She was maybe the most famous entertainer of her era. A Jazz Age icon.
The first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, 1927’s Siren of the Tropics.
A stone cold gorgeous KNOCKOUT.
Civil rights pioneer. She refused to sing for segregated audiences.
She renounced her U.S. citizenship (born in St Louis, MO) and moved to France, 🇫🇷 where she became an incredibly successful spy for the Allies during WWII and was eventually a key figure in the Resistance movement against France’s Nazi occupiers.
She holds the Resistance Medal, Croix de Guerre, was named a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and eventually inducted into the Pantheon, the first Black woman so named.
Beautiful.
Brave.
Badass.
Why aren’t we all wearing her t-shirt or putting her stamp on our letters or watching one of 50 biopics about her?
Give this legend her flowers FFS.💐