Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light [Hardcover]

Tyler Stovall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 1996

Paris Noir fills a grievous gap in the fascinating history of American expatriates who chose to live in Paris in the twentieth century. Alongside Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and Henry Miller was an avant-garde and tightly knit community of African Americans who found in Paris the artistic, racial, and emotional freedom denied them back home. The writers James Baldwin and Richard Wright; the jazz musicians Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Sidney Bechet; and the artists Henry Ossawa Tanner, Lois Mailou Jones, and Jean-Michel Basquiat are among the score of exiles for whom Paris symbolized a color-blind society. Unlike their white compatriots, African Americans in Paris rejected not only American society, but also their victimized status in the U.S. And while black and white Americans inhabited different worlds even in Paris, they found meeting grounds in such places as Bricktop's jazzy nightclub, where the flamboyant owner taught Cole Porter to dance the Charleston. As the historian John Merriman proclaimed, "With skill and passion, Stovall brings this vibrant community to life."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Significant numbers of black Americans went to France for the first time in World War I as part of the U.S. armed forces and discovered a country where they were free of the strictures of racism. This comprehensive look at black Americans' historical affection for Paris in the 20th century covers literary figures like Richard Wright, entertainers like Josephine Baker and jazz musicians like Sidney Bechet and Kenny Clarke, as well as black academics, scientists and businessmen who found new lives in Paris. This is an important, and welcome book.

From Publishers Weekly

Stovall's revelatory chronicle reclaims an important yet neglected chapter of cultural history, delineating a cohesive community of black American expatriate writers, artists, musicians and intellectuals in Paris from 1914 to the present. During WWI African American soldiers, targets of discrimination on the front and back home, were welcomed cordially by ordinary French citizens. Attracted by the myth of a color-blind France, Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes, Claude McKay and Countee Cullen flocked to Paris; Josephine Baker conquered the stage with her sensational performances; jazz musicians Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Bill Coleman lived in and drew inspiration from the City of Light. In the 1930s African American expatriate writers and artists in Paris helped launch the Negritude movement. Postwar Paris became a magnet to writers like Richard Wright, James Baldwin and detective novelist Chester Himes, who saw themselves as political exiles from a racist U.S. They fit into a vibrant Left Bank community that maintained close ties with Camus, Cocteau, Sartre, de Beauvoir. The 1960s and '70s saw an influx of African American emigre scientists, photographers, restaurant owners, taxi drivers, diversifying the community that today faces the rise of overt French racism. Stovall, a history professor at UC Santa Cruz, begins with an account of his own transformative experience as an African American in Paris in the early 1980s. His engrossing survey makes a compelling case that these expatriates pioneered a new type of cosmopolitan black community, one that celebrated black identity and helped them achieve a level of success denied to them back home, while they explored different modes of African-based culture from around the world. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 366 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First Printing edition (December 4, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395683998
• ISBN-13: 978-0395683996
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Accurate, Historical, Obsessively Factual., April 25, 2000

By 

PermaStudent (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light (Hardcover)

Stovall faithfully captures the beginnings of the African American community in Paris, tracking music, artistic, and literary communities separately. He is attentive to detail in the extreme and vibrantly captures the excitement of Montmartre. However, little is done to bring these observations together or forward any argument. Stovall does more to present fact that persuade. _Paris Noire_ is better as a reference than a 'read' and for someone interested in comparing the time period with the Harlem Renaissance, this book does little to track what events were happening outside of Paris. Nevertheless, the amount of research in this book is amazing. The picture inset features beautiful photos of Tanner and Josephine Baker, cartoons of the time, and is a very welcome addition to the book. Stovall's work is an opening into a relatively uncharted area of African American history but it is not the final word. _Paris Noire_ opens a dialogue that I hope is continued in future books on the subject.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!, July 19, 2000

By 

S. Cofield "Stacy" (Timonium, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light (Hardcover)

I recently checked out this book from my University library for a term paper on the 1920s. It was so informative; I could not put it down! I then decided I had to purchase this book for my library. I highly recommend this interesting and informative book!