Black, American-born, a woman, anti-Nazi spy, civil rights activist and arguably best known for her exotic dancing: Josephine Baker hardly fits the profile of France's historical heroes. But today, the performer from Saint Louis, Missouri, US was granted one of France's highest honors: A tomb in the Pantheon in Paris, the country's monument to its heroes. https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/josephine-baker-pantheon-scli-intl/index.html

There have been only 80 people granted the honor since the tradition began in Napoleonic times. Baker is the first Black woman honored at the Pantheon, according to the Elysee Palace. She is also only the sixth woman, which includes scientist Marie Curie and politician Simone Veil.

After years of Baker's family and admirers fighting for her to be recognized in the Pantheon Mausoleum alongside some of the greatest figures in France's history, the event happened on November 30 in a ceremony in Paris. President Emmanuel Macron granted the burial request in August to recognize the fact that Baker's "whole life was dedicated to the twin quest for liberty and justice," according to a statement released by his office at the time.

The placement is symbolic since Baker's body is buried in Monaco, where it will remain as her family has requested. However, the Nov. 30 ceremony includes placing a coffin containing handfuls of soil from four places she lived during her life in a tomb reserved for her in the Pantheon's crypt. https://www.dw.com/en/josephine-baker-the-first-black-woman-to-be-inducted-into-frances-pantheon/a-58950547

In a speech, Macron said: “She was on the right side of history every time – she made the right choices, always distinguishing light from obscurity.” He detailed the racist violence of her childhood in Missouri when as a young child she had to serve rich white families, and was brutally mistreated, in order to provide food for her brothers and sisters. He hailed the comic genius of her Paris cabaret performances that “ridiculed colonial prejudices.”

He said during the second world war she had served France “without seeking glory” and that as a civil rights activist “she defended equality for all above individual identity”. Though born American, Macron said, “no one was more French” than Josephine Baker.

READ MORE: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/30/black-french-american-rights-activist-josephine-baker-enters-pantheon