Born Freda Josephine McDonald, the eldest daughter of a laundry worker and an absentee father of contested identity, Baker began working at only eight years old as a live-in maid. At 13, she found work as a waitress and was briefly married to a steelworker in his 20s. By then, Baker had made a name for herself, having performed in the chorus line in two Broadway revues amid New York City’s Harlem Renaissance. In the fall of 1925, she set sail to perform in Paris, where she was propelled into stardom. Though she had quite the successful public career, you could also say that Baker relished domesticity.