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Josephine Baker's adopted son shares memories

of the famed Black French-American singer and dancer

(SOUNDBITE) (French) SON OF JOSEPHINE BAKER AND AUTHOR OF A BIOGRAPHY, JEAN-CLAUDE BOUILLON-BAKER, SAYING: "As a mother she was very simple. As soon as she got home, it was over. She dropped her luggage, her dresses and she was Mum. She cooked spaghetti and stuff. Because she tried to compartmentalise, she didn't want us, her children, to access her career, to her life. We guessed, we knew, but we couldn't see it. We needed to be the children around their mother. That's all."

Baker also served in the French Resistance during World War Two

The civil rights activist will be buried the Paris Pantheon

alongside other French icons, such as Victor Hugo and Voltaire

(SOUNDBITE) (French) MANAGER OF 'HOTEL JOSEPHINE', SOPHIE POUYOUNE, SAYING:

"A Black woman in the Pantheon, it is something very interesting. It shows that the French culture is opening up to things different from literature or only certain types of art. We get conscious that Paris is a broad city and that cabaret is also a form of art. And I think that is excellent news."