Josephine Baker Reinterred: First Black woman buried at Pantheon
American-born dancer, singer, and civil rights activist who moved to France early in her career ad became a member of the French Resistance received a rare honor. In November of 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a ceremony for the reinterment of Baker at the Pantheon Monument in Paris, making her the first Black woman to get the country’s highest honor.
The biblically historic monument also houses the remains of scientist Marie Curie, the French philosopher Voltaire, writer Victor Hugo, and other French luminaries.
Baker is regarded as a World War II heroine in France, and after her death in 1975, she was interred in Monaco, dressed in the French military uniform with the medals she earned for her role in WWII. She is the fifth woman and first entertainer to be honored with a Pantheon burial.
Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was a megastar in the 1930s. She moved to France in 1925 to flee racism and segregation in the United States.
