was chosen because of her celebrity status.
Baker seemed to have just what the Deuxième Bureau was looking for. When Abtey first met with Baker, he recalled her saying, “France made me what I am. The Parisians gave me their hearts, and I am ready to give them my life.” Not only was she ready to give her life for France, she was also able to offer invaluable connections to the French Resistance.
As a result her celebrity status, Baker was able to secure invites to parties held at the Italian and Japanese embassies. She often wrote notes on her hands and arms about conversations she heard at these events, so she wouldn’t forget them. Despite being a rather dangerous practice, she’d just laugh and say, “no one would ever think I am a spy,” when confronted about it.
The German Army closes in on Paris
It was clear to Jacques Abtey that Paris was soon going to fall to the Germans, so he urged Josephine Baker to go south. After all, she symbolized all the things Germany’s regime hated. She was a successful, Black, bisexual woman who, in 1937, had married a Jewish man.
In June 1940, Baker packed up all of her priceless possessions (including a bed once owned by Marie Antoinette) and traveled 300 miles southwest. There, she rented a chateau and hid both refugees and French Resistance members in her new residence.
In November of that year, Abtey and Baker worked together to smuggle documents to Gen. Charles de Gaulle and the Free French Government-in-exile in London. Information the French Resistance had gathered was transcribed in invisible ink onto Baker’s sheet music, while important photographs were pinned under her dress. Claiming to be embarking on a South American tour, Baker and Abtey planned to get to London through neutral Portugal.
However, to do so, they first had to cross the Spanish border. While this initially caused concern for members of the Resistance and Abtey, who was posing as Baker’s ballet instructor, the Spanish border guards and German police were so captivated by her that the pair ended up having no problems crossing the border. Their documents had gone completely undetected.
Baker continued her espionage work in Portugal and Spain
While Baker was in Portugal and Spain, she continued her espionage work at embassy parties, gaining details on Axis troop movements. Instead of writing notes on her arms, she wrote them on pieces of paper and attached them to her bra with a safety pin.
Later, she wrote that she wasn’t concerned about the tactic, saying, “My notes would have been highly compromising had they been discovered, but who would dare search Josephine Baker to the skin? When they ask me for papers, they generally meant autographs.”
Josephine Baker travels to North Africa
In January 1941, Josephine Baker, accompanied by Jacques Abtey, journeyed to Casablanca, Morocco, to set up a critical liaison and communications hub for the French Resistance. Baker arrived in grand fashion, traveling with two emeralds, 28 suitcases, a Great Dane, two mice, and three monkeys—an ostentatious display she believed would attract less scrutiny than a modest appearance.
While in Morocco, she worked closely with Resistance networks and used her influence to help Jewish refugees secure passports and escape German-occupied Eastern Europe. Her efforts were interrupted in June 1941 when she was struck by peritonitis, requiring multiple surgeries and keeping her hospitalized for eighteen months. Rumors of her death even circulated, but she later told Afro-American reporter Ollie Stewart that the reports were a “slight error,” joking that she was “much too busy to die.”
Even during recovery, Baker remained deeply involved in the Resistance. Diplomats and operatives met at her bedside to continue vital work. Once her health improved, she toured North Africa, performing for Allied troops and raising more than three million Francs for the Free French Army.
Beyond her performances, Baker supported both impoverished Parisians and the Free French cause by selling personal belongings. On one notable occasion, she auctioned her gold Cross of Lorraine for 300,000 francs, donating every franc to the Resistance.
Josephine Baker is awarded for her efforts
Although Josephine Baker refused to accept any money for her work in the French Resistance, she gained even more recognition than she’d had before the start of the Second World War. For her courageous efforts and service, the Women’s Auxiliary of the French Air Force made her an officer.
For the rest of her life, she wore her Air Force uniform for public appearances, including at the March on Washington in 1963.
In 1945, de Gaulle presented Baker with two prestigious honors, the Croix de Guerre and the Rosette de la Résistance. He also named her a Chevalier de Légion d’Honneur – the highest order of merit for military and civil action. When asked about these awards, she recalled asking why she was receiving them, feeling that “others deserved it more.”
Baker volunteered because she hated discrimination
When Baker was asked why she’d volunteered with the French Resistance, she recalled, ” Of course I wanted to do all I could to aid France, but the thing that drove me as strongly as did the patriotism was my violent hatred of discrimination in any form. The [German Army] were racists. They were bigots. I despised that sort of thing. I was determined that they must be defeated.”
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We remember Josephine Baker not only as an African-American star who broke color barriers throughout her life, but also as a French Resistance fighter who risked her life for the freedom of all people.