University of Kentucky UKnowledge Black Studies Race, Ethnicity, and Post-Colonial Studies 1961 The Negro in France Shelby T. McCloy University of Kentucky Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation McCloy, Shelby T., "The Negro in France" (1961). Black Studies. 2. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_black_studies/2 THE NEGRO IN FRANCE This page intentionally left blank SHELBY T. McCLOY THE NEGRO IN FRANCE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY PRESS Copyright© 1961 by the University of Kentucky Press Printed in the United States of America by the Division of Printing, University of Kentucky Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 61-6554 FOREWORD THE PURPOSE of this study is to present a history of the Negro who has come to France, the reasons for his coming, the record of his stay, and the reactions of the French to his presence. It is not a study of the Negro in the French colonies or of colonial conditions, for that is a different story. Occasion­ ally, however, reference to colonial happenings is brought in as necessary to set forth the background. The author has tried assiduously to restrict his attention to those of whose Negroid blood he could be certain, but whenever the distinction has been significant, he has considered as mulattoes all those having any mixture of Negro and white blood. The study includes all aspects of life for those Negroes who have gone to France-social, economic, military, political, cultural. Funda­ mentally it may be considered a social history. In the early 1940's, while working on a study of government assistance in eighteenth-century France, I came upon a number of references to Negroes in detention camps and hospitals. An article I wrote on these and other Negroes was published in the Journal of Negro History in 1945; the editor of this publica­ tion, the late Dr. Carter Woodson, encouraged me to pursue the study further. This I did at odd moments, and in 1954 I published in the same journal another article dealing further with Negroes and mulattoes of eighteenth-century France. Then came the Supreme Court decision of May 17, 1954, on the matter of school segregation in the United States, and the awakening of great public interest in the racial question. I thought once more of the Negro in France, and the committee administering Fulbright grants-in-aid enabled me to work in Paris for the academic year 1956-1957 on this subject. It was not easy to find material. At the outset, a well-known authority on colonial history advised me to limit the study to vi FOREWORD the eighteenth century, since the finding of material on Negroes in records of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is ex­ tremely difficult because references to color are generally omitted. It was only after much thought and weighing of the advantages and disadvantages of the two schemes that I decided to attempt the more difficult route. The research has proven slow and baffiing, as predicted, for there has been only negligible study made of this subject. The published works of merit dealing with the topic in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are virtually limited to a small book by Professor Mercer Cook entitled Five French Negro Authors ( 1943), Andre Maurois' Les trois Dumas ( 1957), Roi Ottley's No Green Pastures (1951), and J. A. Rogers' The World's Great Men of Color ( 1947, 2 v.). For the eighteenth century, more material is available, particularly in the archives, but even there it is not abundant. This difficulty in finding material explains the brevity of some of the later chapters. Despite the brevity, however, I am convinced that they present a faithful outline of a very interesting subject, a subject that will draw more attention with the passage of time. I have endeavored to be objective in treatment, but not uncritical, for I have often ventured an opinion on matters, as I think one who has studied a field should do. I hope that throughout I have been fair. There are many to whom I am indebted for aid in one form or another. First and foremost is the Fulbright Commission for the grant-in-aid that made possible a year's research in Paris and several port cities in France. Next is the University of Kentucky, for one semester of sabbatical aid during the same academic year, for a subsequent summer free from teaching duties for research and writing, and also for a trip to Washing­ ton in late 1959 for some final research. I am obligated to many in France for interviews and aid on material for my subject. They include M. Gaston Monnerville, President du Senat de la Republique Fran«;aise; Dr. Charles Braibant, former Directeur des Archives de France; Professeur Emile G. FOREWORD