[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 206 (Tuesday, November 30, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1285-E1286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING MADAME JOSEPHINE BAKER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 30, 2021

  Ms. LEE of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today on a very historic 
occasion for the international community as we celebrate the life of 
American-born singer, dancer, World War II hero and civil rights icon 
Josephine Baker.
  On November 30th, Madame Baker will be reinterred in a ceremony at 
the Pantheon monument in Paris, France. This will make her the first 
American, the first Black woman, and the first entertainer to receive 
the country's highest honor. Madame Baker's induction into the Paris 
Pantheon will put her among the company of the highest French achievers 
in Arts, Letters, and Science.
  Though born an American citizen, Madame Baker lived most of her life 
in France and became a French citizen in the 1930s. Growing up homeless 
and in poverty, she became an internationally recognized entertainer 
and actress. However, her contributions did not stop

[[Page E1286]]

in the arts. She was also a key member of the French Resistance 
movement during World War II, acting as a spy, as she gathered 
intelligence and smuggled messages for resistance forces.
  After the war, Madame Baker was awarded with one of France's top 
military honors, the Croix de Guerre, for her role in resisting 
occupation under the Nazis.
  Even as France became her home, Madame Baker never turned her back on 
the United States and the social injustice happening here. She used her 
celebrity to push against Jim Crow segregation and leveraged her 
platform to support the Civil Rights Movement happening at the time. On 
numerous occasions, she returned to the United States to perform. 
However, she refused to play in segregated establishments and 
championed racial equality--including right here in the San Francisco 
Bay Area.
  In the 1950's Madame Baker appeared with Paul Robeson supporting 
better pay for Oakland dock workers and longshoreman, she took part in 
Berkeley protests demanding Black people be hired as transit workers on 
the Key Line, and she warned that she would not perform at San 
Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre unless Black patrons could buy tickets 
to her concerts.
  For her civil rights activities in challenging racial segregation, 
Madame Baker was labeled ``a communist troublemaker'' and put on the 
FBI watchlist. She lost her U.S. citizenship rights for over a decade.
  It was not until the intervention of then U.S. Attorney General, 
Robert Kennedy, that she was finally allowed to return to the U.S. in 
1963 to speak at the March on Washington.
  Wearing her French Resistance military uniform, Madame Baker was one 
of the few women speakers to address the crowd that day as a quarter 
million people gathered before the Lincoln monument.
  ``You know I have always taken the rocky path,'' she told the crowd. 
``I never took the easy one, but as I get older, and as I knew I had 
the power and the strength, I took that rocky path and I tried to 
smooth it out a little. I wanted to make it easier for you. I want you 
to have a chance at what I had.''
  This is the legacy of Madame Josephine Baker that we celebrate and 
uplift on the global stage. From the Pantheon in Paris to the halls of 
the U.S. Congress, we honor her contributions, courage, and conviction 
to make this world a better place for us all.
  On behalf of the 13th Congressional District of California, I commend 
Madame Josephine Baker for her service and dedication.

                          ____________________