Dark History - 115: How This Icon Dazzled & Duped The Nazis | Josephine Baker pt. 2

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Welcome to the Dark History podcast. Today, we have part 2 of our Josephine Baker story, and we’re learning how this badass performer-turned-Parisian icon became a lowkey secret agent leading up to WW2. She really did it ALL… We’re talking singing, flying airplanes, working against Hitler, and fighting for racial justice in the USA. You see why I had to make this a two parter!? Josephine used her fame to help others. SO LET’S ALL BE LIKE JOSEPHINE, OKAY?! Be a spy. F*** around. Figure it out. Head to https://www.factormeals.com/darkhistory50/ and use code darkhistory50 to get 50% off. Get your first visit for only five dollars at https://www.Apostrophe.com/DARKHISTORY when you use our code: DARKHISTORY. Head on over to https://www.squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, go to https://www.squarespace.com/DARKHISTORY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.  Go to https://zocdoc.com/DARKHISTORY and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today.

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I like to welcome you to my podcast Dark history. Hi, look here. We believe history does not have to be a boring. I mean usually yeah It's kind of tragic and sometimes it's happy but like either way it's bar dark history So all you have to do is sit back relax and you and, you know, let's talk about that hot juicy history, Gus. Welcome back to the Josephine Baker saga. This is part two. And before we get into the meat of the story, let's do a little recap of part one, if you don't remember, Josephine was born in St. Louis into poverty and had a very hard upbringing.

From the age of seven, she had to take on manual labor jobs where she faced physical, verbal, and sexual abuse from the people she thought she trusted. But Josephine had an escape. She loved with seeing dance perform and always held onto this dream that one day she would be a star. So the first chance she gets, 13-year-old Josephine hitches her wagon to a famous singer and gets the hell out of St. Louis

on a train headed from Memphis, Tennessee, where she found herself, I'm leaving here in nobody, but someday, I'm gonna be a somebody. From there, she worked her way up and received an opportunity of a lifetime to dance professionally in Paris, where Josephine revolutionized pretty much like everything when it came to pop culture. In the mid to late 1920s, Josephine was starting to make a name for herself in the music world. Songs like J. Du J'a-mour, which is French for I Have To Love's, and another song called I Love My Baby.

That one's easier for me to say, but both of those songs, they were very, very big hits for her. Her focus on music didn't last too long because both Josephine and the world are about to go through a seismic shift. Even though Josephine was a superstar, I mean, she still attracted negative attention because of her race. And that's because prejudice was infiltrating France, mostly because of the Americans were like moving there, unfortunately. This was a major bummer because Josephine had been

obsessed and in love with Paris, specifically because it had been such a liberating free place, especially for people of color. So one night Josephine is performing, and an American in the audience shouts at her that back in, quote, his country, end quote, she would be in the kitchen and like not on a stage. So not long after that, a hotel manager striped her fuses to rent a room to Josephine because he was worried that the presence of a black woman at the hotel would offend the guests.

It's like, hello, I am Josephine Baker. But it was like this was just the beginning. Because around the same time, there was this little book that had been published that was starting to get like Some major attention. It was a book called mine comps by Adolf Hitler I know it was just like out of left field with that one, right? I was like what alright in mine comp Which means my struggle in German Hitler preached the idea that black people were inferior to white people among many other horrible concepts. And also that he wanted to be a painter and his dad didn't want him to be a painter, it's really random. So by the time Josephine goes on tour in 1928,

everything had changed for her. She went from being like the darling of Paris to being a target of the Nazi party. But yeah, there were like these posters and flyers that were circulating around Germany, all with like her face on them, calling her the black devil. What the fuck? I mean, there was a petition going around that was trying to stop all of her performances,

like immediately. I guess Josephine had traveled to Vienna for work and when she had gotten there, there were protesters just lining the streets all chanting for her to pretty much go home. Thankfully, tons of fans show up to support her on opening night and she takes this as like a sign of encouragement. Like she just needs to keep going and like not give in to these pieces of garbage. But things just keep getting like sketchier and sketchier as her the tour goes on. I guess in Budapest people literally threw ammonia bombs onto the stage while she was performing. Obviously, scarce a crap out of her, right? There's a bunch of bombs on the stage.

