Alice Mary Barker (1912 - 2016)

Born 30 Jul 1912 in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Died 6 Apr 2016 at age 103 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

Dancer Alice Barker was a chorus dancer in the 30s and 40s. She was often incorrectly billed as Alice Baker. She danced at such legendary clubs as The Apollo, Cotton Club, as well as in movies and on television. She was one of the original 6 Zanzibar girls that danced at the exclusive Zanzibar Club. She danced with legends such as Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

Alice became a Youtube sensation in 2015 when, at the age of 102, she was shown for the first time a film of herself dancing. She said "It ain't worth a thing if it ain't got that swing." She had never seen a film of herself dancing before. She talked about how much she loved to dance, and how wonderful it was to get paid for it.

Born in New Orleans to Ernest Barker & Corine Davis. It seems that she was their only child. She was not raised with her father and said she never knew him. In 1930, she was living with her mother Corine and stepfather, William Aderholdt. Her mother raised her in Chicago, but she moved to New York to become a dancer.

She was married twice. Once to drummer Wallace Bishop. (Her other spouse is unknown at this time.) Alice had no children.

It is reported that she "spent the last day of her life in good spirits, listening to music and enjoying having her fan mail read to her."

NOTE: Year of birth discrepancy. Articles and interviews give 1912 as her date of birth, but the New Orleans Louisiana US Birth Records Index lists her date of birth as 1913.

Sources

• 1930, 1940 US census

• New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Birth Records Index, 1790-1915

• https://www.ourtimepress.com/remembered-lives-3/

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179271170/alice-barker

• http://kalamu.com/neogriot/2015/04/23/video-102-year-old-harlem-renaissance-dancer/

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8K1YJwAVJE

• http://www.alicebarkernotbaker.com/alices-story/

• https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0054820/