The Role of Women in the Negritude Movement

Josephine Baker: A Pioneer in the Negritude Movement

Josephine Baker, formerly Freda On June 3rd, 1906, Josephine Carson was born. She gained notoriety in France as a stage dancer, a Nazi resistance fighter working to free France, and a person who cared deeply about orphan children. Her comedic presence in Europe took off like wildfire, and as a result of the numerous presents that she received, she earned the nickname “Black Venus.” Until her passing in 1975, Josephine Baker was able to preserve her celebrity position. She was not fully accepted in the United States as a result of the American racism. The life of Josephine Baker plays a significant role to the women in the Negritude movement. The intent of this investigation is, therefore, to find out the role of the ladies in the Negritude movement throughout the work-life of Josephine Baker.

Josephine Baker’s Speech on Personal Freedom and Civil Rights

The presence of Josephine Baker and some of the comments speak to the life experiences of million Black women who sat and still sit at the intersection of personal freedom and the civil rights for the comprehensive society. She was eloquent in her speech where she detailed about the experiences of the segregated American society and her obligation towards the civil right movement. During her speech, Baker was keen to speak about the Negritude women and their role in fighting for Freedom“ towards the herald women such as Rosa Parks, Daisy Bates and Myrlie Evers (Dalton, Karen and Henry 76). Most of her comments were about the experiences of various Black women during the joining of personal independence and while seeking for civil privileges for the entire world. Josephine Baker was a worldwide superstar who rose to fame back in the 1920s and in 1930s in Paris the capital city of France. Having been homeless during her lifetime, she was able to enter the Vaudeville world where she was ultimately able to perform in Paris.

The Role of Women in the Era of Josephine Baker

The role of women during the era of Josephine Baker is quite significant. Josephine Baker character is quite important because she was the foremost African-American female to rise to fame in a different motion representation. She also assisted in integrating the American stage. The main notable costume that Josephine used during her performance was a skirt made out of the artificial bananas and also performed on the stage at Parisian with her Cheetah pet known as Chiquita. She is quite substantial for accomplishing the step well whenever given a chance (Huh and Jang 43). From the Negritude movement, women served as spies. Josephine Baker played a unique role during the second world war because she acted as a spy for the French Confrontation. She was awarded after the war with a military honor. Josephine was also able to adopt about twelve children from the entire world and referred to them as the Rainbow Tribe.

Women in the Negritude Movement: Fighting for Freedom and Justice

Women can also be used to step up in the war so as to save the people. In the year 1963 for instance, when Josephine was 57 years old, she was able to step up towards the podium of French Resistance. Josephine did not do this as a superstar but a woman who had a glimpse of Martin Luther King Jr. dream that she always spoke about regarding experiences. Josephine Baker always talked about her dream and her journey by being a woman with a vision for the modern world that was to exists for the African Americans (Phillips 90). She was aware of the challenges and difficulties the African American society experienced and was able to manage and bridge an exceptional experience of the black women who could seek for body security, happiness, and autonomy. From this, one can suggest that the women were used as a source of joy with the entire community especially when seeking for a full citizenship under the law.

The Struggles of Women in the Negritude Movement

Women in the Negritude movement faced a lot of oppression. Josephine Baker was, therefore, keen during her speech to describe some civil rights that women needed in their eyes in favor of seeking freedom. She also attempted to explore for signified legacy of the black women who aim to balance the personal struggles through the uplifting of the whole community. Women were, therefore, used in finding the truth of seeking justice and color for the new generation (Kraut and Anthea 45). From her speech, Josephine Baker was able to highlight various themes regarding the role of negritude women. First, Josephine was keen to highlight the live experiences of women through the act of solidarity. Baker started off her speech by accenting her experience of having lived in the south and the pursuing of her dreams in the isolated American society. She suggested that ”As I go on doing what I do, and to say what I say, they started to beat me. Not to beat me, mind you, using a club, but they fought me with their writings and their pens. When I was a kid, they burned me out of my house, I was quite frustrated and decided to run away.“

The Impact of Women’s Rights in the Negritude Movement

Just as other women at the turn of the Century, she got quietened. During the Negritude movement, most of the civil rights were based on the citizens who only had access to public education, public facilities and the precise to vote. Some of the disowning of such right contained some private and terrifying consequences for the Black women who forced the women towards the private spaces of the Americans by being cooks, maids, and domestic workers (Stovall and Tyler 32). The backlash that women faced from these spaces was much far for being terrifying and being forced to ride at the back of the buses. Women were always minimized towards the economic and political struggle for freedom.

