Explore Black Paris of Yesterday & Today
Casino de Paris concert hall
"The French were so inspiring. They would say 'mademoiselle, you are so very talented."
Lois Mailou Jones (painter).
Lois Mailou Jones (painter).
"I got to see where the likes of Josephine Baker, all the jazz and Blues greats played and lived, and the great writers including Richard Wright and Langston Hughes.
On a different tour we got to see the African side of Paris and visited an African Farmers Market, had a delicious meal at a Senegalese restaurant. When I return to Paris I will take the tour again. There was so much to see and learn about you couldn't possibly get it all in one tour. Overall very educational, entertaining and enlightening.
Nnegest Likke, Director & Writer of 'Phat Girlz'
On a different tour we got to see the African side of Paris and visited an African Farmers Market, had a delicious meal at a Senegalese restaurant. When I return to Paris I will take the tour again. There was so much to see and learn about you couldn't possibly get it all in one tour. Overall very educational, entertaining and enlightening.
Nnegest Likke, Director & Writer of 'Phat Girlz'
Tours
Travel the backstreets to retrace where Chester Himes dreamed up prize-winning detective novels, Richard Wright jousted with French intellectuals, and Gordon Heath strummed his folk guitar. Bud Powell’s wife served up home food here, Lois Mailou Jones painted her way across the city and Henry O. Tanner painted his way into the Louvre.
Also: Ira Aldridge, Hale Woodruff, Meta Vaux Warrick, Miles Davis, Claude McKay, Victor Séjour and more.
This area is home to bookshops of all cultures and tastes, the venerable Sorbonne University, art house cinemas, existential cafes and the city’s original art gallery district. Enlightening.
Duration: 2 ½ hrs Available walking; by mini-bus for groups up to 14.
Please email walkthespirit@ netscape.net Reserve
Tour #2 The Entertainers
Lower Montmartre / Pigalle
Discover how African and African-American cultures met here for the first time and birthed a cultural and artistic revolution in France.
Between the Moulin Rouge to the north and Bricktop’s cabaret to the south, this entertainment district became the birthplace of Europe-centered jazz after WWI. Thanks to the joie de vivre brought in by Southern Syncopated orchestras and the Harlem Hellfighers, New Orleans saxophonist/clarinetist Sidney Bechet became King, Josephine Baker the Queen.
Also: Langston Hughes, Bud Powell, Florence Mills, Leroy Haynes Soul Food Restaurant, Surrealist painters, African art and more.
Black was indeed Beautiful in the 1920s.
Duration: 2 ½ hours Available walking and by bus for groups up to 14.
Please email walkthespirit@ netscape.net Reserve
Tour #3 Africa In Paris NEW & IMPROVED!
Château Rouge / La Goutte d'Or
Between the KFC, the bountiful fresh fish in the open-air market, the mosques, the hair shops, micro businesses, and new mega stores like Virgin Records, Barbès smells, looks, and lives like no other quartier in the city.
You'll have no better guide than a member of the community.
- visit the market - chat with the tailors and designers and community leaders - browse music producers/- take in art at the community centre - enjoy traditional dishes and drinks.
Fascinating.
Duration: 2 hours Available walking only. Reserve
Also: Ira Aldridge, Hale Woodruff, Meta Vaux Warrick, Miles Davis, Claude McKay, Victor Séjour and more.
This area is home to bookshops of all cultures and tastes, the venerable Sorbonne University, art house cinemas, existential cafes and the city’s original art gallery district. Enlightening.
Duration: 2 ½ hrs Available walking; by mini-bus for groups up to 14.
Please email walkthespirit@ netscape.net Reserve
Tour #2 The Entertainers
Lower Montmartre / Pigalle
Discover how African and African-American cultures met here for the first time and birthed a cultural and artistic revolution in France.
Between the Moulin Rouge to the north and Bricktop’s cabaret to the south, this entertainment district became the birthplace of Europe-centered jazz after WWI. Thanks to the joie de vivre brought in by Southern Syncopated orchestras and the Harlem Hellfighers, New Orleans saxophonist/clarinetist Sidney Bechet became King, Josephine Baker the Queen.
