African Americans have been present in Paris for centuries, with a significant number of them living in the city during the early 20th century.
For seven days, we focused almost entirely on the history of African American expatriates and visitors in Paris: writers, artists, intellectuals, soldiers, musicians, and dancers- starting with World War I through to turn of the 21st century. It was a stark but refreshing reminder about how different history looks depending on your point of view.
Let's delve into the historical presence and cultural impact of African Americans in Paris, exploring key figures, locations, and movements that have shaped their experience in the city.
Travel along fashionable avenues like the Champs-Elysees and up the steep, narrow streets of Lower Montmartre, and visit the Luxembourg Gardens and the Latin Quarter, abuzz with students.
The Harlem Renaissance in Paris
The period between the two World Wars is often referred to as the "Harlem Renaissance in Paris" because of the number of Black artists, writers, and musicians who lived and worked there at the time.
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They were part of a larger community of expatriates, which included many other Americans and Europeans. This period saw the emergence of jazz and the birth of the literary genre of the "Negro novel".
A second wave of African Americans flocked to Paris during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, when black artists and activists like Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall, and Duke Ellington went looking for a place to freely create where they felt celebrated, which Paris provided.
“There, you can be whatever you want to be. Totally yourself,” Langston Hughes once wrote of the city, according to African American novelist Paule Marshall’s memoir, Triangular Road (Civitas Books, 2009).
Legendary jazz musician Miles Davis also declared his love for Paris in a 1989 autobiography, stating: “It was the freedom of being in France and being treated like a human being, like someone important. Even the band and the music we played sounded better over there.”
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Josephine Baker: An Icon in Paris
In the 1920s, Josephine Baker burst onto the scene. It is impossible to overstate how much of a superstar she was in Paris.
Her shows were legendary and she lit up the Jazz Age with her creativity and attitude. She paved the way for other musicians and performers who spent time in Paris where they were welcomed and celebrated: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Nina Simone and more.
Celebrated entertainer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker spoke often about her deep reverence for Paris. The City of Lights is where Baker’s dancing career blossomed; in 1927, she became the first African American to star in a major motion picture (the French silent film Siren of the Tropics), and that same year, her headlining performance at the still-standing Folies Bergère cabaret hall solidified Baker as a main symbol of the 1920s Jazz Age.
There are several nods to Baker’s legacy throughout Paris, one of which is Place Josephine Baker-a square in the Left Bank’s Montparnasse area dedicated to the naturalized French performer, who spent most of her life in the Paris neighborhood.
Today, a metal placard affixed on a pole in a shaded area remains as a steady reminder of the life she lived and all she gave-whether it was acting as a spy for her adopted country or refusing to perform for segregated audiences in the United States.
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South of the River Seine, explore the important legacy of Josephine Baker, an American entertainer and activist who became the first Black woman to be buried at the Panthéon in 2021.
James Baldwin: A Literary Voice in Exile
One of the most singular and important American authors of the 20th century, James Baldwin spent his formative years as a writer in Paris during the late 1940s and 1950s, renting a small room near St-Germain-des-Prés and toiling over drafts for his first novel, Go Tell It On the Mountain (1953).
Paris was, by both the writer’s own reckoning and those of many literary historians, the place where Baldwin was able to more clearly see, delineate, and condemn the twisted mechanisms of America’s institutionalized racism.
It was also in Paris where the young Baldwin became part of a vibrant community of writers, artists, and musicians, including many African Americans who had settled in Paris following World War II- from acclaimed author Richard Wright and Chester Himes (of the Harlem Detective Series fame) to the marvelous but under-appreciated abstract expressionist painter Beauford Delaney, and legendary jazz musician Duke Ellington.
In addition to hanging out and ruining longstanding friendships at the Magots, Baldwin frequently took to the tables at the Café de Flore across the street on Boulevard St-Germain, working on his essays and his first novels.
Baldwin also worked on his first novel, Go Tell It On the Mountain, in Café Flore at 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain.
Richard Wright
Richard Wright took frequent strolls through the tree-lined lanes here, including with his friend and fellow writer Gertrude Stein.
The American writer Richard Wright during the 1950s.
Richard Wright and James Baldwin had passionate debates about the plight of being Black in America.
