By day, she was the most glamorous performer in Paris — a dazzling American-born dancer, singer, and icon.

By night, Josephine Baker was quietly collecting secrets, smuggling coded messages, and slipping across borders in service of the French Resistance during World War II.As a celebrity, she had access that others didn’t. She performed for generals and diplomats, and they talked freely around her. 

What they didn’t realize? She was taking notes.Baker used some of the most inventive spycraft of the war:

She wrote intelligence in invisible ink on her sheet music. She hid notes inside her dress seams, tucked into underwear, or sewn into her sheet music.

She memorized messages for resistance fighters and helped shelter refugees at her estate.Because of her fame, her luggage was rarely searched — making her the perfect courier. After the war, the French government awarded her the Croix de Guerre and named her a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.And still, most people only remember the feathers and the stage lights.

“I am ready, Captain, to give my life.” – Josephine Baker, on volunteering for the Resistance