Finding Josephine

A longer version of this article was originally published

on American Airlines BlackAtlas.com on November 13, 2012.

I went.  

I went to Josephine Baker's former château in France.

Photo Credit: @TraceyFriley

I arrived at Château des Milandes — built in 1489 by Lord Francois de Caumont for his wife, who did not like living in the nearby famous fortress Castlenaud — in mid-October, towards the end of the tourist season, and except for the nice woman in the gift boutique that I would meet later, I was alone in the château for most of my self-guided tour. Well, kinda.

I know I’m about to sound like The Crazy Lady, but to be honest, it doesn’t matter.

From the moment I pushed open those beautiful doors and walked into the chateau (after having walked the gardens), my heartbeat got faster and faster. I could literally feel it beating against my chest. Is she here? I wondered. Is her spirit here? And then I shook it off. Silly girl.

Photo Credit: @TraceyFriley

Even though all of the signs read No Photos (inside), I did what any self-respecting Brown Girl in a castle alone who had traveled a million miles to get to La Baker’s château would do: I discretely took photos on my iPhone. Without the flash, of course. (I got a picture of THE banana skirt she wore in 1928 in the Folies Bergères!!!) You can also see the rest of my photos here. #rulebuster #stillsmiling

Photo Credit: @TraceyFriley

It was eerie being there alone, hearing her recorded voice in each room. At one point, I saw a woman out of the corner of my eye just for a moment, surprised that I wasn’t alone after all, since I hadn’t heard anyone prior. 

Startled, I walked back to the room I just came from and there was no one there. How strange, I thought as my heartbeat continued to thump wildly in my chest. Could that be…? Nah. You’re tripping. Do NOT turn into The Crazy Lady, I thought.

I walked all of the 14 rooms on display; saw her bathroom, her children’s bedroom, her big kitchen, her dining room, her piano, and more. By the time I got back downstairs and made my way to the gift boutique, I was nervous that someone might have seen me taking pictures (that woman I swear I saw?), and would confiscate my iPhone or ask me to delete the photos. 

But no one did and I spent the next 45 minutes talking to the boutique lady, explaining how difficult a time I was having articulating my experience and how being there made me feel.

“They must come for themselves to feel this,” I told her. “I don’t know how I’m going to articulate these feelings I have in an article.”  

“I understand,” she told me, “I hear Black women in particular tell me how they all feel like she is here for them.”

I simply nodded my assent, purchased a Josephine Baker t-shirt and some postcards to sell in my store, and then took her suggestion and watched the original film of Josephine’s life playing for us tourists to see before we left. 

“You must not leave without seeing the film,” she told me. So, I plopped my nervous Nellie behind on a chair and watched Josephine’s life unfold on the screen (the film is in French). 

I was surprised to see that she sometimes wore a helmet-type wig shaped like her signature hairstyle, and did a sort of chicken-leg type dance with her legs that I had never seen her do before; the same chicken-leg type dance that I often do at home when I’m being silly. #justaskmyhusband

Look. There's plenty that I'm not telling you because, to be frank, I want to cherish some of the details in a personal way. And I don’t know if Josephine Baker’s spirit was there with me that day or not, but I would like to think so. 

What I do know is that - in spite of some of her personal troubles - she was a brave, generous, spirited and trendsetting woman that has impacted the hearts, and changed the lives, of Black and White women alike. She is the most famous Black Woman Expatriate of all time and this Crazy Lady is smitten all over again.

Go, people. Just go.