France paused this week to honor the American Black woman singer who was instrumental in helping her adopted nation deal with the Nazi invasion during World War II.
The French international TV operation carried the ceremony live and in full, while the British and German networks available in America devoted extensive coverage to the honors.
But there were no reports carried on major American TV networks. One wonders why. Was it because they did not know who Josephine Baker was, or did they decide the event was not newsworthy?
She was born in the U.S., lived in Harlem, moved to France and became the most popular entertainer in the country in the 1930s and 1940s. She stayed in Paris during the occupation and used her position to have contact with German military officers and pass on valued information to the French Resistance.
After the war, she was given several of the nation's top honors, including one personally by Charles de Gaulle. She later appeared at the side of Rev. Martin Luther King during his "I have a dream" speech.
Yet despite all this, when the nation of France inducted her into its Pantheon in Paris, to join its most honored citizens, American TV networks had no coverage of the event.
One wonders why.
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