A Day of Exploring Black Paris

Highlights

• Explore Black history in Paris on a full-day cultural journey
• Move through Paris as locals do, not as tourists observing from the outside
• Experience stories, music, shops, and food woven into one continuous journey

Description

This experience begins at the historic café, Les Deux Magots, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés with a relaxed meet-and-greet and light breakfast. Here we also discuss some of the Black writers, artists, musicians, and thinkers from across the African diaspora.

Our next stop is Librairie Présence Africaine, a cornerstone of Black intellectual life in Paris and a historic gathering place for writers, activists, and scholars from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. We explore its legacy and discuss the cultural networks that formed around it.

We continue to La Rhumerie, where guests can partake in refreshments while we talk about Caribbean presence in Paris and how it formed. From there, we move through Pigalle to uncover the history of Black American jazz musicians, soldiers, and entrepreneurs who helped shape the neighborhood’s nightlife and music scene in the 20th century.

In the second half of the day, we head north to La Goutte d’Or, also known as "Little Africa," where the experience becomes more immersive. Walking through market streets and local shops, we explore how African and Caribbean communities live, work, and express culture in contemporary Paris. Guests have the opportunity to enter the businesses, ask questions, and engage with the neighborhood at a real, everyday level.

The experience concludes in Château d’Eau with a shared meal at BMK Paris-Bamako, where food becomes a final point of connection, bringing together the histories, movements, and cultures explored throughout the day.