The Harlem Renaissance and Joséphine Baker

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Harlem Renaissance

It was a cultural thing, in the way of the renaissance. You can say it was a cultural renaissance which was during the 1920s and the 1930s. It was commonly known as the New Negro Movement, it was named after that by Alain Locke. The cultural renaissance was located in Harlem, a neighborhood of New York City. Many people from all over the world like French speaking black writers an African and Caribbean colonies that lived in Paris during the renaissance. The renaissance became famous of a group of African American writers who produced a sizable body of literature in the four prominent genres, which are Poetry, fiction, drama and essay.

There are many discussions going on between historians about the time the Harlem Renaissance started and when it ended. They think the renaissance lasted from 1919 until somewhere in the middle of 1930. Although the renaissance ended many of the renaissance ideas lived on for a much longer time. Common themes in the New Negro Movement are : alienation, marginality, the use of folk material, the use of the blues tradition, the problems of writing for an elite audience.

Joséphine Baker

Biographical Information:

Joséphine Baker is born on June 3th in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, she died on April 12 in 1975. For the not very smart people she became 69 years old. Joséphine Baker's mother was Carrie McDonald and her father was Eddie Carson. Arthur Martin was her stepfather. Her siblings were Richard, Margaret and Willie Mae. Joséphine's first husband was Willie Wells; her second husband was Willie Baker; her third husband was Jean Lion; and, her fourth husband was orchestra leader Jo Bouillon. Her twelve adopted children were: Akio (male), Janot (male), Luis (male), Jari (male), Jean-Claude (male), Moise (male), Brahim (male), Marianne (female), Koffi (male), Mara (male), Noel (male), Stellina (female). Joséphine's last marriage was to American Artist Robert Brady

Baker was an American dancer, singer and actress. She became famous in her adopted homeland France. Famous nicknames that were given to Joséphine Baker are; “Bronze Venus”, the “Black Pearl” and the “Créole Goddess”.
Joséphine was the first female African American to be famous in a major motion picture, to perform in an American concert hall and to become a world-famous entertaining person.
She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the unofficial leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II, and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre.

Major Works:

Joséphine Baker became famous with entertaining, like singing. In addition to being a musical star, Baker also starred in three films which found success only in Europe: the silent film Siren of the Tropics (1927), Zouzou (1934) and Princesse Tam Tam (1935). She also starred in Fausse Alerte (English title: The French Way) in 1940. At this time she also scored her most successful song, "J'ai deux amours" (1931). Other songs of her were The times they are a changing and Bye bye blackbird.

 Joséphine Baker J'ai deux amour

My opinion on one of Joséphine Bakers piece:

I’ll like to reflect on her most famous song J'ai deux amour. It is a very nice song, although it sounds old but for these days it was very modern. It is a very classical song, with a very nice sound. Her voice is soft but on the same way her voice is very sharp which is a very nice combination in her songs. She is singing in French, so she knows more than one language which is a point of knowing in the Harlem Renaissance. She shows that women actually can do more, especially African American women. Because in those days it wasn’t usual that African American people had that kind of fame, although men had. She was the first female African American who made herself so famous, it was a big step for the African American women. She was a good model for the other female African Americans.