Famous St. Louisan: Josephine Baker

From AP:

St. Louis Childhood Shaped Josephine Baker
By CHERYL WITTENAUER, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 21, 11:39 PM ET

ST. LOUIS - Freda Josephine McDonald Martin was only 13 when she left St. Louis to begin the journey from poverty to international star.

But just as T.S. Eliot's poetry was influenced in this Mississippi River city by his "childhood beside the big river" and playwright Tennessee Williams met his Stanley Kowalski in a factory here, Josephine Baker's artistry and passion for human rights sprang from her early years growing up black in the St. Louis slums....

Learn about more famous St. Louisans (like Buddy Ebsen, Harold Ramis, John Goodman, Vincent Price, Tina Turner, Betty Grable, William S. Burroughs, Miles Davis, Marlin Perkins, T.S. Eliot, Kevin Kline, Nelly, Tennessee Williams, Shelly Winters, and more) at the St. Louis Walk of Fame on Delmar Boulevard, just outside the city limits in University City.