It is official, on November 30, 2021, the famous French-American singer Josephine Baker will be given a Panthéon burial. French President Emmanuel Macron has chosen this “leading figure of the Resistance and antiracist fight”, Le Parisien claims, this morning.
Baker will be the first Black woman ever honored with a Panthéon burial in Paris 5th arrondissement, after only five women, including Simone Veil. During her lifetime, she already was the first mixed-race music hall artist famous in the French capital city.
The file for the singer, dancer, and revue leader has been assessed first in late June at the Elysée palace and a petition was launched two years ago, collecting 38,000 signatures. “Artist, first international Black star, cubists’ muse, member of the Resistance during the Second World War in the French Armies, activist alongside Martin Luther King for civil rights in the United States of America and in France alongside Lica […] we think Josephine Baker, 1906-1975, has earned her place in the Panthéon”, it read.
This incredible artist, given the medal of the Resistance, can be hailed for “her courage and republican commitment”, indispensable condition to rest in the Panthéon. “She loved France, and France loved her back. With this Panthéon burial, we can say this story is now timeless”, one of her adoptive sons, Brian Bouillon-Baker, told Le Parisien.
Dates and Opening Time
On November 30, 2021
Location
The Pantheon
Place du Panthéon
75005 Paris 5
Access
Metro: Luxembourg / Cardinal Lemoine / Maubert Mutualité
