Stories of legendary pioneers who have left their impact on the globe abound in black history. Athletes, artists, scholars, and changemakers... all who contributed to the development of America as it is today. These heroes become symbols to new generations over time, but the same stories are rehashed again and over again.

Dancer, singer and activist Josephine Baker was a spy during WWII.
After moving to France in the 1920s, Baker took Europe by storm.

She was known as "Black Venus," "Black Pearl," and "Creole Goddess" for her seminude dancing and sauvage dance, and she became one of France's most popular entertainers. She would dedicate herself to the French Resistance during WWII after officially adopting France as her nation in 1937. The stunning Baker wore such exposing outfits that German and foreign officials had no idea she was listening intently for intelligence to pass on to the Resistance.

Baker began bringing secret communications to the head of the Deuxième Bureau, France's military intelligence in Paris, while entertaining troops in Africa and the Middle East. Customs agents were frequently travelling with vast quantities of sheet music that included hidden messages written in invisible ink with customs officials never thought to take a closer look.

She would smuggle out secret images of German military sites by pinning them to her underwear, easily passing by star struck officials in enemy territory. She progressed through the ranks of the Free French Air Force to the rank of lieutenant, obtaining the Medal of Resistance and became the first American woman to get the Croix de Guerre. She was the first American woman to be buried in France full military honours when she died in 1975.

Source: PBS