5 American Women Who Made French-American History

Lynn Gilbert/Creative Commons/Wikipédia

Although history is often dominated by male perspectives, many great women have gone unrecognized for their roles in shaping the history of French-American relations. In honor of these women who paved the way for greater political, social, and economic ties, here are presenting 5 portraits of women who helped build a bridge between France and the U.S.

1. Anne Morgan, the philanthropist committed to the French (1873 – 1952)

Anne Morgan is the daughter of banker John Pierpont Morgan, better known as JP Morgan. In 1914, the young woman and some members of the Colony Club, the first private club reserved for women in New York, travelled to France to support soldiers fighting in World War I.

Together, these women raised funds from their compatriots to support the wounded and founded a recovery home near Versailles. Morgan settled in Blérancourt in the Aisne department in 1917 and helped the local population to rebuild itself during the inter-war period. She continued her efforts when the World War II broke out and in 1924 founded a Franco-American historical museum that  is still open today.

2. Anna Coleman Ladd, who fixed broken faces (1878 – 1939)

Born in Philadelphia, Anna Coleman Ladd studied sculpture in Rome and Paris. She met her husband in Boston and when he was transferred to France to work at the American Red Cross in 1917, the couple took on the moved together. Soon, the young sculptor discovered the work of her British colleague Francis Derwent Wood, who made masks for disfigured people in Paris.

She decided to set up her own “portrait mask studio” with the Red Cross and began to receive her first clients: soldiers injured and disfigured during World War I. She made clay and copper masks to allow these broken men to recover their old faces. Thanks to her technique, she contributed to the advancement of the design of prosthetics.

3. Josephine Baker, the American who made France dream (1906 – 1975)

Josephine Baker’s life began in poverty. The eldest of an African-American family in Mississippi, the young girl, passionate about dance, left home at the age of 16 to try her luck in New York, where she was scouted for a show in Paris. Baker crossed the Atlantic in 1925 and thrilled France in many performance shows. She acquired French nationality by marriage in 1937.

During the World War II, Baker joined the secret services of General de Gaulle’s free France and carried war messages in her music scores and costumes. Still rooted in her Black American identity, Baker became heavily involved in the struggle for civil rights. After a lifetime as a dancer, singer, actress, counter-intelligence figure, resistance fighter, activist, pilot and more, Baker died in 1975 at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital and received military honors and tributes from the entire artistic community in France.

4. Julia Child, the ambassador of French cuisine (1912 – 2004)

What better way to love France than through its cuisine? One of its greatest ambassadors of French culture in the United States was undoubtedly Julia Child. Born in Pasadena, California, she had no plans to become a chef. After a brief career as a publicist in New York, she met her husband, a Francophile who introduced her to the country’s gastronomy.

In 1946, she tasted oysters and a sole meunière accompanied by a bottle of Pouilly-Fumé in a restaurant in Rouen. And then came the big revelation: Child decided to become a chef. She took classes in Paris and began translating cookbooks for Americans. Back in the United States, she wrote the best-selling “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 1961 and hosted the show “The French Chef” on the WGBH channel, which was a national success for ten years. In 2009, a movie, “Julie & Julia” based on a book of the same title, about her life was released; any foodie or Francophile should give it a watch.

5. Lady Liberty, the French woman “lighting the world” (1875 – )

At 305 feet tall, Lady Liberty is undoubtedly an imposing figure.  The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States, and she was unveiled in 1886 in an effort to celebrate the centenary of American Independence. Interestingly, the Statue of Liberty was created not only by Auguste Batholdi, but also Gustav Eiffel—a man who’s last name you surely recognize.

Now a symbol of the United States and the struggle for freedom, Lady Liberty joined UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1984.

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