Josephine Baker Becomes First Black Woman to Enter France’s Pantheon
Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentJosephine Baker, the trailblazing American-born entertainer and civil rights activist, is the first Black woman to be laid to rest at France’s Pantheon.The Parisian monument is dedicated to iconic figures that have left a decisive imprint on French history, including the writers Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo and Emile Zola, resistance hero Jean Moulin and politician Simone Weil. Baker is only one of the six women to have received this rare honor, along with Weil, scientist Marie Curie, chemist Marcellin Berthelot and resistance figures Germaine Tillion and Geneviève de Gaulle-Athonioz.