Josephine Baker may be best known for her provocative dances in Paris music halls, but her global contributions go beyond a feathered skirt.

Josephine Baker was born into poverty in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906. She ran away from home at age 13, started dancing as a street performer around age 15, and by age 19 had earned enough small time success to be invited to Paris as part of a revue ensemble. In 1925, Paris was just entering the art deco period, and Parisians were thirsty for all forms of non-Western and exotic arts. Baker found herself in the right place at the right time.

As part of this ensemble, Baker’s performance of the “Danse Sauvage” wearing only a feathered skirt garnered instant attention from the music hall crowds, and she followed it up in 1926 performing in “La Folie du Jour” wearing a skirt made only of 16 bananas. The latter performance turned out to be a defining moment in Baker’s career. 1920’s France proved to be the right venue for her to push past the limits of her humble American childhood, and Josephine Baker became the most popular and highest paid performer in Europe. Over the next several years, she leveraged her success as a dancer to earn roles as an actress and, later, as an opera singer--achieving a classic triple threat status that Hollywood and Broadway would not afford her.

The French embrace of Baker was easily a mutual feeling of adoration. However, while France adored her, the United States rejected her harshly with racist sentiment. An attempt to translate her European success into success across the Atlantic ended with showgoers refusing to see her performances, and the box offices tanked. In 1937, Baker returned that rejection--shedding her United States citizenship and officially becoming a French citizen.

In 1939, her newly adopted country called on her to serve after France declared war on Germany. Baker worked for the Free French forces, entertaining troops stationed in the region and in northern Africa, and she also worked for the Red Cross. After Paris fell to Nazi occupation in 1940, Baker harbored refugees and French Resistance fighters at her estate in the southern part of the country. During this time, the French government recruited her to spy on Axis leadership, and Baker proudly accepted. She attended social events where she would get close to high ranking officials and gather information about the troop placement of Axis forces. Baker hedged her bets, believing that her international success exempted her from suspicion and interrogation, and she was right. She smuggled messages in her undergarments and in her sheet music, using invisible ink to hide her transcriptions.

After the war, Josephine Baker continued to serve the French people, who she felt had given her everything. When she returned to Paris following the occupation and recognized the plight left to citizens, she sold a number of her personal valuables and donated the money to the less fortunate so they could afford basic essentials. The scope of Baker’s heroic efforts were rewarded with some of France’s highest honors: the Croix de Guerre, the Médaille de la Résistance, and the Légion d'honneur with the rosette of the French Resistance.

The end of World War II did not slow her down. Though Baker dedicated some time in the late 40s to her family and numerous adopted children, she was seemingly empowered by what she was able to accomplish by leveraging her celebrity to be a successful spy. In 1951, a Miami nightclub invited her to perform, but Baker refused because of the club’s policy of segregating the audience. The club offered her more and more money to change her mind, but she held firm. Her contract included a provision that she would not perform at segregated venues. Ultimately, the Miami club lost the public battle with her and changed their policy. Baker’s performances there sold out.

She embarked on a United States tour, continuing her message of integration. She wrote articles and gave speeches describing the abuse she had suffered, including repeated refusal of service at hotels along the tour, and promoting an integration of public spaces and music venues. Later in 1951, the NAACP acknowledged her efforts, naming a day in her honor and granting her a lifetime membership. Baker’s outspoken position and stature were instrumental in the integration of Las Vegas’ entertainment venues.

Following her success in the 1950s, Josephine Baker was inspired to become more active in the wider Civil Rights Movement. In 1963, she participated in and spoke at the March on Washington. After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she was reportedly offered a leadership position alongside Coretta Scott King.

As evidence of the progress she worked to achieve, Baker headlined Carnegie Hall in 1973, and she was greeted with an emotional standing ovation--just shy of 40 years after New York crowds wouldn’t buy tickets to see her.

Josephine Baker’s memory has mainly been remembered by her work as provocative entertainer and a “classic” triple threat, but she reset what it really meant to be a triple threat: an entertainer, spy, and activist.