Paris: Where the Black Diaspora Meets

By Unerased, Black Women Speak, from Word in Black

France says everyone is French and sees itself as be colorblind. But Paris has always been home to Black folks from across the diaspora.

Julia Browne, historian and tour guide, takes us back to Paris as a meeting place for descendants of Africa scattered across the globe. She is the author of three profiles for Unerased Pathfinders and Patriots. This conversation reveals her love affair with “The City of Lights” and how the natural progression for her to share this was by creating the Black Heritage in France Walking The Spirit tours.

UNERASED:  What inspired you to launch Black Heritage in France Walking the Spirit tours?

Julia Browne: I had long been a Francophile and was inspired by the French language and culture from an early age. I was born in the north of England and emigrated to Canada in 1967 and then moved to France in 1990 — actually on the birthday of Langston Hughes. I have a foot on both continents, but I’m also an instinctual person. I had taken a year abroad in France, and I was there for 18 months. I met someone in France, whom I eventually married. 

Five years after I had been in France, I was taking a course at the Sorbonne with the late Michele Fabre. He had written a guidebook on streets that were significant for African Americans in Paris. So, I took this guidebook and walked the streets. I discovered that Langston Hughes had lived in my neighborhood. I was able to walk to his house and go into his attic. I experienced the space where this writer I had always admired, lived and worked.

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