Josephine Baker will enter the Pantheon on November 30, becoming the first black woman to join the great personalities buried there.
A petition had collected 38,000 signatures
The file in favor of the interpreter of the famous song “J’ai deux amours” had been examined for the first time at the end of June by the Elysee. A petition in favor of the pantheonization of the artist, launched two years ago had gathered 38,000 signatures. “Artist, first black international star, muse of the cubists, resistant during World War II in the French Army, active alongside Martin Luther King for civil rights in the United States of America,” we believe that Josephine Baker has its place in the pantheon ”affirmed the petition.
A necropolis of French “great men”
For more than a century, the Pantheon has been the necropolis of French “great men“, whose memory “grateful homeland” wishes to honor. This imposing building dominates the Sainte-Geneviève mountain, one of the hillocks of Paris, in the center of the capital. Among the 80 “pantheonized” Only five women are currently buried there, including Simone Veil, the last personality to have been, in 2018.
