114 years ago today, a truly legendary woman was born, and without her historical influence, this project wouldn’t exist at all, so DAY 3 | SIDE A is dedicated to the one and only, Joséphine Baker.

From French spy to international civil rights activist, and homeless teenager to eccentric lady millionaire, Josephine’s rise is well-documented, so I won’t use this space to rehash those details. But there’s one often glossed over in the retelling that should be as much a part of Joséphine’s memory as her style and career were. Her unflinching dedication to African-Americans was so passionate and productive that Coretta Scott King herself asked Joséphine to unofficially lead the Civil Rights Movement after Dr. King’s assassination.

Because her dancing was so iconic, so otherworldly, and so often silently filmed, Joséphine’s sweet voice, delicate but powerful, frequently took a backseat and was even criticized by those who would silence her for their own political, financial or sexual gain. So today, that voice shines in a scene from Joséphine’s favorite of her movies. In French film “Zouzou,” the first major motion picture to star a black woman, life became art for Joséphine as the title character, a laundress-turned-stage-performer. This scene finds Zouzou performing as a bird longing to return to the paradise of her Haitian homeland. As an unwilling expat and phenomenal woman boxed in a racist, patriarchal society, Joséphine wholly sympathized. For a moment, you’ll forget that she’s playing a character, and see right to the heart of an African-American woman yearning to be free.

𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘:
“Haïti,
Oh, God reminds me
Of your beautiful forests
Your big horizons.
Far from your shores
Even the most beautiful cage
Is just a prison.”
(TRANSLATION NOTE: I’m a born & raised Texan. I’m doing my best.)

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 | 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