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trading cards 12-Josephine Baker    Freda Josephine McDonald was born on 3 June 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Carrie McDonald and unknown father.

Baker dropped out of school at the age of 12, and started her career as a dancer and street performer.

In1925, she opened in Paris at the Théatre des Champs-Élysées, where she became an instant success for her erotic and sauvage dancing and for appearing just dreseed with a artificial banana skirt costume.

She was often accompanied on stage by her pet cheetah "Chiquita". The cheetah frequently escaped into the orchestra pit, where it terrorized the musicians, adding another element of excitement to the show.

She was the first afro american woman acting in a movie

She went through six marriages, some legal, some not and she adopted 12 multi-ethnic orphans whom she called the "rainbow tribe".

After the II world war, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'Honneur by General Charles de Gaulle for her underground activity in the resistence.

She obtained the french nationality and refused to perform for segregated audiences in her United States tours.

She died in Monaco on april 12, 1975.