Dance of Resistance: The incredible true story of Josephine Baker
A first-person narrative of the life of the Black dancer Josephine Baker, Dance of Resistance is a travelogue, biography and political statement all-in-one, written in a sharp, observant voice and straightforward prose. Told with humour and snappy dialogue, it explores Josephine’s life from cradle to grave and, like the famous dancer herself, never misses a beat.
Born in poverty in east St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Josephine is sent out to her first job at seven and is performing on the stage at thirteen – her mother giving her permission to go in the immortal words, ‘If they can feed you, they can have you.’ Married at thirteen to a man eight years older, whom she swiftly left, Josephine took to a life on stage as a singer and dancer but soon identified her true gift as comedy. Her life from then on is a roller-coaster of triumph and disaster, but always she emerges victorious – combatant, proud and assured. From Harlem in its Golden Age to Paris in the 1930s she is acclaimed and feted, the first Black super-star – although in the USA she is still not allowed to stay in the same hotel as her white companions. A French citizen during World War Two, she joins the Resistance and survives. She lived to see the birth of the civil rights movement in the US, and to be honoured by her adoptive country.
Such an energetic life requires an energetic treatment, and this author does not disappoint. She storms through this extraordinary life with wit, verve and sympathy and makes clear for a young audience both the seriousness of the issues addressed – racism, fascism and misogyny – and the elation with which Josephine Baker smashed the boundaries of her time and place. A pleasure to read. Recommended for children, girls especially, of 10 – 14 years.
