Black Nazarene devotees clamber on top of one another to to touch the cross on January 9, 2015 in Manila, Philippines. The Feast of the Black Nazarene culminates in a day long procession on January 9 as barefoot devotees march to see and touch the image of the Black Nazarene. The Black Nazarene is a dark wood sculpture of Jesus brought to the Philippines in 1606 from Spain and considered miraculous by Filipino devotees. The event falls a week ahead of the visit of Pope Francis who will travel to Leyte and Manila during his visit to the Philippines from January 15–19. The visit is expected to attract crowds in the millions as Filipino Catholics flock to catch a glimpse of the leader of the Catholic Church. The Philippines is the only Catholic majority nation in Asia with around 90 percent of the population professing the faith. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)

Girls practice sit-ups during gymnastics lessons at the Shanghai Yangpu Youth Amateur Athletic School in Shanghai, China, on May 4, 2016. China's sports system has been enormously successful since the country returned to the Olympic fold in 1980, culminating with the host nation topping the medals' table at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And yet, with the Rio de Janeiro Games less than three months away, the system is beginning to break down due to the shifting demographics of a more prosperous nation. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

A Munduruku Indian child is pictured at the Planalto Palace, where a meeting with Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of Brazil Gilberto Carvalho was being held with other Munduruku Indians, in Brasilia, June 4, 2013. President Dilma Rousseff's government sought on Tuesday to defuse mounting conflicts with indigenous groups over its decision to stop setting aside farm land for Indians and plans to build more hydroelectric dams in the Amazon. The government flew 144 Munduruku Indians to Brasilia for talks to end a week-long occupation of the controversial Belo Monte dam on the Xingu river, a huge project aimed at feeding Brazil's fast-growing demand for electricity. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/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)

Francisco Javier Moreno (L), 35, and his wife Maria Auxiliadora Canca, 34, dressed as bandits pose for a photo with their horse as they participate in the third edition of “Ronda Romantica” (Romantic Ronda) in Ronda, southern Spain, May 16, 2015. Ronda Romantica is a cultural, historical and tourist event during the three days where thousands of people of Ronda and about fifty towns around of “Serrania de Ronda” (Ronda Mountain Ranges), dressed in traditional costumes, recreate the era of the bandits, drovers and romantic travelers in the nineteenth century. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

A man takes care of the cats at the Arnamir cat hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 14, 2023. Animal care services can be an option during the holidays when pets are left behind, so that pets are not neglected while their owners are away. The hotel implements free-to-play concept, so that the cats are entrusted and has a comfortable room to stay. The rooms are monitored by a 24-hour surveillance camera. (Photo by Dasril Roszandi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Edinburgh mask maker Lorraine Pritchard on Sunday, January 28, 2024 alongside some of her Venetian masks which will be worn and displayed at the Venice Carnival, which starts on Saturday February 3. Lorraine studied model making at Glasgow College of Building and Printing and Venetian mask making in Florence, Italy. She travels to Venice each year to be a “mask” herself, wearing different masks she has designed as a live exhibit of her work. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

Thor Teigen poses in a fur jacket next to a thermometer displaying a temperature of 131 degrees Fahrenheit / 55 degrees Celsius at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center, in Death Valley National Park, Calif., Sunday, July 7, 2024. Forecasters said a heat wave could break previous records across the U.S., including at Death Valley. (Photo by Ty ONeil/AP Photo)