A sort ofOn the porch column of the Paris Pantheon, which was completed the second year after the Bastille was captured, was engraved with a solemn inscription: “Thanksgiving to the Great Man of the Country”. More than 200 years later, this famous mausoleum is still the resting place of French national male heroes, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Jean Moulin. But on Tuesday, a black female dancer, singer, and civil rights activist from Missouri will join them. She has been breaking the barriers of exclusion all her life.
Emmanuel Macron in time Decide Allowing Josephine Baker (Josephine Baker) to enter has a strong symbolic meaning, because xenophobia is spreading in French political institutions before the presidential election next spring. After enjoying the early rise in opinion polls, Eric ZemoThe far-right TV critic and writer is expected to formally announce his candidacy next month. Mr. Zemmour’s abhorrent propaganda of racial exclusivity has affected the mainstream right in France and has affected the campaign to a disturbing degree. The recognition of Baker by the Elysée Palace—he escaped from apartheid in the United States in the 1920s and went to France—marked a more generous and tolerant country.The first black woman to enter the Pantheon also provided an opportunity to reflect on the most excellence Figures of the 20th century.
Baker is known as a vaudeville dancer in New York, and her charm and personality made her a sensation in Paris. At a time when French colonialism developed a keen interest in black art and culture, Baker took full advantage of freedoms that the United States did not have.Within two years after arrival France In 1925, it was reported that she was the woman with the highest income and highest appearance rate in the world. Her unique rise was mainly achieved in her own way: she subverted the stereotypes of race and gender on the Folies Bergère stage, transformed Parisian into jazz, and never concealed her bisexuality.
After becoming a French citizen in 1937, Baker risked her life to work for resistance organizations during World War II, smuggling files between music scores, and using her reputation to open doors and obtain information. After the war, she was the only woman to speak on the podium with Martin Luther King during the Washington parade. Back in France, she devoted herself to raising the “Rainbow” 12 families with orphans from different racesShe hopes that their lives will prove that “racial hatred is not natural. This is a human invention.”
Statement from the Elysée Palace announces Baker’s entry into the Pantheon famous As a “resistance fighter and an indomitable anti-racist, she participated in all the struggles to unite well-meaning people in France and all over the world.” Mr. Macron is not always correct when discussing multiculturalism and diversity. But when the right-wing presidential candidate called for a moratorium on non-EU immigration, he tried to inspire liberal sentiment, which is shrewd politics. This is also an appropriate way to pay tribute to a brave and inspiring French citizen who is arguably as important as Muhammad Ali in the history of black empowerment.
