Josephine Baker — the U.S.-born entertainer, anti-Nazi spy and civil rights activist — was inducted into France’s Pantheon on Tuesday, becoming the first Black woman to receive the nation’s highest honor.
Baker’s voice resonated through streets of Paris’ famed Left Bank as recordings from her extraordinary career kicked off an elaborate ceremony at the domed Pantheon monument. Baker joined other French luminaries honored at the site, including philosopher Voltaire, scientist Marie Curie and writer Victor Hugo.
Military officers from the Air Force carried her cenotaph along a red carpet that stretched for four blocks of cobblestoned streets from the Luxembourg Gardens to the Pantheon.
Recent Comments