Before Beyonce, Rihanna. Before Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge. Before Halle Berry, Eartha Kitt. Before all the black beauties that graced motion picture screens or entertainment venues, there was Josephine Baker. Josephine Baker was born on June 3, 1905, 114 years ago today. One year after the birth of Dr. Charles Drew. Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis, she was born Freda Josephine McDonald. Josephine Baker lived for 71 years and for those number of years, Josephine Baker was deemed the most beautiful woman who ever graced the planet. No matter the color of that woman's skin.

Multi-talented as a singer, dancer, artist, intellectual, and actress it was no world it seemed that Josephine Baker couldn't conquer except one, that being black in a white Jim Crow'ed America. She was defiant, confrontational, bold, proud, black and truly beautiful. She confronted bigotry in this nation head-on and when she felt that she had enough, Josephine Baker moved to a country that respected her talents and didn't constantly hold her skin color against her. Josephine Baker was a member of the French Resistance during World War 2. Her surveillance efforts against the German and French Nazis were indeed acts of courage. She placed her life on the line to defeat the axis powers of evil. You see Josephine Baker was, in fact, one of the most courageous women that ever lived. She was considered an exotic beauty but in reality, her exotic beauty was generated in many ways by the color of her skin.

Josephine Baker is remembered by most people as the flamboyant African-American entertainer. Josephine Baker earned fame and fortune in the city of Paris, France in the 1920s. Yet through much of her later life, Josephine Baker became a vocal opponent of segregation and discrimination. Josephine Baker often initiating one-woman protests against racial injustice. She often refused to perform in any venue that practiced segregation. Josephine Baker contributed to multiple causes that involved securing the civil and social rights of black peoples all around the world.

On August 28, 1963, at the age of 57, Josephine Baker would make history in Washington DC. Josephine Baker flew into National Airport from Paris, France. The city and country that had become her adopted homeland. She flew to the nation's capital the country of her birth to attend the March for Jobs and Freedom. The march is known historically now as the I Have A Dream March led by Dr. Martin Luther King and multiple civil rights organization throughout the nation. Josephine Baker, dressed in the uniform of the French Resistance was the only woman to address that crowd of 250,000 strong. Today, on Josephine Baker's birthday I read those words she spoke that day. Josephine Baker paved the path for every single black female and male performer that followed her in life. We must never forget her contributions or her courage in confronting the tides of hate that has continued to send waves of bigotry to so many still today.​

If you have an understanding of the importance of literacy. You will agree with me that until every young black male is past the point of reading at a barely functional level. Our communities will continue to struggle with the problems related to high levels of illiteracy. You may read an article that detailed that 3/4 of California young black males are failing that state's reading proficiency tests. This is simply a deplorable situation, a situation that should be unacceptable as well. Yet, every day in this nation black youths wake up to the reality of not being able to read or barely read a job application, a simple children's book to a child, the how-to put together directions, the US Constitution, the names on a ballot box, and the computer screen or cell phone screen. The importance of literacy is more vital today than at any time in our history. Why? Because technology is outpacing the unskilled, uneducated adult eliminating the need for them in an evolving society.

You know who was at one time illiterate but changed the course of history for so many peoples in this country? Yes Malcolm X, was illiterate, or barely functionally literate. It took being surrounded by prison walls to release Malcolm X from this state of ignorance. We need to stop the cycle of black men becoming literate once incarcerated. We must change the equation to eliminating the jail cell from the equation. If we are truly going to create more vibrant, active, and engage brothers working collectively to build enlightening conscious communities. Stop the prison chain collective and create the literate strategic thinker collective. So, today, I bring to my blog the words of Malcolm X, who self-taught​ himself the skill of literacy. Yes, reading is a skill. It is complex and demanding but once it has been mastered. It can totally change your life and open up a world of opportunities to you.

Malcolm X understood the power of words and spent his entire life mastering the skill of reading comprehension. He communicated to his audiences whenever possible to need for them to become strategic in thought and action by mastering literacy. Where is that defiant spirit in today's young black males? Is the absence of that spirit related in any way to declining numbers of black boys learning to read? If we are to become the independent growing communities that Malcolm X envisioned then we cannot fail to engage our black youth in mastering the skill of reading.

One that goal is accomplished we can recapture the energies that existed during the time Malcolm X walked the earth. The desire and want​-​to for acquiring black knowledge will be rediscovered. Today, The Blackman Who Reads Alouds goes to the words our ancestor Malcolm X from a summer Harlem, NY Rally in 1960.