Key Locations in African American History in Paris
At these historic Paris locations, you can follow in the footsteps of prominent African Americans who once lived as expats in the city. Use them, like I did, as a starting point to discover the French capital in a lesser-known light.
Here are 5 areas that brim with the contributions, conversations, and singular presence of some of the aforementioned figures, in addition to many more.
Café de la Régence
The Palais-Royal is in the middle of Paris’s 1st arrondissement near major landmarks like the Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries, and Arc de Triomphe. Since the café’s opening in 1670, it’s been a place for intellectuals in Paris to meet, converse, and play chess. This, perhaps, is why it was a favorite for Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist, writer, and scholar who was born enslaved in Maryland but escaped after 20 years.
Arc de Triomphe
Although the Arc de Triomphe is already regarded as a must-see landmark in Paris, there are tidbits of little-known histories related to the site-one of which has to do with the legacy of African American soldier Eugene Ballard.
“African American Eugene Bullard was invited by the French government to rekindle the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysées in 1954,” Wells points out.
Shakespeare and Company
On a secluded back street in the Latin Quarter, the English-language bookstore Shakespeare and Company has been a safe haven for book lovers in the French capital since it opened in 1919. In its earliest days, African American editors of the literary magazine Paris Review dubbed the shop as their hangout.
Café Tournon
Walk into this 6th arrondissement establishment tucked under classic Parisian apartments on the Rue de Tournon and you’ll be surrounded by locals feasting on escargot or sipping glasses of beaujolais. Throughout the ’20s, this Parisian café was a regular haunt for African American writers, artists, and expats who sought out life in the French capital after the end of World War I. Its most famous frequent customers included jazz legend Duke Ellington, painter Beauford Delaney, and later writers James Baldwin, Richard Wright, and Chester Himes, who often gathered at Café Tournon to converse about the joys and pains of their artistic lives.
The Cafe Tournon across from the Luxembourg Garden was a preferred haunt for writers including James Baldwin, Chester Himes and Richard Wright, as well as the jazz musician Duke Ellington.
Journalist William Gardner and writer Ralph Ellison were known to frequent Café Tournon (now Le Tournon)
Caveau de la Huchette
Near the Latin Quarter in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, the Caveau de la Huchette-which is often compared to a cavern in appearance (hence its name)-has earned a reputation for being particularly welcoming to African American jazz musicians since its 1947 inception. Lionel Hampton and Art Blakey were some of the leading American jazz musicians who graced the stage at this club. Today, visitors can hear a live performance every evening of the week.
Little Africa: La Goutte d'Or
In addition to literary legends, tens of thousands of families of African origin reside in Paris, specifically in the 18th arrondissement, where a resilient and thriving community exists.
La Goutte d’Or (the drop of gold) or locally known as Little Africa, is a neighborhood that borders one of Paris’s most popular cabarets, the Moulin Rouge. The Chateau Rouge, Gare Du Nord, Goutte D’Or, and Barbes neighborhoods are all metropolitan districts where people of African descent work, thrive, and live.
Tourists learn about how Black Americans fled to Paris in the mid-1900s to find peace during rising racial prejudices and the pre-Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
Marché Dejean
Little Africa is home to several markets that feature vendors selling spices such as piri piri and berbere. Located on Rue Dejean, Marché Dejean is an open-air market where stalls and local entrepreneurs sell a variety of produce, including okra, spinach, and seafood staples such as tilapia and barracuda.
Many French chefs of African descent have transformed their home-cooked meals (usually served at a restaurant) into prepared dishes to sell at the market.
Here’s a table summarizing some key figures and locations in African American history in Paris:
| Figure | Location | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Josephine Baker | Place Josephine Baker, Folies Bergère | Iconic entertainer and civil rights activist |
| James Baldwin | Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots | Celebrated author who wrote extensively about race and identity |
| Richard Wright | Café Tournon, Jardin du Luxembourg | Important writer who explored themes of race and social justice |
| Eugene Bullard | Arc de Triomphe | First African American military pilot |
| Langston Hughes | Montmartre | Important writer during the Harlem Renaissance |
| Frederick Douglass | Café de la Régence | Abolitionist, writer, and scholar |
