A motorist drives a car overloaded with vegetables and fruit on a street in Yaounde on July 25, 2022, prior to the French president's visit. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP Photo)

Australian professional boxer Ebanie Bridges during the weigh in at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, United Kingdom on Friday, March 25, 2022. (Photo by Nigel French/PA Wire)

French television personality Iris Mittenaere poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film “Alpha” in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, on May 19, 202. (Photo by Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters)

A French Cancan dancer performs in front of the Moulin Rouge cabaret during celebrations marking the restart of its iconic windmill with red sails, in Paris, France on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Tom Nicholson/Reuters)

“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)

French firemen wearing chemical protective suits take part in a mock chemical attack exercise at the Geoffroy Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne, France, April 4, 2016 in preparation of security measures for the UEFA 2016 European Championship. (Photo by Robert Pratta/Reuters)

A model presents a creation by French designer Jean Paul Gaultier as part of his Spring/Summer 2015 women's ready-to-wear collection during Paris Fashion Week September 27, 2014. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Papier-mache pandas, created by French artist Paulo Grangeon, are covered with conical hats as they are displayed under the rain at the financial Central district in Hong Kong June 21, 2014. The installation arrived in the city on Monday, launching the month-long “1600 Pandas World Tour in Hong Kong: Creativity meets Conservation” organized by a local art organiser, according to the official press release. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)