Josephine Baker, whose insistence on an integrated audience challenged segregation at a Miami Beach nightclub in 1951, will be honored with a Florida Historical Marker on Nov. 12.

The Miami Beach Commission for Women will unveil the marker at a public ceremony at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, 1700 Purdy Ave. The City of Miami Beach announced the event, calling Baker "an internationally celebrated entertainer, civil rights advocate and pioneering opponent of racial segregation."

In December 1950, Baker received a telegram from Copa City, a posh nightclub, inviting her to perform a series of concerts. Under Jim Crow segregation, Black patrons were barred from the venue. Baker refused.

Copa City manager Ned Schuyler traveled to Havana to try to change her mind. Baker held firm.

"I cannot work where my people cannot go," Baker told Schuyler, according to civil rights historian Mary Dudziak, as France 24 reported. "It's as simple as that."

Faced with Baker's resolve, Schuyler signed a document guaranteeing entry to all customers regardless of skin color. On Jan. 10, 1951, Baker became the first known entertainer to perform at a prominent Miami Beach club before an integrated audience, according to ArtburstMiami. She told the crowd it was her first real appearance in her native land in 26 years.

Born in 1906 in St. Louis, Baker moved to Paris in 1925 and became an international star. She aided the French Resistance during World War II and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. In 1963, she joined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington.

Baker died in 1975. In 2021, she became the first Black woman inducted into the Panthéon in Paris.

Miami Beach declared Nov. 28, 2021, Josephine Baker Day, according to ArtburstMiami. The Nov. 12 marker ceremony adds a permanent recognition at Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, which sits at 18th Street and Purdy Avenue and reopened April 3, 2025, after improvements funded by the 2018 voter-approved General Obligation Bond.

The ceremony is open to the public.

Coming up in Miami Beach:

  • Oct. 24: Free Day of the Dead salsa party at Normandy Fountain
  • Oct. 31: Lincoln Road Halloween Block Party
  • Nov. 5: Miami Beach OCEAN Heroes exhibition opening, celebrating the Ocean Rescue centennial
  • Nov. 12: Josephine Baker Historical Marker Ceremony, 11 a.m., Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, 1700 Purdy Ave.