BLACK HISTORY MONTH & BEYOND
WHAT’S ON IN PARIS winter/spring 2025
Is Black History Month celebrated in France the same as in the North America. Yes and No.
In the U.S. historian Carter G. Woodson, through the Association for the Study of African-American Life and Culture, launched a Negro History Week in 1926. His goal was to educate Blacks on their history and on insidious effects of enslavement and subsequent Jim Crow laws.
France has a different history: it was a colonizing nation whose enterprise created particular conditions and a specific history of French black diasporas. Do we know the names of great francophone figures of resistance as well as we cite Martin Luther King Jr or Rosa Parks?
The month of May, rather than February, was pivotal in the fight for emancipation of the French diasapora. To that end, when visiting France on May 10 you can attend commemorations of the abolition of slavery. It is also the month when the Taubira Law made slavery a crime against humanity.
Of the countries where a diaspora exists, France still keeps Black History Month at arms length. In 2013, several events were launched by theBlack History Month Association at the initiative of scholar Maboula Soumahoro. She also adds the term ‘Africana’ to the term Black History Month.
The ultimate goal wherever BHM is being celebrated is for folks to know their history, and make that history known, dig into political issues.
This list provides a few events, primarily in Paris. If you’re traveling along the west coast of France, you will come across others in towns which were involved in the triangular slave trade.
Check back for new additions.
FEBRUARY 1
Screening of the short film I Needed Paris honoring photographer Gordon Park
This film follows the journey of a small group of photography students from the Gordon Parks Academy in Wichita, KS, through Paris, France, in late May 2024, traversing the same streets and neighborhoods as Gordon Parks when he worked in the Paris bureau of Life magazine in the early 1950s. These students along with other photographers will take a deep dive into Gordon’s world of fashions, portraits, street photography, music and poetry. They will also incorporate some fashion images using the same type of camera Gordon used – twin lens reflex film cameras.
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Date : Saturday, Feb 1st, 2025
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Time : 7 to 8.30 pm
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Location : Restaurant Le 47 : 47, rue François 1er, 75008 Paris
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For further information, see : mission.outreach@americancathedral.org
FEBUARY 2
(In French)
Lecture: “Jim Crow, Caste Terrorism in America” by Loïc Wacquant
Discussion with sociologist Loïc Wacquant about his book “Jim Crow – caste terrorism in America” hosted by Thierry Blanc as part of the “Les Plateaux Diplomatiques” series
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Date : Sunday February 2nd, 2025
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Time : 4 – 5.30 pm
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Location : Quai Branly Museum (Jacques Kerchache reading room)
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For further information, see : https://www.quaibranly.fr/fr/expositions-evenements/au-musee/rendez-vous-du-salon-de-lecture-jacques-kerchache/details-de-levenement/e/jim-crow-le-terrorisme-de-caste-en-amerique-40321
UNTIL FEBRUARY 5
Celebration of “Black History Month” at the Paris 8 University Library.
Exhibition “The Erasure of Black Cemeteries in the United States” (photographs by Pauline Peretz and Endika), from January 23 to February 5, 2025
· Closing conference on February 5 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.: “Stories and places to tell African-American history” In French
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Date : January 23rd to February 5, 2025
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Location : Université Paris 8 (Bibliothèque), 2, rue de la Liberté, 93526 Saint-Denis
(Metro Saint-Denis Université)
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For further information, see : https://www.bu.univ-paris8.fr/actus/black-history-month/
FEBRUARY 4
African American History Month hosted by the Théâtre de la Concorde and the Embassy of the United States of America are offering a thematic day to celebrate African-American cultural heritage.
On the program:
- music and cinema: with the exceptional participation of ARISE Ensemble, an emblematic gospel group from Kansas,
- the screening of the documentary film ‘City of Ali’, which explores the impact of Mohamed Ali on his native city Louisville and beyond. A cultural and committed celebration not to be missed!
The screening will be followed by a discussion in French with the audience, the film’s director Graham Shelby, and the World Champion and Olympic Vice-Champion in boxing Sarah Ourahmoune.
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Date : Tuesday February 4, 2025
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Time : 2 to 4 pm
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Location : Théâtre de la Concorde, 1 avenue Gabriel, 75008 Paris
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For further information, see : https://theatredelaconcorde.paris/evenements/projection-debat-dans-le-cadre-du-mois-de-lhistoire-africaine-americaine-city-of-mohamed-ali-la-passion-du-ring-pour-un-monde-plus-inclusif/
FEBRUARY 6
Film Screening
Organized by AAWE – Association of American Women in Europe
Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Joanne Burke and renown jazz musican Darryl Hall.
Step into the vibrant world of Paris during the early 20th century and uncover the remarkable contributions of African Americans to the City of Light.
“Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light” is the most comprehensive and compelling documentary on the remarkable migration of pioneering African Americans who sought freedom from America’s racism and found acceptance and great achievement abroad. Beginning with World War I soldiers, the film weaves together the contributions and influence of writers, musicians, intellectuals, entertainers and artists in Paris from the 1920s to the 1950s.”
