Description
A Black history walking tour in the Latin Quarter takes you away from the tourist crowds and into the Left Bank history of the African diaspora, between the Panthéon and Saint-Germain-des-Prés. In about two hours you see how Paris was both a refuge and a challenge for Black writers, thinkers and activists from Africa, the Caribbean and the United States.
You follow the traces of James Baldwin, who found his voice in Parisian cafés after leaving the segregated United States, and stop at Café Tournon, a haunt of Baldwin, Langston Hughes and others. Outside the Panthéon you hear the story of Josephine Baker, a hero of the Resistance and the first Black woman to enter it.
- Présence Africaine, the bookshop at the heart of decolonisation debates
- Paulette Nardal and the intellectual circle that began near the Jardin du Luxembourg
- Aimé Césaire, Léopold Senghor and the Négritude movement
- Severiano de Heredia, who led the city hall as its earliest Black mayor
The guide leads an intimate walk that is as much about people as about places. The visits to the Panthéon, Café Tournon and the bookshop are from the outside. Wear comfortable shoes. Food, drinks and transport to the meeting point are not included.