Dale Wright
"100,000 Witness Jo Baker Day”
Amsterdam News
26 May 1951

Josephine Baker Day invitation
1951

Josephine Baker Day pin
1951

A memorable celebration in New York marked Josephine Baker’s return to the United States in 1951. “Had it been in their power,” Dale Wright wrote, “Mr. and Mrs. Harlem would have crowned glamorous Jo Baker queen and given her the universe Sunday as the darling of three continents breezed through this community. . . . Official estimates had it that 100,000 persons viewed the Jo Baker 25-car motorcade from fire escapes, upstairs windows, and along Harlem’s avenues.”