Josephine Baker, music hall star and civil rights activist, enters Panthéon

French-American war hero is first Black woman inducted into Paris mausoleum for revered figures

Josephine Baker, the French-American civil rights activist, music hall superstar and second world war resistance hero, has become the first Black woman to enter France's Pantheon mausoleum of revered historical figures - taking the nation's highest honour at a moment when tensions over national identity and immigration are dominating the run-up to next year's presidential race.

The elaborate ceremony on Tuesday - presided over by the French president, Emmanuel Macron - focused on Baker's legacy as a resistance fighter, activist and anti-fascist who fled the racial segregation of the 1920s US for the Paris cabaret stage, and who fought for inclusion and against hatred.