Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 - April 12, 1975) was an American (United States) expatriate entertainer and actress. She became a French citizen (French nationality law) in 1937. Most noted as a singer, Baker also was a celebrated dancer in her early career. She was given the nicknames the "Bronze Venus" or the "Black Pearl", as well as the "Cr�ole Goddess" in anglophone (English-speaking world) nations. In France, she has always been known as "La Baker".

Baker was the first African American to star in a major motion picture, to integrate (racial integration) an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military (Military of France) honor, the Croix de Guerre.