United States Embassy · Paris · October 9, 2024

The Josephine Baker
Souvenir Journal

Produced by the United States Mission France in commemoration of the portrait gift, and presented to its donors. This copy, a donor presentation sample, is held in the collection of The Douglass Archive.

Cover of the United States Mission France souvenir journal, bearing the Great Seal of the United States above the Jas Knight portrait of Josephine Baker — Jas Knight · Josephine Baker, 2024 · Oil on canvas
Cover of the embassy journal · Bilingual edition

The Commemoration

A gift inscribed on diplomatic ground

On October 9, 2024, at the residence of the United States Ambassador to France, an original commissioned portrait of Josephine Baker was unveiled and dedicated for the Josephine Baker Ballroom of the Ambassador’s Residence in Paris. The portrait was envisioned by Grand Sire Archon Loren R. Douglass and funded entirely by individual members of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, without contribution from the Grand Boulé’s budget.

The Embassy produced this journal in commemoration of the gift, recording on its colophon that the portrait was presented to the Embassy of the United States of America for the Josephine Baker Ballroom by individual members of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. The dedication placed the Fraternity’s name permanently on American diplomatic property in Paris.

It honors a daughter of St. Louis who became a citizen of France: a decorated member of the Resistance, the only woman to speak at the March on Washington, and the first American-born Black woman inducted into the Panthéon. The gift joined the Fraternity’s 120-year pursuit of equality to the oldest alliance of the American republic, a tribute offered in the birthplace of the Enlightenment ideals both nations inherited.

Toute ma vie, j’ai soutenu que les peuples du monde peuvent apprendre à vivre ensemble en paix s’ils ne sont pas élevés dans les préjugés.

All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.

Joséphine Baker · 1906–1975 · As inscribed in the journal

From the Journal

The pages of record

Inside cover colophon crediting the portrait gift by individual members of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity for the Josephine Baker Ballroom — The colophon, in French and English, crediting the gift of the portrait by individual members of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity for the Josephine Baker Ballroom of the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Paris.

Journal page with a wartime photograph of Josephine Baker in uniform above her words on peace and prejudice — Baker in the uniform of the Free French forces, above her words on peace and prejudice, printed in both languages.

Bilingual biography page recounting Josephine Baker’s life from St. Louis to the Panthéon — The bilingual biography: from St. Louis to the Resistance, the March on Washington, and the Panthéon.

Provenance

The record of the object

Produced by

United States Mission France, in commemoration of the portrait gift

Occasion

Unveiling and dedication of Josephine Baker by Jas Knight, hosted by U.S. Ambassador to France Denise Bauer, October 9, 2024

The gift

Envisioned by Grand Sire Archon Loren R. Douglass; funded entirely by individual members of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity

This copy

Donor presentation sample retained by Loren R. Douglass; held in the collection of The Douglass Archive

The Companion Record

The voice beside the object

The Dedication Address

Delivered at the unveiling · U.S. Ambassador’s Residence, Paris · October 9, 2024

The remarks delivered at the dedication, honoring the Baker family, the French people, and the shared inheritance of the two republics, are preserved on The Intellectual Foundation, with the film of the occasion.

The Intellectual Foundation Read the dedication remarks