vii Leonard, of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes; Professeur Blanche Maurel, specialist on Santo Dominican history; M. C. LaRoche, Directeur des Archives de France Outre-Mer; M. Meyer, Archiviste des Archives Nationales; M. Jean Denizet, Chef de Service des Archives et de la Bibliotheque de la Marine; M. Audouy, Conservateur at the same institution; M. Allioun Diop, Redacteur of Presence Africaine; Mr. 0. Rudolph Aggrey, Youth Activities Officer in the United States Embassy; Mr. Robert L. Griere, Receptionist to the Vice President of the American Express Company; Dr. Robert 0. Mead, Director of the Fondation des Etats-Unis at the Cite Universitaire; Madame la Generale Louis Hary; M. Villard, Directeur des Archives des Bouches-du-Rhone; Professeur Andre Ducasse, Marseille; M. Rebuffat, Directeur des Archives du Chambre de Commerce de Marseille; M. Betje-Brezetz, Archiviste des Archives de la Gironde; M. Marcel Delafosse, Archiviste des Archives de la Charente-Inferieure; M. H. de Berranger, Archiviste des Archives de la Loire-Atlantique; M. Lecaude, Archiviste, and M. Dodard, Commis d'Administration, Archives de la Ville du Havre; M. Le Bihan, Sous-Archiviste, Archives du Finistere; and M. E. Ravillef, Archiviste, Archives Munici­ pales de Nantes. With all these the author had interviews and from each derived some aid. In addition, others have made valuable suggestions. M. Roger Vaurs and Mile Yvonne Daumarie, Director and Assistant Director of the Service de Presse et d'Information of the French Embassy in New York, kindly supplied some useful information by letter. The courtesy of all these persons has been in accord with the high reputation of the French in this respect. It was particularly in the Archives Nationales and the Bibliotheque Nationale, in Paris, that I gathered material, but there also was much valuable material in the Bibliotheque de la Marine at Paris, and in the departmental and municipal archives at Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, La Rochelle, Quimper, and Le Havre. In this country, in addition to the University of Kentucky Library, I have worked in the Library of Congress viii FOREWORD and Howard University Library. I acknowledge with thanks the courtesies of the staffs of these institutions, and particularly the kindness of Mrs. Dorothy B. Porter, Reference Librarian at Howard University. Several American libraries have placed books at my usage through interlibrary loan: the Library of Congress, Howard University, Fisk University, Stanford Uni­ versity, the Cleveland Public, the University of Missouri, and the University of Minnesota. Last but not least of my obligations are those to my wife, who accompanied me to France and aided greatly in checking bibliography, examining newspapers for material, copying passages, typing the manuscript, and offering criticism. CONTENTS Foreword PAGE V Introduction 1 One: Earliest Negro Arrivals 11 Two: Influx of Colonial Slaves 25 Three: A Negro Problem in France 43 Four: Liberation and Politics 63 Five: Wearing the Uniform 86 Six: Social Aspects of the Revolution 112 Seven: Under Slavery Again 124 Eight: A New Day in Politics 145 Nine: Literary Activities 159 Ten: Serving under the Tricolor 188 Eleven: To France for an Education 204 Twelve: Entertainment and Sports 228 Thirteen: Other Social Aspects 242 Fourteen: In Bigtime Politics 255 The Future Outlook 271 Index 275 This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION A DISTINGUISHED Negro leader in the United States has remarked that the outstanding problem of the twentieth century is that of the "color line" (the relation­ ship of the light and dark races). Although it is not of the gravity and scope of the world's struggle with nationalism and communism, I do agree that our race problem is of gigantic import. The furor over racial integration in the United States of America and the apartheid movement of the Union of South Africa have brought the race issue most sharply to the fore in recent years. To a lesser degree, but nonetheless keenly felt, it has shown itself also in Great Britain, where eighty thousand or more Negro colonials from Jamaica and Africa have come as immigrants and settlers, and in Germany, where two or three thousand "war babies" of mixed blood have been left by American Negro soldiers in the aftermath of World War II and that country's occupation. In Britain a few riots have occurred in ports where the Negroes have settled; some intermarriage between Negro men and British girls of the lower classes has taken place; and there has been much alleged labor discrimination and bitter ostracism of those whites marrying Negroes. The problem has gained most force since World War II and is an ugly one.