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Outlook: Josephine Baker: My mother, the superstar singer and spy - part one

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Singer Josephine Baker with her husband Joe Bouillon and some of their adopted children

16/08/2021 GMT

Josephine Baker: My mother, the superstar singer and spy - part one

BBC World Service - Outlook, Josephine Baker: My mother, the superstar singer and spy - part one

Josephine Baker adopted 12 children from around the world – Jari was one of them

Josephine Baker was a singer, dancer, movie star, spy and civil rights activist. But her adopted son Jari Hannu Bouillon remembers her as a loving mother.

In the 1920s a young dancer from the US took Paris by storm. Her name was Josephine Baker and she was known for her risqué performances, most famously when she danced while wearing a skirt made of bananas. She became a singer, actress and a superstar. As a black woman born in the early 20th century in the United States, Josephine lived through racial segregation. France allowed her more opportunities and freedoms, so Josephine took French citizenship. Her allegiance to her new country was so strong she even worked as a spy during the Second World War for the French Resistance. Throughout her life she fought for civil rights, insisting on performing to integrated audiences, protesting against venues with racist policies and speaking at the historic March on Washington. By the 1950s she had taken on another role: as a mother. Josephine Baker adopted 12 children from around the world. Jari Hannu Bouillon was born in Finland, but grew up with his adoptive siblings in the French countryside in Josephine's 15th-century castle. He had extraordinary experiences as a child: meeting presidents, royalty and revolutionaries. He tells Outlook what it was like to be the son of a megastar. 

Professor Matthew Pratt Guterl's book is called 'Josephine Baker and the Rainbow Tribe'.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Picture: Picture: Singer Josephine Baker with her husband Joe Bouillon and some of their adopted children, including Jari (third from right)
Credit: Bettmann via Getty Images

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