"
It's an immense joy
": the president of the Dordogne department, like the owner of the Château des Milandes, where Joséphine Baker lived for more than 20 years, are delighted with the forthcoming entry into the Pantheon of the French artist. American.
Read also Josephine Baker at the Pantheon: a message of fraternity
"
What she did nobody had ever done, it remains an absolutely extraordinary example
", greeted Sunday Germinal Peiro, who, at the head of the departmental council of Dordogne, strongly supported the demand for pantheonization of Joséphine Baker, "
essentially for moral, ethical reasons
".
A life at the Château des Milandes
"
What I remember is what she wanted to do and what she wanted to show to all humanity by adopting twelve children of different origins
," Mr. Peiro told AFP. who was mayor for 31 years of the town of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, where the Milandes castle is located, bought by Joséphine Baker in 1947.
According to him, “
it was her way of fighting racism, something she had suffered in the United States and that she had also fought
”.
"
She got married in Castelnaud, all of Joséphine's children went to the municipal school of Castelnaud, which means that the people here know them well
" also remembers Germinal Peiro, who himself very well known the family.
"
And then in this post-war period, the Milandes was a beacon in terms of tourism, a cultural beacon also because many great artists came to perform there
", he also retains.
"
Joséphine bought the castle in 1947 and she stayed there until 1968
", when she had to leave it "
totally ruined, chased away by the bailiffs, it was a heartbreak
", he recalls, recalling that she was then collected in 1969 by Prince Rainier of Monaco, where she was buried in 1975.
"
It's a huge joy, a lot of emotion because I've been fighting for 20 years to pay tribute to Joséphine,
" says Angélique de Labarre, owner of Les Milandes since 2001.
Totally "
fascinated by the character
", she never ceases to develop the castle to "
bring to light
" this multifaceted woman, who was at the same time resistant, anti-racist activist, star of the music hall.
In particular, she created in the house "
a Resistance Room
" covering her entire career, from her beginnings in Saint-Louis, Missouri, until her death in 1975, after her last show.
SEE ALSO -
Franco-American artist Joséphine Baker will enter the Panthéon (08/22/2021)
