Baker in 1949 photographed by Carl Van Vechten. Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 - April 12, 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she became a citizen of France in 1937. Fluent in both English and French, Baker became an international musical and political icon. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Cr矇ole Goddess". She was the first African-American female to star in a major motion picture, Zouzou, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She assisted the French Resistance during World War II, and became the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre. Baker was bisexual and had 12 children through adoption. She bore only one child herself, stillborn in 1941, an incident which precipitated an emergency hysterectomy. On April 8, 1975, Baker starred in a retrospective revue n Paris celebrating her 50 years in show business. Four days later, Baker was found lying peacefully in her bed surrounded by newspapers with glowing reviews of her performance. She was in a coma after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. Sh died on April 12, 1975 at the age of 68.