In November 2021, Josephine Baker became the latest recipient of one of France’s highest honors—induction into the Pantheon. This honor is reserved for those who have made an indelible impact on French culture and history. Baker became the first black woman to be inducted, but the honor was also notable for the fact that she was born American. In a speech at the event, French President Emmanuel Macron praised Baker’s commitment to universalism.
What was the symbolic significance of Baker’s induction into the Pantheon and Macron’s subsequent remarks, and what does it mean that France chose to honor an American-born woman with one of their highest honors? In this episode, we talk to Professor Maboula Soumahoro to uncover some of these answers.
Professor Maboula Soumahoro is an associate professor at the University of Tours and president of the Black History Month Association, dedicated to celebrating Black history and cultures. She is a French scholar and writer whose work focuses on US and African-American studies, the African diaspora (Black Atlantic).
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RESOURCES
(1963) Josephine Baker, “Speech at the March on Washington”, Blackpast, November 3, 2011.
Adrian Brettle, Myths & Misunderstandings: The North and Slavery, September 20, 2017.
Carl Bialik, Americans Love France, November 19, 2015.
Crystal Smith, How to Get Josephine Baker Waves, the Modern Way, The New York Times, October 18, 2016.
Definition: Abidjan.
Definition: Shero.
Eleanor Beardsley, Josephine Baker is the first Black woman to be inducted into France’s Pantheon, NPR, November 30, 2021.
Empire State Building lights up in French national colors to honor Josephine Baker, RFI, November 30, 2021, .
Josephine Baker enters France’s Pantheon – Macron celebrates an ‘exceptional figure’ , FRANCE 24.
Josephine Baker: France’s adopted black superstar immortalized, France 24, November 27, 2021.
Morgan Jenkins, 90 Years Later, the Radical Power of Josephine Baker’s Banana Skirt, Vogue, June 3, 2016.
Najja Parker, Josephine Baker: France could claim her, America couldn’t tame her, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 8, 2018.
Norimitsu Onishi, A Racial Awakening in France, Where Race is a Taboo Topic, The New York Times, July 14, 2020.
Norimitsu Onishi, Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some of its Leaders Think So, The New York Times, Feb 9, 2021.
Piscine Joséphine Baker, Quai François Mauriac – 75013 Paris.
Sarah Elzas, Academics under fire for studying race and racism in colour-blind France, RFI, March 25, 2021.
CREDITS
Production
Written, edited and produced by Marie-Alice Legrand, Annah Akhoun-Murat and Joe Sullivan.