Stellina Baker, the youngest daughter of Josephine Baker. Stellina Baker’s mom Josephine was an American French dancer as well as a singer and actress who built a successful career predominantly in Europe mostly in her home country of France. The first African-American woman to be a part of an important motion picture, the silent film Siren of the Tropics, produced by Mario Nalpas and Henri Etievant.
Stellina Baker is a Moroccan born adoption by Josephine Baker. She was one of Josephine Baker’s two daughters and the 10 sons. One daughter, Marianne Baker who was a French-born woman. The 10 sons are Korean born Jeannot (or Janot), Japanese-born Akio born in Colombia, Japanese-born Luis and Finnish-born Jari (now Jarry), French-born Jean-Claude Noel and Moise and Algerian-born Brahim (later Brian), Ivorian-born Koffi as well as Venezuelan born Mara.
According to the conversation, Stellina was adopted after she was abandoned when she was born in France by an Moroccan acquaintance of Baker’s. Stellina was adopted as the second daughter and 12th of Baker’s children from Baker’s “Rainbow Tribe”.
Stellina Baker and The Rainbow Tribe
Stellina Baker was a member of the Rainbow Tribe. When her mother, Josephine Baker’s involvement in the civil rights movement she wanted to prove that “children of diverse ethnicities and faiths can still have a common bond”. With this in mind , she started with the idea of foster children to form the family she called “The Rainbow Tribe”.
Josphine Baker would often take the children along with her cross-country trek and also, during their stay at Chateau of Milandes she organized tours so that visitors could stroll the grounds and witness how happy and natural the kids were. Stellina and her sister were dancing and singing for the crowd.
Stellina Baker lived in the same house with her mother and siblings, and an extensive staff at the chateau in Dordogne, France, with her fourth husband, Jo Bouillon. Her mother died in 1968. was forced to leave the chateau due to unpaid debts. But the following year, Princess Grace came to her aid, by offering her a place in Roquebrune close to Monaco. She passed away aged 68 on April 12, 1975. In a coma, she died for a while after suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage.
The time Stelina Baker’s mother died around 1975, the eldest brothers were still in their 20s and some already married and had children. Stellina was just 11 years old at the at the time, was the only one who was living in permanence alongside her mum. As they grew older the rainbow children have reminisced about the glory years of their family, in interviews as well as through the writing they write themselves.
