Janelle Monáe is starring in a new series about the legendary entertainer, civil rights activist, and French Resistance spy Josephine Baker.
According to Deadline, Monáe will play the lead role in De La Resistance and also produce the show with series creator Jennifer Yale (Outlander.)
On Instagram Monae said,
A dream role with a dream team!
I can’t wait to transform into the iconic performer, American hero, glamorous bi-con, goddess, intellect, global humanitarian, and SPY that is [Baker].”
A little Baker crash course;
- born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri
- forced to marry twice by the age of 15
- escaped to pursue a career in show business in France
- became one of the most successful American entertainers in the country
- during WWII recruited as a spy by the French government
- eventually became a vital member of the French Resistance
- fought for Black civil rights in the U.S.
- refused to perform for segregated audiences
- May 20, 1951 became “Josephine Baker Day”
Throughout her life, she had relationships with several other women, including blues singer Clara Smith and possibly Frida Kahlo. She died in 1975 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Monae is herself a queer icon of modern pop culture resisting social norms. How do you say type casting in French?
Coulée de type!”
