Technology Slice Blog

Josephine Baker - Keri Hilson's latest video, "Pretty Girl Rock," takes a trip through the decades, featuring inspiration from a bevy of legendary "pretty girl" stars, including Doris Day, Diana Ross, TLC, Janet Jackson, and Josephine Baker. If you're one of Hilson's young fans who may not be particularly familiar with Baker's legacy, allow us to educate you. Josephine Baker was the first African-American movie star -- in fact, the arguably the first African-American to become a world-famous artist. Born in 1906 as Freda McDonald, Baker worked for an abusive white woman as a child and was living on the streets of St. Louis by the age of 12. To raise money, she danced on a street corner, and was eventually recruited to the vaudeville stage at 15. Ultimately she moved to France, where she found fame as an exotic dancer who appeared in several successful films. Baker is often credited as a muse for Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitz...