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Jazz Icon Josephine Baker Becomes First Black Woman To Enter France's Pantheon
Writer: Snehadri Sarkar
While he is a massive sports fanatic, his interest also lies in mainstream news and nitpicking trending and less talked about everyday issues.
Others/World, 2 Dec 2021 11:51 AM GMT
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Creatives : Snehadri Sarkar
While he is a massive sports fanatic, his interest also lies in mainstream news and nitpicking trending and less talked about everyday issues.
Born in Missouri's St. Louis in 1906, Baker found a large portion of her stardom and fame after moving to Paris in the 1920s. Numerous Black Americans decided to stay in Paris after World War I and brought over groovy American jazz culture with them during the time.
The highly renowned French American singer and dancer Josephine Baker was inducted into the Pantheon mausoleum in Paris on November 30 at an official ceremony which French President Emmanuel Macron also attended. The Pantheon mausoleum is widely known for being one of France's highest honours.
Josephine Baker had served in the French Resistance during World War II and was also one of the prominent civic rights activists after the war. With her induction, Baker became the first Black woman and only the sixth woman to enter the Pantheon, a Paris landmark dominating the French capital's Latin Quarter.
'Standing Up For Black People'
While delivering a speech at the event, President Macron lauded Baker stated that she was "a Black person who stood up for Black people, but foremost, she was a woman who defended humankind".
According to Reuters' report, the French President delivered his speech just moments after Baker's most celebrated song, "J'ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris" (I have two loves, my country and Paris) got played at the induction event.
Who Was Josephine Baker?
Born in Missouri's St. Louis in 1906, Baker found a large portion of her stardom and fame after moving to Paris in the 1920s. Numerous Black Americans decided to stay in Paris after World War I and brought over groovy American jazz culture with them during the time.
In 1937, Baker became a French citizen and later died in 1975 and was buried in Monaco.
However, in conformity with her family's desire, Baker's last remains have not been moved to the Pantheon. Instead, a symbolic coffin was carried into the mausoleum, representing her presence by six pallbearers containing handfuls of earth from four specific locations: Milandes, Paris, St. Louis and Monaco, in the Dordogne department of France, where she used to own a castle.
At the Pantheon mausoleum, an empty coffin Baker is set to lay beside other top French national icons and legends such philosopher Voltaire and politician Simone Veil, and authors like Emile Zola and Victor Hug.
Also Read: More Than 1.33 Cr Indian Nationals Living In Foreign Nations: Centre
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