A model walks the runway at the Costume National Autumn Winter 2012 fashion show during Paris Fashion Week on March 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Nathalie Lagneau/Catwalking/Getty Images)

“Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Nicknamed the “Bronze Venus”, the “Black Pearl”, and even the “Créole Goddess” in anglophone nations.

Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture and to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. 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”.

Photo: American entertainer Josephine Baker in costume for her famous “banana dance”. Baker was an overnight sensation when she arrived in Paris in the mid-1920s. (Photo by Walery/Getty Images)

British model Cara Delevingne presents a creation for L'Oreal Paris show “Walk Your Worth” as part of the Paris Fashion Week Women Ready-to-wear Spring-Summer 2025 collection at Palais Garnier (Opera national de Paris) opera house, in Paris on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Julien de Rosa/AFP Photo)

Visitors dressed in superhero costumes attend the Paris Comics Expo at the Parc Floral in Paris, France, April 15, 2016. (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

Models Mei Jiang and Camille Razat pose backstage prior to the “Le Defile Walk Your Worth” By L'Oreal Paris Womenswear Spring/Summer 2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 02, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images for L'Oréal Paris)

A spectator reacts after a Brazil Volleyball win during Paris 2024 Olympics in Women's Preliminary Round, Pool B Brazil vs Poland at South Paris Arena 1 in Paris, France on August 04, 2024. (Photo by Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

British-French actress Emma Mackey attends the Saint Laurent Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on September 26, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Model Sara Sampaio shows some side boob as she arrives at Balmain Fashion Show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France on September 28, 2017. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)