Die Regenbogen-Kinder

Description

Signed first edition of Die Regenbogen-Kinder [The Rainbow Children] by actress and civil rights activist Josephine Baker.

Octavo, unpaginated, [30 leaves]. Pictorial cloth, decorated with illustrations by Piet Worm. Solid text block, wear to corners and edges of spine. Faint staining along gutter of front endpapers. Illustrations remain vibrant and clean. A very good copy. Lacking the matching dust jacket.

Signed “Josie Baker” on the copyright page.

Josephine Baker (1906-1975), a dancer and actress, was the first Black woman to appear in a major motion picture (Siren of the Tropics). Baker was a notable member of the Civil Rights Movement who refused to perform for segregated audiences. She was offered a leadership role in the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., but declined to protect her children’s safety. Baker and her husband, Jon Bouillon, raised 12 adopted children, which she deemed “The Rainbow Children” due to their varying ethnicities and religions. Her goal was to prove that a diverse group of people “could still be brothers.”