For this weeks assignment we were told to use our research topics in conjunction with wikipedia. I looked at the wiki page on Josephine Baker in order to look at it through the lens of sources, discussion as well as the history of the page.

Sources: this is the information that falls under further reading, references and external links. There were a lot of links under the sources category and as I looked through them I found what I feel were credible sources. Due to the fact that my research topic is a famous person there are several books written (e.g A Biography of Josephine Baker, Josephine Baker in Art And Life: The Icon And the Image). Along with such books were magazine articles as well as pop culture references to her in present day. I felt these to be good sources due to the historical nature of them.

Discussion: The discussion or “talk page” has different people’s thought about the wiki page article. Under the discussion headings that were most common were ones discussing her nationality, claims of her bisexuality, her children and her attire. The most popular discussion that I noticed were the ones about her nationality. Although Baker was born in America she lived in France most of her life, was granted French citizenship and worked for the French resistance. Many people disagree on wether or not she should be considered French purely off of her cultural and political contributions to the country. Some also criticize her abandonment of American identity.

History: Under the history I found that most of the articles progression has been the addition of links external links and sources to go with the information as well as the general addition of information. There were also some spelling and grammar corrections.

The link for the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Baker