the second hand couldn't even clock me

elysionsprincess:

mooglemisbehaving:

tyndall-blue:

riskycuriosity:

artemisiumabsinthia:

Josephine Baker, later known as ‘Bronze Venus’, ‘Black Pearl’ and ‘Créole Goddess’ was born in America in 1906 and later moved to France to become a singer, dancer, and actress. She was the first African-American woman to star in a major motion picture, and became famous worldwide.

Though she grew up as a maid in wealthy white households she eventually became an exotic dancer in France, famously appearing in next to no clothing, and became a French citizen in 1937. 

Ernest Hemingway referred to Baker as ‘the most sensational woman anyone ever saw’ and she received approximately 1500 marriage proposals in her life time. She became a muse for Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, and Christian Dior. She had a variety of exotic pets including a cheetah named Chiquita, a chimpanzee named Ethel, a pig named Albert, a snake named Kiki, a goat, a parrot, parakeets, fish, three cats, and seven dogs. 

When WWII broke out, Baker became a volunteer spy for France, and assisted the French Resistance by smuggling messages written in invisible ink on sheet music. She made great efforts to aid those in danger of enemy attack, sent Christmas presents to French soldiers, and smuggled information she gathered in Spain back to France by pinning notes containing the information on the inside of her underwear. She was awarded the Medal of Resistance with Rosette and later named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. 

Baker also aided many civil rights movements by refusing to perform to segregated audiences and storming out of a club in Manhattan with actress Grace Kelly after she was refused service. She worked with the NAACP and spoke at a Washington march alongside Martin Luther King Jr. as the only official female speaker. Baker was actually asked by Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow to take his place as leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, but Baker declined on the grounds her twelve adopted children ‘were too young to lose their mother’. 

Baker died in 1975, four days after her final show, attended by such names as Mick Jagger, Shirley Bassey, and Liza Minnelli. 

Oh and she was queer and had a relationship with Frida Kahlo. All around badass.

I’d like a movie about her life too, please.

i knew it 

Motherfucking Anastasia. She’s there. 

(via alexanderperchov)

vchronicles:

So, to all of you who follow me and who are not from Brazil, you should read this, and please reblog, if you can.

These are some photos of what is happening to our country today. São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are facing protest all over the cities. To fight for their rights. Our country is living a hidden dictatorship. The protests started because the bus fee raised 20 brazilian cents. Which doesn’t seem that much, but you all should know that millions of brazilians live with a monthly income of no more than 700 brazilian reais (something like 350 american dollars). Some people live and raise families with that money. Monthly. To these people, $0,20 for each bus means a lot.

But the thing is: what initially was intended to be a protest against the bus fee turned into a protest against the dictatorial government. A government that every year, steals millions of dollars of their people, in their own benefit. A government so corrupt, the population got used to it, and make jokes about it. In this country, a school teacher has a yearly income of $8400. The governors, on the other side, earn, for the same time, about $300.000. To work less. And they don’t even show up to work. And besides that salary, they steal.

And now, people are going to the streets. And the response is photographed. The government is brutally attacking everyone. I mean everyone. Protesters, pedestrians, reporters, photographers. Everyone. For no reason. They just attack. And bomb. And hurt.

The media is absolutely corrupted. The brazilian media makes it look like a violent act, that has to be fought with equal violence. That is a lie. 15 thousand people are going to the streets of Sao Paulo with no guns, no fire, no weapons. And they are being hurt, persecuted, and arrested. Some of them have to pay bail fees up to $20.000.

If you came all the way down here, please, reblog this. Help making the world know what is really going on here. This country, this beautiful country, with beautiful beaches, and women, and music, is now screaming in protest. This is the country in which the World Cup will be in 2014. A country that worries about the World Cup much more than it worries about the welfare of its citizens.

It’s sad being here. But we’re fighting.

(via modmad)

f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s:

Nicolas Bruno Photography Sleep Paralysis

(via sushiandpie)

gardenfullofthoughts:

“When we discovered that the Little Free Library existed, we knew we had to have one in front of our house. I’m already known as “that author lady” in the neighborhood. It was the Husband, Jeff, who decided it would be a TARDIS from Doctor Who and I agreed. (A bit more on why we have a blue box full of worlds in our front yard.)” — TARDIS Little Free Library

So awesome <33

(via frosty-butt)