But again, she doesn't stop. She doesn't let them win. Obviously, scarce a crap out of her, right? There's a bunch of bombs on the stage, but again, she doesn't stop. She's not letting them win. Honestly, I thought she was like, she was a punk rock. She just gave him a middle finger to the man and I love it. In 1937, Josephine became like a cover girl once again, but this time, it was a little bit different, okay?

Her face was on the cover of a Nazi brochure designed by none other than the SkyJoseph Goobles. And this guy Joseph, he was a chief propagandist for the Nazi party and like Hitler's BFFFFFFFFFF right hand man. So this guy Joseph used her face on a brochure. Excuse me, you're gonna have to pay for that, sir. So obviously this brochure pissed the fuck Josephine off,

but also at this time she had a new, she had a new lover in her life and he was Jewish. And this is like the straw that breaks the camel's back. Josephine is like, look, I've been yelled at, I've been stampeded, I've been bombed, I have had it and she goes on record, telling the press that the Nazis were, quote, criminals, and criminals needed to be punished.

End quote. Right? Hello? Yeah, we all agree Josephine, but at the time, this was like, what? Josephine apparently claimed that she would kill them with her own hands if necessary. Like Wendy Williams' death to all of them. The for her though, you know.

The French government, they're called the Dusium Bureau. They're the CIA essentially, okay. Their current attention was focused on like keeping Hitler and the Nazis in check. So they're like brainstorming. How can we do so? How can we keep them in check? And they had an idea.

Shortly after, Joseph Feene was approached by a member of the Dusium team about becoming a quote, honorable correspondent. She's like, let's that. Basically, they're like, do you want to be like a secret agent? And I was like, oh no, is she gonna be like Coco Chanel? Remember the horizontal collaborator? I was like, she can set the fart out of my ass

and call it Chanel number five. Coco, right? It smells like a ass sometimes, when you think about it. Anyway, but it's not like that, actually. It's nothing like that. So this undercover job met that Josephine would report any intelligence that she was able to retrieve back to the French government.

Now it's completely voluntary, um, unpaid and dangerous, which is so lame. But Josephine didn't care. Which good for her, but I was like, really unpaid, don't be rude, but she didn't care. Because as far as she was concerned, like this was gonna be her new life's purpose. What's on top of that, she loved acting and playing like new roles. She's like, spy? I can do that. I mean, think about it. She could play the goofy comic relief or she could be the gorgeous lady.

Underneath all of that, you know, she was a slick, a smart lady who was just like a natural chameleon, and she knew how to get what she wanted. So though, go Josephine, be a spy. Spread your wings to high. So kind of without even knowing it, I mean, Josephine was training her whole life to be the perfect spy, and it was the job of Joc Abt,

a French intelligent agent, to decide that if she could even be trusted for undercover work. Here it comes. It's coming. The tsunami of calories. That is the holidays. Ugh, from the cookies, the candy, to the casserole. It's so delicious. Thankfully, factor meals are here to help us balance out all those super rich holiday foods. Factor is America's number one ready to eat meal delivery service, and they can help you eat well for breakfast, lunch, or even dinner. I'm talking Chef-prepared, dietitian-approved, ready-to-eat meals delivered right to your door. You can pick from more than 35 meals every week that support a healthy lifestyle. And on top of that, you never have to sacrifice flavor.

