Status: 11/30/2021 6:38 p.m.
She was a dancer, resistance fighter and civil rights activist: as of today, Josephine Baker has a place in the Paris Panthéon. She is the first black woman to enter France’s national fame.
The Paris Panthéon, where the heroes and heroines of France find their final resting place, is also paying tribute to a black woman for the first time: the dancer, resistance fighter and civil rights activist Josephine Baker.
At least symbolically, the former queen of the dance halls was posthumously honored to move into the Heroes Hall at the side of celebrated French people like Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas or Marie Curie.
During the “pantheonization”, however, it was not the remains of Baker who were brought to Paris. If the family so wishes, they will stay in Monaco. Instead, there is a coffin in the Panthéon with earth from the countries that played a central role in Baker’s dazzling life. In the coffin is a handful of earth from their American homeland, from Paris, the Dordogne and from Monaco.
Over a red carpet to the Paris Panthéon: Inside the coffin is earth from four places where Baker lived.
Image: AP
Message against racism
The appreciation was initiated by a petition and decided by President Emmanuel Macron. It applies to an extraordinary woman in French history, but at the same time should be understood as a message against racism and underline the Franco-American relationship, it said.
On Monday evening, the Empire State Building in New York was illuminated in the colors of France in honor of Baker. After dark, the upper part of the famous US skyscraper shone in blue, white and red. It was a tribute to the “first black woman who was accepted into the hall of fame,” it said on the Twitter account of the 102-story building.
Appearance in numerous shows
Baker, born in St. Louis (USA) in 1906 as the illegitimate daughter of a washerwoman and a Spaniard, grew up in poor circumstances. She first worked as a domestic servant and then made it to Paris as a dancer. In 1925 she became a star in the French capital. Dressed only in a “banana skirt”, she conquered the audience at the Théatre des Champs Elysées. She later appeared as a singer and actress.
Important role in World War II
From 1939, Baker played an important role in the resistance against the occupiers during World War II. She used her status as an artist to leak confidential information to the French army.
She spied on behalf of the Allied forces and, on her international travels, handed over secret documents written on musical scores in invisible ink.
Congratulations from Charlie Chaplin after an appearance: Josephine Baker 1953.
Image: AP
France had made her what she was and she would be eternally grateful for it, Baker once told officer Jacques Abtey. The Parisians would have given her everything, especially her heart. She is therefore ready to give them her life. One of her best known songs, “J’ai deux amours”, is about her two loves: her country and Paris.
Adoption as a symbol of tolerance
Back in the US, Baker fell victim to racial discrimination against blacks in public life. In the early 1960s she traveled to America again to support Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement. She adopted twelve children of different origins and religions as a symbol of tolerance. Baker died in Paris in April 1975 at the age of 68. She was buried in Monaco.
The date of the move into the Paris hall of fame was not chosen by chance, because on November 30, 1937 Baker had married the Jewish industrialist Jean Lion, whereby she became French.