Also: Langston Hughes, Bud Powell, Florence Mills, Leroy Haynes Soul Food Restaurant, Surrealist painters, African art and more.
Black was indeed Beautiful in the 1920s.
Duration: 2 ½ hours Available walking and by bus for groups up to 14.
Please email walkthespirit@ netscape.net Reserve
Tour #3 Africa In Paris NEW & IMPROVED!
Château Rouge / La Goutte d'Or
Between the KFC, the bountiful fresh fish in the open-air market, the mosques, the hair shops, micro businesses, and new mega stores like Virgin Records, Barbès smells, looks, and lives like no other quartier in the city.
You'll have no better guide than a member of the community.
- visit the market - chat with the tailors and designers and community leaders - browse music producers/- take in art at the community centre - enjoy traditional dishes and drinks.
Fascinating.
Duration: 2 hours Available walking only. Reserve
Walk 1, 2, or make it a Black Paris day with our Spirit of Black Paris combination walking/bus tour. Not only will you gain valuable insight into African-American expatriate and Diaspora life but also a background on the French history that shaped their time and experiences.
Beyond the stories, each tour brings a multi-layered understanding of the individual quartiers. Facades and inhabitants may have changed but the influence on today's Black community remains timeless. So much to discuss as we walk.
If time, mobility, and weather are a concern, opt for the comfort and scope of a bus tour.
Beyond the stories, each tour brings a multi-layered understanding of the individual quartiers. Facades and inhabitants may have changed but the influence on today's Black community remains timeless. So much to discuss as we walk.
If time, mobility, and weather are a concern, opt for the comfort and scope of a bus tour.
Tour #1 Writers, Artists, & Intellectuals
The Latin Quarter / St.Germain-des-Près
The Latin Quarter / St.Germain-des-Près
Spirit of Black Paris Combo bus/walking Tour
You want to see it all but 2 tours is too much walking? Combining bus and walking, you can still browse the shops, cafes, bookstores of the lively Latin Quarter and classy St.Germain-des-Pres. Then board a luxury private minibus to weave the hilly streets of Lower Montmartre where jazz and Josephine reigned, along the Champs-Elyées, and south to Montparnasse and Josephine Baker Square..
Along the way traverse the Louvre courtyard, sweep past the Obelisque and the Opera House, and glimpse the Grand Department Stores. Perfect for families and groups up to 7 people.
Duration: 5 hours. Please email walkthespirit@ netscape.net Reserve
In 3.5 hours you take in the highlights of Black History in Paris by bus. The tour winds through the Latin Quarter, St.Germain-des-Pres then across to the right bank, along the Champs-Elysees where the 369th Harlem Infantry regiment marched after WWI. Up the hilly streets of Black Montmartre Sidney Bechet jazzed; the ladies Josephine, Bricktop, Alberta Hunter, and Florence Mills sang; Gene Bullard kept the bar open, and black business owners thrived.
The added feature of the bus includes sites too far afield to include in the walking tour, such as the Place Josephine Baker and the Madeleine church, site of Josephine Baker’s full military funeral.
Tour in luxury air-conditioned busses with panoramic windows hold 7, 14, & 30+ passengers. Hotel pick-up and drop off point of your choice.
The tour is commented throughout by our informative guides, who will also point out the must-see monuments and markers along the way.
Please email walkthespirit@ netscape.net Request quote
The added feature of the bus includes sites too far afield to include in the walking tour, such as the Place Josephine Baker and the Madeleine church, site of Josephine Baker’s full military funeral.
Tour in luxury air-conditioned busses with panoramic windows hold 7, 14, & 30+ passengers. Hotel pick-up and drop off point of your choice.
The tour is commented throughout by our informative guides, who will also point out the must-see monuments and markers along the way.
Please email walkthespirit@ netscape.net Request quote
Bus Tours
Walking the Spirit Tours