THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
R E F E R E N C E N O T E S
THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN FRANCE:
A PRELIMINARY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHYCompiled by RUNOKO RASHIDI AND ZAWADI SAGNA
"A man’s mind is elevated to the status of the women with whom he associates.“
--Alexander Dumas, pere
Begg, Ean. The Cult of the Black Virgin. London: Arkana, 1985.
In the comprehensive gazetteer are listed the locations and backgrounds to 302 Black Virgin sites in France.
Ferris, William Henry. The African Abroad or His Evolution in Western Civilization Tracing his Development Under Caucasian Milieu, two volumes. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1913; rpt. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, n.d.
Volume two looks at the African presence in Europe including France. The African Abroad was reviewed in Duse Mohamed Ali's The African Times and Orient Review in October 1913. Ferris (1874-1941) later became literary editor of Marcus Garvey's Negro World.
Fleming, Beatrice J., and Marion J. Pryde. Distinguished Negroes Abroad. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, 1946.
Contains a forty-six page section on African men in France from Jean-Baptiste Lislet-Geoffroy to Felix Eboue.
Guede, Alain. Monsieur de Saint-George: Virtuoso, Swordsman, Revolutionary: A Legendary Life Rediscovered. Translated from the French by Gilda M. Roberts. New York: Picador, 2003.
Lucidly told story of the splendid Guadeloupe born Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea: An Autobiography. Introduction by Arnold Rampersad. New York: Hill & Wang, 1993.
Contains Hughes' lively account of his 1920s sojourn in Paris.
McCloy, Shelby T. The Negro in France. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1961.
Probably the fullest treatment of the African presence in France. According to McCloy, "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 coming, the record of his stay, and the reactions of the French to his presence."
Ribbe, Claude. Alexandre Dumas, le Dragon de la Reine, Biographie. Paris: Perrin, 2002.
The best comprehensive African-centered account of General Dumas.
Ribbe, Claude. Le chevalier de Saint-George Biographie. Paris: Perrin, 2004.
The best comprehensive African-centered account of the great Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
Rogers, J.A. Nature Knows no Color-Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race. New York: Helga M. Rogers, 1952.
Chapter eight is devoted to the "Negro Ancestry in the French."
Well-illustrated and thoroughly documented by probably the greatest chronicler of the Global African Presence.
Rogers, J.A. Sex and Race: Negro - Caucasian Mixing in All Ages and All Lands. New York: Helga M. Rogers, 1967.
The outstanding Jamaican born journalist and historian Joel Augustus Rogers devotes chapter nineteen of the first volume of Sex and Race to what he calls "Miscegenation in France."
Rogers, J.A. World's Great Men of Color, Volume 2. Introduction by John Henrik Clarke. New York: Macmillan, 1972.
The first section of the book is devoted to Europe and includes short chapters on some of the most notable men of African descent in French history. Considered by many to be Rogers's finest work.
Scobie, Edward. Global African Presence. Introduction by Ivan Van Sertima. Brooklyn: A&B Books, 1994.
More than half the text by the distinguished Dominican born scholar Dr. Edward Vivian Scobie is devoted to the African presence in early Europe including France.
Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. African Presence in Early Europe. New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1985.
Dr. Van Sertima's anthology includes an excellent and inspiring chapter on the Chevalier de-Saint Georges by Edward Scobie.
Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Golden Age of the Moor. New Brunswick: Transaction Press, 1992.
This anthology includes glimpses of the Moorish presence in early France.
Copyright © 1998 Runoko Rashidi.
All rights reserved. Revised: July 27, 2005
Webpage design: Kenneth Ritchards