‘Don’t Have an Interest In What Crazy White People Have to Say’: New Josephine Baker Biography Chronicles Her ‘Labor on Screen’ as the First ‘Global’ Black Woman Film Star | Atlanta Black Star | Featuring Josephine Baker’s Cinematic Prism by Terri Simone Francis | Feb. 28, 2021
Josephine Baker is a name that most have heard before. She was an entertainer, activist and the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture. But her impact was even bigger than that, according to Terri Simone Francis, associate professor and director of the Black Film Center at Indiana University and author of a new biography: “Josephine Baker’s Cinematic Prism.”
“The book really focuses on Baker as a pioneer of early Black cinema. She’s known as a cultural figure, she’s known as a Black History Month figure, the woman that adopted 12- 14 children — the person who was just a phenomenal performer,” Baker said. “But my book really focuses very specifically on her labor on screen, her work as an actor, and how her acting and her portrayal of these characters was its own kind of authorship.”
Read the full story here: https://atlantablackstar.com/2021/02/28/dont-have-an-interest-in-what-crazy-white-people-have-to-say-new-josephine-baker-biography-chronicles-her-labor-on-screen-as-the-first-global-black-woman-film-star/