French capital harbors history of African-American expatriate artists
PARIS — The great AfricanAmerican writers James Baldwin and Richard Wright began their feud over Wright’s novel “Native Son” at Cafe Les Deux Magots.
Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis held hands with his white girlfriend, French actress Juliette Greco, while strolling along the Seine after hanging out with Picasso.
Entertainer Josephine Baker became a megastar at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.
Some travelers to Paris take selfies at the Eiffel Tower, go to see
the Mona Lisa at the Louvre or stroll to the Arc de Triomphe.
But you can create a different type of itinerary exploring African-American connections to the City of Light. Some of the United States' greatest black intellectuals and performers sought an escape here from the racism of 20th-century
America, and, with a little homework, you can retrace their footsteps.
"Paris. ... There you can be whatever you want to be. Totally yourself," wrote poet Langston Hughes, according to Paule Marshall's memoir "Triangular Road."
"I've never felt a moment of sorrow," Wright said of leaving the United States for France.
How and why these black expats felt more at home in Paris than in their own country is the theme of Black Paris Tours, founded and led by Ricki Stevenson.
In the U.S., AfricanAmericans contended with segregation, racial terror and little support for their art. But in Paris, they drank wine with surrealists, frequented bars that aided the French Resistance during World War II and enjoyed accolades for their work, Stevenson said.
The French showered them with admiration and opportunity — an irony, given France's treatment of its African colonies. And even though Paris today is multiethnic, immigrants from its former colonies, especially North Africans, often face racism and discrimination.
Decades ago, though, African-Americans felt welcomed here. St. Louis-born Freda Josephine McDonald, for example, moved to Paris as a dancer after a life of cleaning houses and babysitting for wealthy white families. In the U.S., she was criticized for being "too dark." The New York Times once called her a "Negro wench."
But in Paris, she drew immediate fame for her 1925 performance in La Revue Negre at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees. As Josephine Baker, she became one of the era's most popular performers.
"The opportunity to live a rich, full life is something that she could have in Paris," Stevenson said. "She could not have this in the United States."
When Baker died in 1975, she was buried in a French military uniform with her medals for her role in the French Resistance during World War II.
Today, you can catch a show at the Art Deco-style Theatre des Champs-Elysees; visit Baker's favorite restaurant, La Coupole; and take photos at Place Josephine Baker, a square.
Her image, rarely seen in the United States, is widespread in Paris. A swimming pool is even named for her, in a barge floating on the Seine.
And Paris jazz clubs such as Caveau de la Huchette in the city's Latin Quarter still serve up energetic evenings of live swing and bebop.
Caveau de la Huchette, founded in 1947, was one of many clubs where AfricanAmerican performers sought to make a living amid changing musical tastes in the United States.It hosted the likes of Lionel Hampton and Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers. Last year, the club had a cameo in the movie "La La Land." One evening during the summer, a trio of saxophonists drew a diverse crowd of swing dancers enjoying 1940s-era jazz.
Around the corner from Caveau de la Huchette, vintage shops sell posters of African-American jazz artists and hard-to-find vinyl albums such as "The Hawk in Paris" by Coleman Hawkins.
In Saint Germain des Pres, Cafe de Flore is known as a favorite hangout of Ernest Hemingway's. But it's also where James Baldwin, a son of Harlem who arrived in Paris with only $40, crafted his novel "Go Tell It on the Mountain." There's a small photo of Hemingway upstairs, but no image of Baldwin.
At Le Select cafe, a gathering place for intellectuals before World War II, Baldwin finished "Giovanni's Room," a novel about an American in Paris and his affair with an Italian man.
The famed English-language bookstore Shakespeare and Co. served as a meeting place for African-Americans and other expats throughout the 20th century and still does.
On a recent afternoon, the African-American writer Colson Whitehead talked to a crowd outside the store about his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Underground Railroad." He answered questions about slavery in the U.S., police shootings and the state of African-Americans in a post-President Barack Obama nation.
Inside, books on display included "They Can't Kill Us All: The Story of the Struggle for Black Lives" and "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race."
Looking back on his time in Paris, Miles Davis once wrote: "I loved being in Paris and loved the way I was treated."
Stevenson said visitors can learn about that chapter of the African-American experience today.
"All you need to know is the history," she said. "And know where to visit. It's all here."