{"id":77880,"date":"2025-07-20T11:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T11:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/77880\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T11:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T11:37:13","slug":"paris-honors-josephine-baker-with-a-new-mural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/77880\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris honors Josephine Baker with a new mural"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 Paris is reviving the spirit of U.S.-French entertainer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker<\/a> with a new mural.<\/p>\n

Fifty years after her death, Baker now gazes out over a diverse neighborhood of northeast Paris, thanks to urban artist FKDL and a street art festival aimed at promoting community spirit.<\/p>\n

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Baker became a megastar in the 1930s, especially in France, where she moved in 1925 as she sought to flee racism and segregation<\/a> in the United States.<\/p>\n

In addition to her stage fame, Baker also spied on the Nazis for the French Resistance and marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington. She died in Paris in 1975.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2019I feel moved and I feel happy, because this is part of a memory of my mother,\u201d her son Brian Baker told the Associated Press at the unveiling of the mural Saturday. He was one of 12 children Josephine Baker adopted from around the world that she called her \u2033rainbow tribe\u2033 and what her son called \u2019\u2019a little United Nations.\u2033<\/p>\n

The mural of Baker, meant to symbolize freedom and resistance, is among several painted in recent days in the neighborhood and organized by the association Paris Colors Ourq.<\/p>\n

The artist FKDL said he focuses on \u2018\u2019bringing women back into the urban landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJosephine Baker has always been, for me, a somewhat iconic figure of that era. Both wild and free-spirited, but also deeply connected to music, musicals, and dance,\u2033 he said. \u2019\u2019She was an extraordinary character, an incredible woman.\u201c<\/p>\n

Baker was the first Black woman inducted into France\u2019s Pantheon, joining such luminaries as philosopher Voltaire, scientist Marie Curie and writer Victor Hugo.<\/p>\n

\u2019\u2019My mother wouldn\u2019t have liked words like iconic, star, or celebrity. She would have said, no, no let\u2019s keep it simple,\u2033 her son said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 Paris is reviving the spirit of U.S.-French entertainer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":77881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[20148,53824,185,171,156,57,53822,21075,3715,67,132,68,53823,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-77880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-black-experience","9":"tag-brian-baker","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-france","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-josephine-baker","15":"tag-martin-luther-king-jr","16":"tag-paris","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-victor-hugo","21":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114885364688952885","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}