as well as Bob Dylan.Īfter WWII, Baker was caught up in a new dream. Photos show her at a 1957 anti-racist conference held at Les Milandes and at the 1963 March on Washington, where she associated with the Rev. I am entirely at your service." She carried coded messages in her musical scores, and she helped refugees escape the country.įor her efforts, she later received the Croix de Lorraine and Legion d'honneur medals displayed at the chateau. She wrote several books, including one on racism and injustice titled "My Blood in Your Veins."Īt the outset of World War II, after the German invasion of France, Baker was approached by a division of the French Resistance, asking if she would help their clandestine efforts to fight the invaders. She was outraged by segregation, insisting on nondiscrimination clauses in her American contracts. Her famous banana belt is in a glass case in the library.īaker combined a flamboyance and theatricality with courage and deep convictions. In the grand salon, its walls covered in red velvet, are 16 costumes, as well as the extravagant feather headdresses Baker wore onstage early in her career and a black outfit she wore at a Carnegie Hall performance in New York in 1973.Īlso displayed are a collection of nude photos that were not public in her lifetime. The chateau tour includes a view of the pink Portuguese marble bathroom that mimics these bottles. In the 1950s, Baker was dressed by the fashion designer Christian Dior, and her favorite perfumes were Miss Dior and Diorama. A sink and toilet are green porcelain, and the ceiling is covered in gold leaf. Visitors touring the chateau can marvel at this perfume bottle of a room, which has walls of black and gold mosaic, interspersed with glass tile. Its sleek black, gold and green colors dominate the room. Soon after arriving, she had a bathroom designed in the style of her favorite perfume bottle, Arpege. She found an acceptance in France that would have been impossible in the United States, when racial segregation was enforced.īaker first saw Les Milandes in 1937 when she was a wealthy woman. She took lessons in French, singing, dancing and drama, eventually becoming a singer and actress. She became a dance hall sensation, performing semi-nude at the Folies-Bergere in a G-string decorated with bananas.īut Baker wanted to make more of herself. Reaching New York, she caught the eye of a Paris talent scout searching for black performers, and at age 19, she went to Paris to dance in the jazz show "La Revue Negre." She became a chorus girl with a road company. In an era of vaudeville and jazz, she began performing with a minstrel band when she was barely more than a child. She never forgot the race riots of 1917.īaker had a talent for singing and dancing. As a black child in an impoverished family, she searched for food behind the city market and scoured the ground for coal around Union Station. Louis in 1906, the daughter of a laundress. In photos, she crosses her eyes and makes droll faces.īaker was born in St. Visitors hear Baker singing and get a taste of the sultry, sweet sounds that defined her music.Īlong the staircase, a series of drawings shows Baker in motion, jaunty and rakish, sensual and playful. Here, peasants came to pay their taxes each year, 10 percent of their harvest.Ī curving staircase descends from right to left so that defenders coming downstairs could wield a sword in their left hand and steady themselves with the right.Īs visitors enter each room of Les Milandes, an audio recording plays, describing the room's contents and detailing snippets of Baker's life. Just inside the entrance is a room with a huge fireplace carved with the Caumont family's coat of arms. The chateau was built in 1489 by Francois de Caumont.
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