Summary

In Chapter VII, Jefferson considers the life and work of Josephine Baker. Before Baker “traveled from France to join Martin Luther King, Jr’s . . . March on Washington,” Baker “staged public battles against segregation” throughout American theaters and nightclubs (150). Baker was “a dancer, singer and actress,” who worked in Europe and North and South America (150). She wrote several books and starred in many films. She was, however, predominantly a soloist. She was known for exposing her body. Jefferson notes several movies in which Baker’s ideas about art and culture are evidenced. Baker expressed “her individual dark-skinned self without fear or shame” (158).

Jefferson asserts that Baker gave the culture a new notion of who “the Negro woman” was and could be (159). Baker used what she had to get what she wanted. Her body was “a tool of labor” and of joy and...