African Americans in France
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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African-American expatriation to Paris also boomed after World War I, beginning with black American veterans who preferred the subtler racism of Paris to the oppressive racism and segregation in the United States, which often involved lynchings in the American South. In the 1920s African-American writers, artists, and musicians arrived in Paris and popularized jazz in Parisian nightclubs, a time when Montmartre was know as "the Harlem of Paris." Some notable African-American expatriates from the 1920s onward included Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker. |
(Photo by Walery)
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African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans, Afro-Americans) in France are a subgroup of the larger American population in France, it may include people of African American heritage or black people from the United States who are or have become residents or citizens of France as well as students and temporary workers. Tyler Stovall, a history professor at the University of California, Berkeley, is quoted as saying,
"In many ways, African Americans came to France as a sort of privileged minority, a kind of model minority, if you will—a group that benefited not only from French fascination with blackness, but a French fascination about Americanness."
Notable people
- J. Alexander, model
- Josephine Baker, entertainer and actress
- Mickey Baker, one of the top guitarists of all time, and one of the most influential musicians in rock and roll
- Nicolas Batum, professional basketball player for the NBA's Charlotte Hornets
- Sidney Bechet, jazzman
- Arthur Briggs, jazz musician
- Eugene Bullard, world's first Black military pilot
- Barbara Chase-Riboud, novelist, poet, sculptor and visual artist
- Kenny Clarke, jazz musician
- Carole Fredericks, singer
- Johnny Griffin, bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist
- Chester Himes, crime novelist
- Ealy Mays, painter
- Chloé Mortaud, Miss France, 2009
- Rashaan Nall, actor, director, screenwriter, painter
- Lobo Nocho, jazz singer and painter who was romantically involved with Winston Churchill's daughter Sarah
- Tony Parker, basketball player with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs (born in Belgium, but raised in France)
- Melvin Sanders, professional basketball player
- Victor Séjour, playwright
- Nina Simone, jazz and blues singer, a prominent leader during the American Civil Rights Movement
- Ada "Bricktop" Smith, dancer, singer, vaudevillian, and self-described saloon-keeper
- Henry Ossawa Tanner, painter
- Dominique Wilkins, NBA Hall of Famer (born in France while his father was stationed there with the U.S. Air Force)
- Richard Wright, author of novels, short stories, and non-fiction
- James Baldwin, author and essayist
- Saul Williams, poet, singer, and actor
See also
