{"id":12896,"date":"2022-07-15T09:30:18","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T09:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=12896"},"modified":"2022-07-08T15:45:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T15:45:04","slug":"tales-from-the-b-a-sket-black-art-sketches-for-the-contemporary-art-lover-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=12896","title":{"rendered":"Tales from The b.a.SKET: Black Art Sketches for the Contemporary Art Lover"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Tales from The b.a.SKET: Black Art Sketches for the Contemporary Art Lover<\/h2>\r\n
By D. Amari Jackson<\/pre>\r\n
This week, we reach into the b.a.SKET and pull out a little-known spy and heroine of World War II\u2026 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n
January, 1941. Barely two months into the Nazi occupation of France, the\u00a0Chicago Defender<\/em> broke the news that one of the most popular entertainers in the world, Josephine Baker, had died in northern Africa after fleeing her Paris home and suffering an 18-month bout with peritonitis. Penned by the legendary Langston Hughes, the obituary read that Baker was \u201cas much a victim of Hitler as the soldiers who fall today in Africa fighting his armies. The Aryans drove Josephine away from her beloved Paris.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
Hughes\u2019 obituary was both tragic and stunning. The iconic Baker, who\u2019d famously renounced her American citizenship years prior due to the racism she faced in the United States, was beloved by fans throughout the world.<\/p>\r\n
Unbeknownst to Hughes, his obituary was also untrue. Though deathly ill and having endured multiple operations, the global icon, upon her subsequent recovery, told\u00a0the\u00a0Afro-American<\/em>, \u201cThere has been a slight error, I\u2019m much too busy to die.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
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“Josephine Baker<\/a>” by Gale Fulton Ross 30 x 40 inches, mixed media ink and acrylic on stretched canvas (2018) — unframed<\/p><\/div>\r\n
Baker was telling the truth. Little known to the world at the time, one of the most recognized faces on the globe had travelled to northern Africa at the behest of the French government to spy on the Nazis and other potential opposition. Because of her international stardom, Baker was able to attend embassy parties and gather intelligence on Nazi alliances from starstruck diplomats in numerous countries like Morocco. The year before travelling to Africa, she had already risked her life and freedom by hiding Jewish refugees and French Resistance members in her chateau 300 miles southwest of her Paris home.<\/p>\r\n
If that wasn\u2019t dangerous enough, in November 1940\u2014two\u00a0 months before her prematurely-reported \u201cdeath\u201d\u2014the seriously ill Baker collaborated with Jacques Abtey, chief of the French secret service, to smuggle documents to General Charles de Gaulle and the Free French government in exile in London. As detailed by Christopher Kleinmar of the History<\/em> network, \u201cUnder the guise of embarking on a South American tour, the entertainer hid secret photographs under her dress and carried along sheet music with information about German troop movements in France written in invisible ink. With all eyes transfixed on the star as they crossed the border to Spain on their way to neutral Portugal, the French security chief, who posed as Baker\u2019s secretary, garnered little notice from German officials.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
Upon the liberation of Paris in 1944, Baker finally returned to her beloved adopted country of France, the nation that celebrated her while her birth country of America continued to discriminate against her. Clad in her French lieutenant\u2019s uniform, Baker rode in the back of an automobile along the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es to a hero\u2019s welcome as a massive crowd of adoring onlookers tossed her flowers.<\/p>\r\n
In 1961, Baker was awarded two of France\u2019s highest military honors at a ceremony that revealed the extent of her life-risking espionage work during the war. Tears in eyes, Baker professed, \u201cI am proud to be French because this is the only place in the world where I can realize my dream.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
With her mixed media ink and acrylic on stretched canvas piece depicting the incomparable Baker, Gale Fulton Ross<\/a> reminds us of the dazzling beauty of the iconic entertainer, freedom fighter, activist, and war hero.<\/p>\r\n
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\"\"Amari Jackson<\/b> is a creator, author, TV\/web\/film producer, and award-winning journalist. He is author of the 2011 novel, The Savion Sequence; creator\/writer\/coproducer of the 2012-2014 web series The Book Look; writer\/coproducer of the 2016 film Edge of the Pier; and current writer\/coproducer of Listen Up! on HBCU GO\/Roku TV. He is a former Chief of Staff for a NJ State Senator; a former VP of Communications & Development for the Jamestown Project at Harvard University; and a recipient of several writing fellowships including the George Washington Williams Fellowship from the Independent Press Association. An active ghost writer, song writer, martial artist, and journalist, his writings have appeared in a wide variety of national and regional publications.<\/p>\r\n
