Josephine Baker's Paris

Professor Andrew Lear is a world-renowned expert on sexuality in art and the author of the best-known book on sexuality in Greek vase-painting.  He is the founder of Oscar Wilde Tours, the gay history tour company, and Shady Ladies Tours, the woman's history tour company.

Andrew Lear

Learn about the crazy Paris of the jazz age and it's ultimate icon, Josephine Baker—dancer, Resistance hero, and Civil Rights activist!

<h3>Can't make the live event? Buy a ticket for the recording and enjoy the event in your own time!</h3>Josephine Baker’s performance as a dancer at the Follies Bergères in 1927, nude but for a skirt of bananas, enthralled le tout Paris and crystallized an age. Still today, la belle Baker is probably the most potent icon of Jazz Age Paris, of the sexually liberated 1920s, of the American “lost generation” in France—and of the wave of black refugee artists in France from the still racially segregated US. But over her life, Baker did so much more than dance the Charleston! She was (briefly) a trained opera singer; she spied for the French Resistance during the war; and she fought so hard for desegregation in the US that she was offered informal leadership of the Civil Rights movement after Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination.Paris, and her outsize successes there, were, however, central to Baker’s life. As she sang in her most famous song, “J’ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris”—I have two loves, my country and Paris. This tour will take you through the main locations of Baker’s life, with a focus in Paris—where we’ll see the theaters she danced in, from the first to the last, the fashion houses that designed clothes and costumes for her, bars she frequented (and owned, in some cases), her favorite restaurant—and in France, where we’ll see the grand mansion outside Paris that she lived in in the 1920s and the castle in the South where she raised her “rainbow tribe” of 12 adopted children from different races and religions—and from which she was famous evicted in a late bankruptcy. And finally, her tomb in Monaco, where she was brought by her friend, fellow performer, and fellow Civil Rights activist Princess Grace.Come learn about the life of this amazing woman on the Paris of Josephine Baker tour!

<h3>Speaker Bio</h3>Andrew Lear is a retired professor of ancient Greek—and a world expert on same-sex love in ancient Greek culture and art. He is the founder of Oscar Wilde Tours, the world's first and only LGBTQ history and art tour company, and Shady Ladies Tours, the women's history and art tour company. He is also working with author/actor Stephen Fry to develop TV programming on LGBTQ history and culture.Edith de Belleville was a lawyer for more than 20 years. But Edith had a passion in life: the city where she was born, Paris. So at the age of 50, she went back at university to get her Paris tour guide license. Now she spends her time in the Louvre and Versailles, telling the stories of Paris history. As she is a native Parisienne, Edith's life is inspired by the great women who lived in Paris before her. So she decided to write a book, Belles &amp; Rebelles (published in 2018 by publisher Erik Bonnier) about the inspirational Parisian women of the past. Edith also teaches also Jewish heritage in Paris at Gustave Eiffel University for future licensed tour guides.

<h3>FAQs</h3>When will the Zoom invite come?The Zoom invite will be in the CONFIRMATION EMAIL from your order AND it will be sent to your email address at 48hrs, 2hrs, and 10mins before the event. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM AND SOCIAL FOLDERS IF YOU DO NOT SEE THE ZOOM INVITE IN YOUR INBOX. If you do not receive a Zoom invitation by 1hr before the event please get in contact with us.What time zone is the event scheduled in?The event is scheduled for 2pm EST (i.e. New York time). You can watch it in any time zone but please adjust to the time zone you are in.Will the event be recorded and available to view later?Yes the event will be recorded and you can buy a ticket for the recording above. If you buy a ticket for the recording you will be emailed automatically after the event with a link to the recording, available to view for 1 week after receiving the link. If you bought a ticket for the live event but couldn't make it please email us and we will send you the link to the recording.Refund policy?Refunds are available up to the start time of the event. After the start time, refunds are only available if you have been unable to access the event.

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}

Josephine Baker's Paris

More events from Andrew Lear

Discover more events from Andrew Lear, from Travel & Outdoor to other experiences you might love.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all online events to browse and filter by date, category, and more.

Josephine Baker's Paris

More events from Andrew Lear

Discover more events from Andrew Lear, from Travel & Outdoor to other experiences you might love.

You might also like...

Browse more events with different dates, prices, and formats to find your next great experience.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all online events to browse and filter by date, category, and more.