The Search for Respect and Dignity: Josephine Baker’s Journey

Women in the Negritude movement faced a lack of respect and dignity despite being successful and lacking the attempts of being dehumanized. As a result of this Josephine Baker seeks to gain respect and dignity for women towards their personal life and not just in public areas. This is evident from the experience she acquires after returning to the United States. By being abroad, she brought a lot of pain after realizing that only a little had changed for the women. Most of the lack of respect and self-esteem she acquired in her private life despite being successful was bitter just like the attempts of the public to desensitize her. She recalls her trip on returning by the cruise ship to the Native land after a white actress failed to have dinner with her. ”An extraordinarily celebrated woman was to sit and have dinner with me, but I later discovered that she did not do that with a colored lady (Stovall and Tyler 54).“ Self-determination and the autonomy of the body do not only involve parenting or reproduction but remain evident by being recognized as having the mobility to access friendship, coffee, and dinner when one chooses.

Women: A Source of Freedom, Happiness, and Justice

Women also appear to be a source of freedom. This is evident from the experience of Josephine Baker after details about the immense freedom that she acquired after living abroad in France. From the new world, Josephine suggests that one should have a clear vision and not only the absenteeism of injustice. Josephine suggests that while in France, ”I could enter into a restaurant of my choice, and drink water anywhere I wanted and she did not have to go to the toilet for the colored people. I liked it because it was just nice. I never feared that someone could shout at me (Huh and Jang 76).“ Josephine was confident that a new America could be formed just like the other African Americans, but there was a need for some high and new expectation that was required to be reinforced. Josephine had a dream for the women and knew that one day they could be happy on equal footings.

The Role of Women in the Community

Women immensely fitted in the community because they could speak about happiness and love and also about justice and freedom. Women were, however, not at the forefront of any movement, but they appeared to be essential to such a momentum. Women were also a reminder of the joy of life and the struggle beyond the future progress. The black women contributed in various political activities especially when they began working on the houses. They needed to oversee the needs of the family and inside the homes. Women also assisted in working and maintaining the life of their homes. They always sought happiness as the key goal of their lives (Dalton, Karen and Henry 32).

Continuing the Struggle for Equality

Summing up, the rights of the women lifted up the experiences of the average woman. Her commitment continues to honor the ongoing struggle of the experiences of women who often relegated the needs of the Negritude movement. Some of the women did not have the opportunity to get to the limelight nor the power to escape the segregation grips just as Baker did. Her presence, however, assisted most women to get a stage just as her work did during the previous decades. Her legacy, therefore, continues to be much that of several women who were organized and who sacrificed to have civil rights. Women from the Negritude movement continued to fight for social justice and equal rights.

Works Cited

Dalton, Karen CC, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. ”Josephine Baker and Paul Colin: African American Dance Seen through Parisian Eyes.“ Critical Inquiry 24.4 (1998): 903-934.

Huh, Jang Wook. ”Josephine Baker Meets a Korean Housewife: Narrative Cartoons, Women’s Labor, and the Circulation of Modern Fetish.“ Literature Compass 13.5 (2016): 311-323.

Kraut, Anthea. ”Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham.“ Theatre Journal 55.3 (2003): 433-450.

Phillips, Cynthia. ”Jazz Age Josephine.“ Children’s Book and Media Review 37.4 (2016): 9.

Stovall, Tyler. ”Josephine Baker and the Rainbow Tribe. By Matthew Pratt Guterl. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press/Belknap, 2014. Pp. 250. $28.95 (cloth); $28.95 (e-book).“ (2016).