Written by: Michael Krueger
This March I am participating in Upstate International which is a month long series of internationally themed cultural exhibitions, business networking, social events, and art contests. These events celebrate the rich, varying cultures that exist in the upstate and facilitate the growth of international culture and business in a variety of ways.
On Tuesday, March 3, Ms. Araceli La Roche, a French professor with USC Upstate hosted a screening of “Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story” to about 30 students and professors alike. The film centers around the bohemian neighborhood of Monmarte in Paris where jazz musicians flocked during the prohibition era and for decades after. These musicians and nightclub owners found liberties inaccessible in the US and found that for black And white Americans alike Paris was the center of the artistic world in the 1920’s.
Some of the initial key figures of this movement include Sidney Bouchet, Eugene Bullard, and James Reece. During World War 1, an American Military Division playing jazz music played over 20 cities in Europe bringing jazz to many who had never heard it before. After the war ended, many black members of the U.S. Military returned home to a country that was still very opressive leading many musicians and tastemakers to return to the freedom of France.
Those returning to France were able to buy property, make music, and attend any club or restaurant they chose freely, with some black Americans becoming the most entrepreneurial members of French society. Although many steps were made during this time toward racial equality in France, there was still a discrepancy between the treatment of these musicians in Paris and the opressive and degrading treatment of blacks in French Colonies around the globe. Still many musicians such as Duke Ellington and Luis Armstrong played and were celebrated in France and the steps made culturally and socially during this period cannot be ignored and blazed a trail for many generations to come.
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