The grave of Josephine Baker in Monaco. /Valery Hache /AFP
A French-American singer and dancer is taking her place alongside French icons such as authors Emile Zola and Victor Hugo, the philosopher Voltaire and politician Simone Veil.
Josephine Baker is the first black woman to earn a spot in Paris's Pantheon mausoleum – one of France's highest honors. The decision by President Emmanuel Macron to choose Baker represents a celebration of relations with the U.S. as well as a recognition of the fight against racism.
Baker was born in Missouri in 1906 but went on to find much of her fame after arriving in Paris in the 1920s, as many Black Americans stayed on in the French capital after World War I and brought with them American jazz culture. She gained French nationality through marriage.
Josephine Baker is welcomed at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, March 18, 1956, on arrival from Stockholm by three of her adopted children, Georges, 3, from Cameroon; Sam, 5, from China; and Clauda, age 9. /AP Photo
Baker also served in the French Resistance during World War II and later took part in the anti-segregation movement in the U.S., for which she was barred from her homeland.
She died in 1975. Her body will remain buried in Monaco at the request of her family but a symbolic coffin will be placed in the Pantheon.
The Pantheon is the final resting place of 72 men and five women.
Cover photo: Josephine Baker holds a rhinestone-studded microphone as she performs during her show "Paris, mes Amours" at the Olympia Music Hall in Paris, France, on May 27, 1957. /AP Photo, File