Miami Beach will unveil the design of a Florida Historical Marker for Josephine Baker at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12. In 1951 she refused to play to a segregated audience here.

Miami Beach will honor Josephine Baker, who refused to perform for a segregated audience at a Miami Beach nightclub in 1951. The city will unveil a rendering of a future Florida Historical Marker at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, in Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, 1700 Purdy Ave.

The permanent marker will go up at 1301 Dade Blvd., the former site of the Copa City nightclub. The city announced the ceremony in a release Wednesday. It is organized with the city’s Commission for Women, which championed the marker.

What happened at Copa City

Baker agreed to take the Copa City stage only after the club committed to admit an integrated audience, the city said. Segregation was still commonplace across much of the country, and the city said her insistence on integrated audiences challenged it.

The city cited the Miami Design Preservation League for the details:

  • Baker’s contract required that patrons be admitted “regardless of race, color and creed.”
  • For her opening night, Jan. 10, 1951, she invited both Black and white celebrities from New York.
  • Similar anti-segregation clauses later became standard in her contracts across the country.

Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and found fame as a singer and dancer in France. During World War II she spied for the French Resistance, Commissioner Tanya K. Bhatt said in the release, and she later brought the same spirit to the civil rights movement in the U.S.

What officials said

“Here in Miami Beach, she made an integrated audience a condition of her performance and changed what was possible,” Mayor Steven Meiner said in the release.

Bhatt said commemorating “her stand for equality which took place here in Miami Beach is an appropriate and fitting tribute to this incredible woman.”

Lynette Long, who chairs the Commission for Women, said the marker “will serve as a lasting tribute to her courage.”

What it means for you

The unveiling is open to the public.

Detail Information
When 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12
Where Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, 1700 Purdy Ave.
What Unveiling of the rendering of the Josephine Baker Florida Historical Marker
Marker site 1301 Dade Blvd., former site of Copa City

The city has not said when the permanent marker will be installed. We will add the date when it does.

The ceremony falls the day after the city’s Veterans Day parade on Ocean Drive. For more of the city’s past, see our history and landmarks guide.