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I ran away from St. Louis, and then I ran away from the United States, because of that terror of discrimination.
Josephine Baker
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the courage to escape discrimination in search of freedom.

Josephine Baker's quote highlights her profound sense of fear and discrimination, which propelled her to flee St. Louis and the United States. It speaks to the struggles faced by individuals who seek to escape oppression and find dignity and acceptance elsewhere, demonstrating the lengths one might go to in pursuit of personal freedom and safety.

Themes

DiscriminationFreedomCourageOppressionEscape

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about civil rights, you might say, 'As Josephine Baker once expressed, I ran away from St. Louis, seeking freedom from discrimination.'

More from Josephine Baker

You are on the eve of a complete victory. You can't go wrong. The world is behind you.
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Friends, to me for years St. Louis represented a city of fear... humiliation... misery and terror... A city where in the eyes of the white man a Negro should know his place and had better stay in it.
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I did take the blows [of life], but I took them with my chin up, in dignity, because I so profoundly love and respect humanity.
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You must get an education. You must go to school, and you must learn to protect yourself. And you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the gun.
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I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more.
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Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul; when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.
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