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And said he found Josephine in like a raggedy hat and worn out pants. She apparently just finished digging in the garden for snails to feed her ducks. We know about this meeting because a British journalist wrote about it in his book called Agent Josephine, and he said that Josephine won Jaco over by two ways. First, by expressing her deep love and loyalty for France, she's like, oh my god, we, we, I love French fry. Second, she proved that she was already living like a double life. One of her lives was that of a global like icon, right? A superstar. And then the other life was that one that he was witnessing at the very moment. Her childlike, relatable, and normal-ass woman side. So after vetting Josephine, Jock said it was time for her first

permission. So her job was to get info on the Italians who at the time were allies with Hitty. I know this totally sounds like a movie but it's real life. I guess years earlier Josephine was very public about her support of Italy at the time and because of her public support it earned her the love of a chatty Kathy. And this chatty Kathy just happened to be a man who worked for the Italian ambassador. Yes, it was like someone on the inside. Josephine set up a meeting with an Italian staffer and came up with a brilliant way to get information from this guy. She amasculated him. I know, LOL. Anytime like this guy said anything,

Josephine would provoke him by disagreeing or like contradicting him. He'd be like, this guy's blue. And she'd be like, um, is it though? Then he would have to prove himself back to her. And he'd be like, this big strong man getting all cocky. But because of this, he would start like exposing and like maybe saying a little too much hot inside glass

that was going on behind the scenes with his job. He just wanted to prove that he knew what he was talking about. Josephine would then go all the way back to jog and pass on this information. And then from there, he, if he thought it was important enough, he would pass it on to French intelligence. And from from there, he, if he thought it was important enough, he would pass it on to French intelligence. And from that experience, Josephine realized embassies were like the perfect place for her to gain access to top secret information. And it kind of made sense for her to be in a place like that because she's a public figure who did travel a lot for work.

And no one would question why a global superstar was there at the embassy. And for Josephine, there were always official people coming and going within the embassy. So like lots of important information made its way through there. Through leaning on some friends and contacts that she had at the Japanese embassy,

Josephine uncovered that Japan had signed a secret pact with Hitler. Now no one knew this at the time, and Josephine was the one who blew it wide open. Oh, shit, what? Yeah, France and the Allies were able to change their military strategy because of it. She learned from friends, the Portuguese embassy,

the Germany was planning to occupy Portugal to take over their valuable ports. And this was like a big deal at the time because Portugal was neutral in the war. They were just like trying to stay out of the whole thing. Germany was planning to drag them into the fight and use their ports to get direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. Germany never invaded and it could be because the allies were ready because of Josephine's expert tactics

All this was like going Josephine made use of her pilot skills Girl, I don't know okay like some days. I don't know if I have the energy to even like fucking take a shower And it's like this girl in her spare time she learned how to fly a freaking airplane Yeah, you go Josephine you go she learned how to fly a freaking airplane. Yeah, you go, Josephine. You go. She learned how to fly a plane, okay? She will load up a private plane. She will just give bunch of supplies and then she would fly to countries that board of Germany where she would give a to refugees. I love her. I think she's an angel. Uh-huh. A to refugees. I love her. I think she's an angel.

Uh-huh. Because of the work like she was doing, Josephine proved herself to be one of France's like most valuable assets when it came to being an international spy. In early June of 1940, piece of info that would save her life. When I was just a little girl, I never smiled during family portraits. Intro of my family, super nuts. But little did I know I was smizing. I was ahead of my time, okay? They just saw I had a bad attitude. Either way, a sour face isn't the only thing

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are planning to invade Paris. So, Josephine loaded up her cars with like all the essentials, you know, some clothes, a few champagne bottles, but filled with gasoline. And also an elderly Jewish couple, she was hiding from the Nazis. So they all loaded up and they got out of there fast. Josephine left Paris and drove straight

to the Dordonia region of France, which I guess is like the southwestern part of the nation where she had like a country home. Now it sounds cute, you're like country home. Oh my God. Kiel and small, but it was not. It was stunning. A 15th century castle known as Chateau de Milan. Wow it's gorgeous. It's stunning. It's beautiful. It's everything. Gothic architecture, stained glass windows, gardens all around. Take something you'd see in Disney movie. Oh my god, yeah. Goals, right? So when they got there, Josefine and Jock turned this summer house into like a secret fortress. So they installed a radio transmitter on one of the castle's towers so they could communicate

with Britain and they filled their cellar with all sorts of weapons for the resistance fighters who would come and go. And while all this was going on, Josephine decided to invest more time in Jock, both professionally and personally. They were both married at the time, but you know, who cares? Josephine and Jock, they got involved, baby, romantically. I guess they would drive around the sleepy roads in Josephine's jaguire.

