A member of the Africa Roho Msalaba church throws a 2 month old baby into the air during the “Throwing babies into the air” ritual in Kibera Slum of Nairobi, Kenya on March 10, 2024. The babies of the members of the Africa Roho Msalaba church, who are not taken out of the house until they are 2 months old and are not allowed to be seen by strangers, are introduced to the community by being paraded through the streets with the 'throwing babies in the air' ritual. (Photo by Edwin Ndeke/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A model wears a creation as part of the Dolce & Gabbana women's Spring Summer 2024 collection presented in Milan, Italy, Saturday, September 23, 2023. (Photo by Antonio Calanni/AP Photo)

Japanese chorus girls appear to be drilling in military tactics atop their theater building as they perform salutes, June 30, 1937. The officer is from the Japanese regular army and says the girls display more rhythm in their drills than do the regular troops. (Photo by AP Photo)

“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)

A member of the Eton public school O.T.C. (Officers Training Corps) practising shouting out orders during a training session, 20th January 1940. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Ernie Lotinga, looking terrified as a gun is pointed in his face, in a scene from the play “My Wife's Family”, at the Garrick Theatre, London. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images). 24th February 1941

Members of the French Foreign Legion arriving in Paris for a Bastille Day parade. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). July 13th 1939

A group of women wearing dresses representing flags of the Allied powers (left to right: the USA, France, Britain and the Soviet Union) outside the Eglise de la Madeleine on VE Day in Paris, 8th May 1945. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)