Foreign media: The first black female singer will be buried in the French Panthéon, which has been agreed by Macron

Source: Global Times

According to the "Parisian" newspaper on the 23rd, the Pantheon, a famous cultural monument in France, will usher in the burial of the legendary female singer Josephine Baker, which is also the first time in French history that black women enjoy this honor. The decision has been confirmed by French President Emmanuel Macron, and the official burial ceremony will take place on November 30. November 30 is her wedding anniversary with her French husband Jean Leon. Baker will be the sixth woman to enter the Panthéon and the first artist to receive this honor.

Josephine Baker was born in Missouri in 1906 and moved to France in 1925 seeking to escape racism in the United States. Her performances in theatres on the Champs Elysées caused a sensation, becoming popular throughout France with her sexy and daring dances and soft singing, and she was also the world's first "black superstar". She also played a special role during World War II as a member of the French Resistance and an agent of the French Intelligence Network. Beck took advantage of his performances in various European countries to secretly gather intelligence on Nazi Germany and Italy and cover his comrades.D.

The Panthéon of France

Baker died of illness in Paris in 1975, when the French government held a solemn funeral for her. Since 2013, Baker's family has been petitioning that the French government move her body to the Panthéon, alongside great philosophers and scientists such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, and Curie: "She was an artist, the first black international star, a three-dimensional muse, and a fighter for the French resistance movement during World War II." ”

However, french folklore has always been controversial about who is eligible to be buried in the Pantheon, and most of the people in the Pantheon are currently writers, philosophers and scientists, such as the great writer Balzac and the philosopher Descartes, who are not yet eligible, and when Dumas was approved by then President Jacques Chirac to be buried in the Pantheon in 2002, some people questioned "How can a popular novelist enjoy this honor?" Some French media analysts believe that Macron chose to let Josephine Baker bury the Panthéon before the 2022 presidential election, which has a certain political significance.