This falling in love, all against the backdrop of war. Some real Mr. and Mrs. Smith type shit. While at the Chateau, Josephine and Jock, they would take romantic canoe trips on the river. and Jock they would take romantic canoe trips on the river. Jock also gave Josephine a shooting lesson, teaching her how to properly use a gun. I mean, she was a spy though, she needed to know how to use a gun. And if anything, if any of her missions went sideways and she was like captured,

Jock gave Josephine a signite pill to end her life quickly. True love? No, that sucks. Would you take the pill? I don't know, when I take the pill? Well, it depends. What kind of torture am I getting?

Okay, anyways, a job came down from the commander of the French intelligence. And the commander had info that needed to get to the brits. And this was like very, very time sensitive. The files contained information about plans that the access powers had to conquer British territory. The commander turned to Josephine to get the files into the right hands. So in November of 1940, Josephine and

Jock hopped on a train that left France and traveled through Spain. Josephine leaned into like the whole Superstar vibe again, I mean, you know, as like her cover, it works. She was wearing tons of furs and saying that she was going on a tour through Europe. And Jock, I mean, he just said that he was her tour manager, you know? Hidden inside all of her trunks full of costumes and makeup was actually like, secret information, and it was written on invisible ink on her sheet music for the tour that she was on, you know? So even if their stuff ended up getting searched, German soldiers, they would be none the wiser. When the train got to the destination in Portugal, Josephine was like swarmed by French, Spanish,

and German officials, and they all wanted to get close to her because she was famous and fabulous, and that was the plan. Because while the attention was on Josephine, Jacques passed the files to a spy master in London's secret intelligence service. Mission complete. Teamwork makes it dream work.

And where it spread fast, the global superstar was in town because while in Portugal, Josephine, she got like VIP invites to parties at the British, Belgian, and French embassies. And at each party, she worked the room. She went from one ambassador to the next ambassador. She was like, oh man, my friend, let me sing for you. La la la la la. The whole time, she was just like listening for any information, though, that could help

the French resistance. Whenever she heard something important, that's when she would be lying back to her hotel room. And like right notes on different pieces of paper that she would then hide inside of her underwear. She figured no one was going to strip search her, so it worked out.

I mean, thankfully she was right. So Josephine also used her seductive powers as a political tool. She charmed world leaders and was able to get into like private rooms and obtain valuable information. And then she was able to transport it by using her celebrity status as the perfect camouflage.

Lauren Michelle Jackson at the New Yorker she put it best. She said, quote, the most public of fingers in her heyday. Josephine pulled off the trick of vashing into visibility, of disappearing into the limelight and, quote, oh yeah. But in the summer of 1941, Josephine's work as a spy started to wind down. Well, she and Jacques were in Casablanca, that's all fancy, but I guess Josephine she got super sick. She was doubled over with terrible stomach pains.

So Jacques took her to a clinic in June. And then no one knew what happened to her. This is where I like the first time in her life as a superstar. She was completely out of the public eye. She was actually MIA for so long that the United Press International had reported that Josephine had died. People were believing it. I mean, where was she?

I don't know. And then soon newspapers around the world published huge headlines saying Josephine Baker was dead. There are just those days where I am like so creatively drained, bro. But like there's still a lot to do, you know? Running all aspects of your business from socials, marketing, inventory. Oh, it can be so much. And I know all you hustlers and business queens out there feel me.

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squarespace.com slash dark history to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Again, that's squarespace.com slash dark history to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Well, it turns out that Josephine was actually just in the hospital for like 18 months. Now, no one knows exactly what she went through, but she had many procedures while she was hospitalized there. One worker at the clinic said Josephine got a hysterectomy

and then developed a horrible blood infection and that infection created scar tissue that meant she had to have more surgeries, but either way, too, she sat in the limelight and she was in the hospital. While she was recovering, her clinic room also doubled as a rendezvous point where her supporters of the French resistance could meet with other high-level officials like American diplomats.