Would you buy stock in BAIA if you could?<\/strong> Well we invite you to join us in becoming a monthly supporter, starting at just $3 a month YOU become a stakeholder and begin to help us transform lives through art. We are growing the BAIA team and will use your contributions to hire more team members for the purpose of creating more educational and marketing resources for schools and universities about african american artists both past and present. Such art initiatives and educational programming like Blacklite with Steve Prince, Relating to Art with Dr. Kelli Morgan, and BAIA BITS would not be possible without the ongoing support of our Patreon members. Please consider becoming a monthly Patreon member today!<\/p>\r\n
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Deloris and Eddie Young, Esther Silver-Parker, Eugene Foney, Zadig & Voltaire, Petrucci<\/b>\u00a0Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, John and Melanie Guess, Frank<\/b>\u00a0Frazier, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Leslie Fields, Jim Nixon, Dr.<\/b>\u00a0Michael Butler, Mary \u201cMadea\u201d Jones, Carolyn L. Mazloomi,<\/b>Terry Whitt Bailey, Brenda k robinson, Greg Head, Deborah J Jackson, Deborah Griffin, Kimberly Wilson-Lawson, Gail Rogers, Natalie F Lawrence, Yvonne R Carter, Gillian Crocca Photography,\u00a0Eliesha Nelson<\/b>, Gracie M Jamiah, Lyndale Pettus,Rev. Anita Marshall,\u00a0<\/b>E L Greene, Devon Simpson, Sylvie Meyers, Edward Johnson, Jimmy S. Clark, Jr., Robert & Susan King, Jacqueline Boggan, Nanno Smith, Dindga McCannon, Jenae Gayle, Donald M Rubin, Maya, Jessica Bickett, Jewell T. Williams, Derek Nichols, Diana Mbr, Shavaughn Buckley, Jalisa Whitley, Kassi De Luna, Eric T McKissack, Tsedey Betru, Cheryl, Polk, Victor W Brown, Alnita Ann Holder, Sharon Butts, Gregory M Glore, Tanya Desdunes, Vernestine Laughinghouse, Arelia Jones, Shakira Pollard, Kimberly Esmond Adams, Patric McCoy, Bridget Griffin, Rayhart, Mikal Aziz, Patricia Goodwin, Rebecca Smith, Rita Alston,\u00a0Chris McNew<\/b>, Sharyn Welch, Eunice Sykes, Paula DeJoie, Patricia S. Kearse, Cyderia Gates, Anita Askew Wharton, LaShanda Chirunga, Kree8tive DJ, Cynthia Hargrove, S Johnson, Darris L Shaw, Willa Bandler, Valerie A. Cooper, Paige Jernigan, Monique Johnson, Djibril N\u2019Doye, Zawadi, Paul Daniel Curtis, Dr. Karen Patricia Williamsm, Brenda Joyner, Christina, Robert Taylor, Takisia Whites, Stephanie Stephens,\u00a0Atiya Slaughter<\/b>, Renee Williams Jefferson, Hope Elliott, Elaine Buchsbaum, Rosemarie Rogers, Frazier and Myra O\u2019Leary, Velma McLaurin-Bell, Judy Nyquist, Kate Gadd, R Simpson, Crystal Green, Denise Rogers, Tara, Faye Edwards, Trina Virginia Brooks, jack, Beverly S Ware, Raven Walthor, Paige Jernigan, Gregg Y., Loretta Y Blakely, Barbara Hayes, Sonia Pollard, Vince Leal, Lisa Tomlinson, Diane E Leifheit, Art Now After Hours, Suzette Davis, Alison Woods, PB Fine Art Appraisal, Peter Prinz, Vickie Townsend-Carter, Lindiwe Stovall Lester, Arturo Lindsay, Raynard Hall, Toby Sisson, Bernard W. Kinsey, Leslie Smith, Nelly Maynard, Terri Bowles, Otto Neals,\u00a0Ted Ellis<\/b>, Bill Cook, SylviaWong Lewis, Donna Paxon, Nancy Maignan, Kimberly Smith, Tracy Russ, Gwen Meharg, Johnnie Mae Maberry, Zishan Evans, Arbrie Griffin Bradley, Sandra Sautner, Barbara Brown, Bronwen Hodgkinson,\u00a0Sonia Deane<\/b>, January Hoskin, Quinton Foreman, Terri Pease, Annette Grrr, Elayne Gross, Ann Tankersley, Jacqueline Konan, Jerome Moore, India Still, Kim Dubois, Edwina King Diva E, Charlotte Bender, Phyllis Stephens, Judith Hamilton, Francene Greene, Caryliss R. Weaver, Sharmon Jane Hilfinger, Bill and Deborah Nix,\u00a0Joyce A<\/b>, Wanda Baker-Smith, Emily Jean, C Harris, Morris Howard, Marie L Johnson, Ayoka Chenzira, Jean Gumpper, Dr. Darlene White,\u00a0Dr. Sandra Boyce Broomes<\/b>, Michele C. Mayes, Rita Crittenden,\u00a0Beverly Grant<\/b>, Linda B. Smith, Judith Bergeron, Emily Hegeman Cavanagh, Teri L,\u00a0Claudia Bell<\/b>, Cooky Goldblatt, Danni Cerezo, Sarah Caputo, Christina Levine, Jessica Beckstrom, Pamela Hart, Tellis, Louise Berner-Holmberg, Carla Sonheim, Alison Deas, Monikapi, Ashley Littlefield, Pearlie Taylor, Marina Kovic, Sarah Rooney, Mitchell Shohet, Cheryl B Blankman, Petrina Burkard, Sarah Drury, Megan LaCroix, Kellyn Maguire, Sophia Bellino, Cory Huff, Wilhelmina Barker, Shelley Danzy, Rosalyn D. Elder, Karen Pinzolo, Desiree Dansan, Deborah Paige-Jackson, ALKEBU LAN IMAGES Bookstore, DeLores M Dyer, Shelia, Susan Ross, Carlton Cotton, Joan L. Ward, Jocelyn Benita Smith, Paul Robinson, Janice Orr, Patricia D Dungy, Shawn Rhea, Cheryl Odeleye, Runez M Bender, Karen Y House, M Belinda Tucker, Dr. Yonette Thomas, Diana Shannon Young, Harold Moore, Shurvon Haynes, K.Coleman, Dana Todd Pope, M. Rasheed, Jamal Love, Annette, Manuelita Brown, Gale Ross, KL Martin, Patricia D Dungy, Patricia A Thomas, Carolyn J Grantham, Lyla Correoso_thomas, Judith Braggs, Cheryl Odeleye, Jean ODonnell, Saundra Woods, D. Amari Jackson, Aisha J. Thomas, Lisa Brathwaite, Marcia T Gibson, Kathryn Anderson Weaver, Deadybones, Genevieve Marsh, Rene Lee, Deborah L. McCullough<\/p>\r\n
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