Akio Baker, adopted from Japan, was among the first. Janot Baker, adopted from Finland; Luis Baker, from Colombia; Jari Baker, also from Finland; Jean-Claude Baker, from France; Moïse Baker, from Israel; Brahim Baker, from Algeria; Marianne Baker, adopted as one of two daughters; Koffi Baker, from Ivory Coast; Mara Baker, adopted as the other daughter; Noël Baker, from France; and Stellina Baker, from Morocco.
The project was explicit in its ambitions and explicitly pedagogical in its design. Baker brought visitors to the Château des Milandes specifically so they could see the Rainbow Tribe living together — different languages, different religions (Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist), different racial backgrounds — and draw their own conclusions about what was possible. The estate was both a family home and a demonstration, a living argument against the ideology of irreducible human difference that had produced the war she had fought in.
The financial demands of maintaining the château, paying for the children’s education, and managing the ongoing costs of a large property were substantial. Baker’s income from performing was real but not unlimited, and the period of her work visa suspension in the United States reduced the earning potential she had in the most lucrative performance market. By the late 1960s the debts had accumulated beyond her ability to service them.
The specific circumstances of losing the château — the bailiffs, the physical removal — were widely reported and produced a substantial outpouring of public support in France. Princess Grace’s offer of the villa in Monaco was part of this response; she had been a friend since the early 1950s, when the Stork Club incident had demonstrated to Kelly the specific character of American racial discrimination by subjecting someone she was with to it in real time. The friendship was personal and it was practical, and it continued until Baker’s death.