Again, they used her celebrity as the perfect cover to meet without like raising any eyebrows. Josephine left the clinic in December of 1942, but she'd been out of the game for so long her time as like a spy was essentially, it was over. It was just like the end of an era. But you know Josephine, she wasn't ready to retire. Not completely. At the same time, American soldiers were deployed to Morocco. So Josephine returned to doing what she does best, right? She entertaining the masses, of course.

Even though she was still in a ton of pain from her medical procedures, she still, she rallied. I imagine with the help of some medicine. Josephine managed to perform several times a day for thousands of soldiers. I mean, just to give them a moment of happiness in the middle of like all the whoreore find things that were happening with the war. And like this brought her in close contact with black soldiers serving in the US Army. And these soldiers told her just

horrible stories of how racism was still a very big problem in the US. And Josephine was shocked. I mean, remember, she had been living in liberal France for almost two decades, and she was really removed from everything happening in the US. She couldn't believe that he's been being treated like this after serving their country. So she promised the black soldiers that once the war was over, she would head back to the States to fight segregation.

Josephine returned to New York in 1948 with her new husband. I don't know what number we're on, but go for her. I'm guy named Joe. Yeah, I don't know what happened to Joe, but anyway, Josephine expected to receive critical acclaim when she returned to her homeland, but instead she just found a whole lot of prejudice. Her fame and friends, it didn't really translate to the US in the same way at all. In New York, they did her dirty, she and her husband,

her husband who happened to be white, were denied service at not one, not two, but 36 New York hotels. And this is when Josephine decides to become an undercover journalist. Good for her, like you'd be with everyone life. I loved that. Okay, so I guess she gets tired of Joe.

She leaves him in New York and she decides to travel through the American South using a fake name. So her goal was to get a firsthand authentic look at what it was like to be a black person in America after World War II. So her goal was to get a first-hand authentic look at what it was like to be a black person in America after World War II. So Josephine, she ended up detailing like her travels in a French magazine and she talked about things like getting thrown out of white only rules at like railroad stations, among other terrible experiences. And I'd like just really opened her eyes to the

realities of America at the time. So Josephine, you know, she's like, fuck this noise. I'm out. And in 1950, in 1951, she did a tour through Latin America where she was like a huge ink huba. She made such big waves that the agent for Miami Beach Club, it was called a Copa City. They had sent Josephine a no handwritten I'm assuming, and they were offering her a, quote, tremendous salary to come back to the states and perform at the club. But then Josephine found out that copaciti,

this club that wanted her, they didn't even allow it to black patrons. So she's like, no, you can kindly fuck off. So the next day, the club's owner shows up in Cuba to visit Josephine. And he was like begging, he was begging her to come perform. But Josephine, she sure I would tell him that she couldn't work where like her people weren't allowed. It was pretty much as simple as that. So Josephine, she helped firm. But the club owner was an annoying little flying. It was persistent. Laughter, some negotiating. They agreed to some kind of contract.

And in that contract, it said, quote, it is understood and agreed between both parties that patrons are to be admitted regardless of race, color, and creed. End quote. Everybody, why aren't you stopping? Everyone come on on. And, ah! Go off off Josephine, right?

She's with his most serious changes. She even went as far to make sure that the black patrons wouldn't be pushed to the back of the theater. She demanded that the audience be integrated and the owner had agreed to that as well. So clean. The club, they flew both black and white celebrities to Miami for Josephine's show, and the place was set to be packed. At this time, Josephine was 44 years old, who've literally been following her since the

beginning. Is that wow? She's 44 now. Anyway, she hits the stage, and she said to everyone in the house that this was the most important moment of her life. And also, with Josephine's civil rights work, it wasn't just focused on the theater community. She used her celebrity status to push white businesses in Chicago and San Francisco to hire more black Americans. She attended the famous march on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. made his

famous I Have a Dream speech, and Josephine didn't hesitate to be vocal when she personally faced discrimination at a restaurant in New York. I tell him, you wow, right? Wow, wow, wow, wow. Wow, wow. I didn't know she did all this. Isn't that wild?

