Josephine Baker Gets Pantheon Burial: Josephine Baker honoured with Pantheon Burial: Baker, an American-born French performer will have her remains buried in the Panthéon monument in Paris, France's storied tomb of Heroes, in November.
Josephine Baker born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906, began her career in the US in several vaudeville shows, and she became quite popular at the time and rose to international stardom as her success took her to Paris in the 1930s where she moved to pursue her career in showbusiness.
Baker became a household name in Paris. According to the National Women's History Museum, she also played in successful movies that were released in Europe during that time. Josephine Baker enjoyed roaring success in the 1920s and 1930s and always left the audience awe-struck with her performances.
Although, it is her wartime work that secured her a status in France, where she received her citizen prestige after her marriage with industrial Jean Lion in 1937. She became the spy for the French Military during World War II. She would send secret information she would discover while performing for the Nazi regime to the French officials through invisible ink on music sheets. She was a resistant fighter during the second World War and had a role in the Civil Rights Movement in the US as well.
French President Emmanuel Macron approved Baker's induction into the Pantéon museum after Baker's family request was made in 2013. It led to a campaign and a petition was signed by 38,000 campaigners to propel the president to approve the entrant of Josephine Baker in the museum. One of the campaigner's, Jennifer Guedson said that the decision has raised the profile of Baker who was "only known to some as in international star."
Throughout her life, she was speaking against racism, particularly in the US. Her opposition against segregation and discrimination gave her a chance to be one of the few women who were allowed to speak at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom alongside civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, when he delivered his historic 'I have a dream' speech. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) also recognised her.
The Élysée Palace wrote that Baker was the embodiment of French spirit, though she was born American. "World-renowned music hall artist, committed to the resistance, tireless anti-racist activist, she was involved in all the fights that bring together citizens of goodwill, in France and around the world."
Baker passed away in 1975, and received French Military honours at her funeral. Now she becomes the first Black woman to be buried at the monument and joins five other women - French Holocause survivor Simone Veil, scient Marie Curie, French Resistance Fighters Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion, and Sophie Berthelot, the wife of a famous chemist who was buried along with her husband.
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