28. A Superstar and Nazi Fighter’s Mysterious Origins
Josephine Baker (1906 – 1975) is not usually associated with the anti-Nazi resistance, but she was neck-deep in it during WWII. She was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, purportedly the daughter of a drummer named Eddie Carson. However, her mother, Carrie McDonald, of mixed African American and Native American heritage, had been admitted to an exclusively white hospital in May 1906, where she stayed for weeks until Josephine was born. Admitting a person of color to a white hospital in the days of segregation was quite unusual. Josephine’s mother, who worked for a wealthy German family, had probably been impregnated by her employer, who then pulled strings to get Carrie admitted into the city’s best hospital.
Baker’s mother and nominal father, were vaudeville performers who had a song-and-dance act that they put on whenever possible. When Josephine was a year-old, her parents incorporated her into their performance and displayed her on stage during their act’s finale. Baker remained immersed in show business during her childhood, growing up in a neighborhood that housed many vaudeville theaters and entertainment venues.