The hell, we should have Josephine bigger like statues everywhere. So there was this restaurant, and it was called the Stork Club, and they essentially refused Josephine's service. So Josephine, she went and she found a complaint with the NYPD and made it a public issue. So then the NAACP got involved backing Josephine saying that, you know, this is total bullshit.

I mean, hello, she's an a-lister, and it was blatant racism. So the head of the NAACP even wrote to Jay Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, pleading with him to do something. And then, however, let me tell you, he responded with something saying, like, I don't consider this to be any of my business, because that guy's just a toll, fucking douche. And because of all this, the heat, he just really consider this to be any of my business. Because that guy is just a toll fucking douche. And because of all this, the heat just really came down to Josephine.

She became too controversial for American audiences because at this point, political activism from entertainers was not accepted. So as controversy, I really pushed her out of the States once again. And Josephine, she tried to like tour Latin America again, but this time she found it like way more difficult to get gigs.

That's because the American State Department and the FBI were not only investigating her, but also putting out propaganda against her saying she was anti-American. And just we saw that, it was like hmm, it seems like Jay Edgar Hoover did actually consider Josephine to be his business. Hmm, interesting. So we know all of this because of a freedom of information act request. And in it, it was exposed that the FBI investigated

Josephine Baker from 1951 to 1966 because they thought that she might be a pro-communist. She wasn't, but either way, they tried to discredit her by passing all sorts of negative information about her to the state department and other sources for several years. Essentially, because she criticized American race relations, the government tried to ruin her reputation and her legacy, and they didn't totally tear her down, but her career did take a no-stive. Now, this all had a lasting and negative effect

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Then find and book a top-rated doctor two day. That's Zock-Dock, z-o-c-d-o-c. dot com slash dark history. One more time, Zock-Dock dot com slash dark history. Josephine then started spending or focusing her time on building a family. She wasn't able to biologically have children herself because of the alleged hysterectomy

and all of her procedures. So instead, she set out to adopt as many kids as she could. She wanted children of all races to prove, according to her, that children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers. The kids came from all corners of the globe. She got kids from everywhere and she called her family the rainbow tribe.

Eventually, there were 12 kids, okay, and they all lived in the French countryside at Chateau des Milan. She was like the OG 12 kids in county, you know? Well, her popularity was like fading and the number of gigs was just slow into a little trickle. The Chateau it still was needing concept work done and now that she was having so many mouths to feed Josephine fell on like

really hard times financially so this is when Josephine has a great idea. She's like what if I turn my house into a tourist attraction? And she doesn't. She calls it the village of the world. Okay, first of all, it's a nice castle, right? I'd wanna see it, but here's the thing. She was charged with people to like, come and see the property, you know, and they can come see, ooh, look my staircase

or like, look at my animals. Cause she had a mini zoo. They could also have some lunch because she had a restaurant on the property. But honestly, the real reason everybody came was because they wanted to see her children. AKA the rainbow drive. Yeah, they wanted to see the kids living in harmony.

So she would make her kids a stand in front of this big glass window where everyone could see them. And I don't know, they would just come and look. Yeah, and it was so popular that by the late 1950s, they were like 300,000 visitors every single year. Just look at the kids. Yeah. I don't know. I feel bad for the kids. I hope they got some of that money. You know, the village of the world, it ended up being a money pit and Josephine, she's kind of for to make, to make ends meet really. Things had gotten so bad that the Chateau was being seized because of Josephine's financial debts.

When the authorities came to take her beloved like Castle Way, Josephine broke in wearing just her underwear and tried like holding on to the oven for dear life. Yeah. anyways, she was eventually thrown out of the house in the rain, where she then had a heart attack. Reporters were actually there documenting this entire horrible experience, but they didn't stop, you know? They were probably loving it.

They were seven photos. Of course, Sai Josephine, sitting on the stoop of her castle And wondering what she's gonna do next Josephine survived, but she was desperate eventually Grace Kelly Josephine's BFF Also famous actress and Princess of Monaco. I know I was like what well she ended up coming to Josephine's rescue Classic princess move so she gave Josephine and her children, the rainbow tribe, a place to live in Monaco, and she also helped find schools for all the kids.

