FRANCE HAS WELCOMED AFRICAN-AMERICANS SINCE WORLD WAR I...

 WHEN THEIR SOLDIERS' JAZZ ASTONISHED PARISIANS

France-Amérique / zoom 

Gospel is taught as well as frequently performed.

Bechet's first stay in France (in 1925-1929) ended with 11 months in jail for having accidentally shot a woman. Back in the U.S. he opened a tailor shop to make ends meet, where musicians would come and play with him at the back of the store. Feeling that the US had no room for him he returned to France in 1951, where he became legendary. 

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Ursuline Kairson arrived in Paris with a Broadway show, became lead singer at the Paradis Latin cabaret, stars in the musical Maya, une voix (see the poster below and click here for a performance).

Entrée to Black Paris

Franklin sang at Obama's inauguration... and has a Parisian park named after her.

Josephine Baker, one of the first international stars, has...  

• Entered the Panthéon (the secular mausoleum).

Entrée to Black Paris, March 21 2021

The television station France 24 then interviewed Monique Wells, who publishes Entrée to Black Paris and guides visits that focus on African Americans.

• Had a square named after her.

Claude Abron

Inauguration of place Joséphine Baker, 14th, with the district mayor and Ursuline Kairson.

• A poster that is often adapted.

Entrée to Black Paris 

   

Bus stop in the 13th, novembre 2023; decor 2024 (Facebook, Jill Danger)

• Her image put on a coin and painted on a wall.

  169 boulevard de l'Hopital,13th

• A show and museum created by the performer Brian Scott Bagley.


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As well:

  

Entrée to Black Paris

Photo and write-up, Entry to Black Paris

Africa Rising II, sculpture by Barbara Chase Riboud in Tuileries gardens, 2025

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The active community of American Blacks

can be perceived through the blog Entrée to Black Paris...

Entrée to Black Paris

Meeting shown in a blog that features walking tours and events.

And the association Sistahs Circle Paris informs of activities and performances:

Left, reading by Brian Scott Bagley (mentioned above) for Juneteenth*; right, Sherry Bell, co-founder of the Black Caucus for Democrats Abroad, mobilizes.

*The American holiday that commemorates June 19th, 1865, the day that marked the end of slavery's last bastion (distant Texas).

All are welcome.

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Next,

Then acknowledged Third-World Blacks...