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Date : Thursday, February 6th, 2025
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Time : 6.30 – 9pm
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Location : Cinéma Christine 21, 4 Rue Christine, 75006 Paris (Métro Odeon)
- Tickets general public €20). Discount for members of the community of the American Cathedral and members of Democrats Abroad
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For further information, see : https://aawe.wildapricot.org/event-5964977
UNTIL FEBRUARY 9
Exhibition: Chaque Vie est Une Histoire
Chaque vie est une histoire (Every Life is a Story) first offers an artistic and poetic stroll through a set of monumental works, inspired by the Palais de la Porte Dorée and its inhabitants. 13 international artists invest the historic spaces of the Palais, a monument built in the 1930s to glorify France’s colonial exploits. Now a site that also houses the Museum of Immigration, it explores centuries and outcomes of colonialism, the slave trade, ongoing migration. The artists invent in situ creations that trace its memory and reveal the monument in a new light.
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Date : November 8, 2024 – February 9, 2025
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Location : Musée national de l’histoire et de l’immigration, Palais de la Porte Dorée, 293 avenue Dausmesnil, 75012 Paris
FEBRUARY 5 – SEPTEMBER 7
Exhibition : WAX
Most people associate the colorful textile known as wax with West Africa. In fact, this very popular fabric originates from a batik technique of Indonesia. Wax is enjoying unprecedented popularity in Western societies, as shown here by designers, art historians, anthropologists, contemporary artists. The role of women in widely distributing this fabric is also explored, as well as its importance marking generations of society and family events.
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Date : February 5 – September 7, 2025
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Location : Musée de l’Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016 Paris
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For further information, see : https://www.museedelhomme.fr/fr/exposition/wax
UNTIL MARCH 3
Colonial Sciences, Photographs of the French Institute of Black Africa (1936-1966)
Founded in Dakar (Senegal) in 1936, in a colonial context, the French Institute of Black Africa (IFAN), played a key role in the study of the territories of French West Africa under colonial domination. Through multidisciplinary research and its photo library created in 1942, IFAN has collected thousands of photos illustrating the environments and populations of this region.
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Date : Saturday November 23, 2024 to Monday March 3, 2025
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Location : Quai Branly Museum, 37 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris
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For further information, see : https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/exhibitions-and-events/at-the-museum/exhibitions/event-details/e/sciences-coloniales-photographies-de-linstitut-francais-dafrique-noire-1936-1966
Note: The Quai Branly Museum Branly is exclusively devoted to the arts and material cultures of indigenous and “non-European” civilizations, primarily Africa, Oceania, the Americas. Apart from its major exhibits, it presents smaller and important, but rarely found, exhibits like this one.
FEBRUARY 25
Lecture: Wheatley at 250: Celebrating the Legacy of America’s First Published African-American Poet
Join contemporary writers in honoring Phillis Wheatley’s groundbreaking literary legacy and discover how her poetry continues to inspire generations of poets.
Join Danielle Legros Georges and Artress Bethany White, co-editors of the collection, and Florence Ladd, novelist and poet, as they discuss Wheatley’s impact on the literary world and how her work resonates today. This conversation, moderated by Professor and author Trica Keaton, will explore the transformative power of Wheatley’s words and the ongoing influence of Black women poets across generations.
Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
- Date: February 25 , 7:30 – 8: 30 pm
- Place: American Library in Paris, 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris
Reserve for In Person or Zoom attendance: https://americanlibraryinparis.org/event/wheatley25/
MARCH 1
Black History Month is going into overtime with its exceptional MAImoryTour!
Join us on Saturday, March 1st for a one-of-a-kind tour of Paris, where we will delve into the history of our Afro-Caribbean personalities through an incredible journey.
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Date : March 1st, 2025
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Time : 8.30 am – 7 pm
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Starting point : Jardin du Luxembourg, rue Auguste Comte, 75006 Paris
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For further information, see : https://www.helloasso.com/associations/francais-a-part-entiere/evenements/maimory-tour-1er-mars-2025
MARCH 19 – JUNE 30
Major Exhibition: Paris Noir – Artistic Movements and Anticolonial Struggles, 1950–2000
From the creation of the journal Présence Africaine to Revue Noire, “Paris Noir” traces the presence and influence of Black artists in France from the 1940s to the 2000s.
The exhibition highlights 150 African and Afro-descendant artists, from Africa to the Americas, whose works have often never been shown in France. All contributed to a cosmopolitan Paris—a place of resistance and creativity—that fostered a wide variety of practices, from identity awareness to the search for transcultural artistic languages.
Their impact is particularly significant in the redefinition of modernities and postmodernities. The exhibition explores half a century of struggles for emancipation, from African independence movements to the fall of apartheid, including battles against racism in France.
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Date : March 19, 2025 – June 30, 2025
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Location : Centre Pompidou, Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris
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For further information, see : https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/program/exhibitions
APRIL 3 – 7
Screening and lecture: filmmaker Sarah Maldoror
In the spirit of one of her landmark works, Et les chiens se taisaient—excerpts from Aimé Césaire’s eponymous play, staged in the storage rooms of the Musée de l’Homme in 1978—the life and career of Sarah Maldoror (1929–2020) reflect the major struggles of the 20th century: Surrealism, Négritude, Pan-Africanism, feminism, and communism.
As a companion to the Georges Pompidou Center exhibition Paris Noir, which explores the presence and influence of Black artists in France from the 1950s to the 2000s, the public is invited to hear the voice of this filmmaker in the present tense.
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Date : 3 – 7 April 2025
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Location : Centre Pompidou, Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris
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For further information, see : https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/program/cinema#c31054
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