But not only that, Princess Grace paid Josephine to perform at her annual Red Cross Gala. No, no, no, no, I guess she killed it though. It was like, ooh, Josephine's back baby. But sadly, it wasn't for long. On April 8th, 1975, Josephine Banger performed at the Bobino Theatre in Petty for a star-studded audience. I guess she did 34 songs and she brought the house down.

It was reported that people were sobbing. But like in a really good way, I guess it was really moving. Just watching those titty shake can be like, so moving. I'm just kidding, she was so much more than that, you know. Forty's later on April 12, 1975, while Josephine was reading newspaper headlines, applauding her latest comeback, guess she collapsed to the floor. She had suffered a brain hemorrhage and died suddenly at the age of 68.

It's so sad, but many find it comforting to know like she passed away reading, you know, glowing reviews about her latest performance. In 2021, almost 50 years after she died, Josephine received one of the highest honors a French citizen can get. She became the first black woman and only the fifth woman ever to be buried in the iconic pantheon monument in Paris. There was this massive ceremony thrown to honor the superstars, spy, and activist that Josephine Baker was. The available Super Elle again, it was Fiford Queen

and was attended by media outlets from all over the world. As she deserves. So do you see now why I had to make this a two-parter? There's still a lot we left out, okay? Cause let me tell you about her kids. I guess her kids aren't just like disappeared one day. I don't know, I was just waiting for her to come out. We can keep talking about it.

Anyways, what stuck with me the most about Josephine's story was how she never let her circumstances dictate her life. And it seemed like anytime she was at the top, she always used her fame to help other people. So let's all be like Josephine. Okay, be spy, go around, figure it out, give back to the your community. Thank you, remember, don't be free to ask questions to get the whole

story because you deserve that. You can also join me a little on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story, so make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along and see what you're saying. Jo, and just wants to know what people are saying about her, honestly. It's so annoying. Anyways, now let's read a couple of comments you guys left me.

It's ma'am P and mama. Hey ma'am P and mama. Left me a comment saying, quote, baby, yesterday my doctor and I were talking about your podcast and we agreed we are all in a club where we are okay with being morbid and I'm here for it. End quote. I gave it a few minutes to think about it

and how did I come up with your doctor? What's that about? Oh, that question. But also there minutes to think about it. And how did I come up with your doctor? What's that about? Oh, that question's. But also, there's a name for it. For people who are kind of like curious about more but stuff and whatnot, so don't feel weary because there actually is a name for it. I just can't think of it.

Let me ask your doctor. I forget what it's called. By love you, thanks. Was your doctor hot? Let me know. Chill sounds. Let the comment on our death to disco episode from season two saying, quote,

I got my pants pulled down while crowd surfing at 303 at Warp Tour. I'm so glad I have that common with Bailey. End quote. So I shared that story that I was crowd surfing and got my pants pulled down. Mm, fun, huh? Yeah. Well, twins, Sersha Hagerty said,

Hi Bailey, I've been following you for around three years now as well. And I was wondering if you'd be interested in covering the history of Staten Island's Willowbrook State School. Thank you for your content. Wow, thanks for the stayin', that was so nice of you. Thanks.

Try to get a little, quick, you know, and the first thing that came up was snake pit, and I need it to know more. So I'm gonna have to circle back with you on that one, but thank you for your recommendation. We'll learn more and get back to you. Thanks you guys for hanging out with me and leaving a comment.

I love you guys, I appreciate you, and I love reading them every week. It's so fun. I'm having a blast, aren't you? Great. Is that so quiet in here, you guys? Ah! Dark History is an audio boom of original.

This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Juni Amitnili from Three Arts, Kevin Rush, and Matt N. Lowe from Made in Network. Writers, Joey Skavuzzo, Katie Burris, Allison Pillobos, and me, Bailey Sarian, production lead, Brian Jaggers, research provided by Zander Elmore. I wanna say a big special thank you

to our expert Sloan Crosley. And I'm your host, Bailey Serian. I hope you have a good rest of your week. You make your choices, and I'll be talking to you later. Goodbye. Thank you.