Josephine Baker at the Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963
-- Daily LIFT #219
The famed entertainer and civil rights activist attended the March on Washington in August, 1963 at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. Baker was in her Free French military uniform and wearing her medals. During the war she had courageously worked as a spy and helped the Free French. For these actions she was made a lieutenant in the Free French Air Force and was awarded the French Croix de guerre and the Rosette de la Résistance medals as well as being made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.
In 2021 she was inducted into France's Pantheon becoming the first Black woman to receive that nation's highest honour.
Loved the pic of Josephine Baker in her Free French uniform. She fought all forms of racism and reaction. And it goes without saying that a Résistante of African origin would not have been treated kindly by the Nazis.