Wandering Artists and Scholars: African Americans Abroad

Organized by the . With the support of a convening grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. With the participation of the , , and the , and the .

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This event will be livestreamed. Register here to access the Zoom.

What draws African American artists, writers, and intellectuals to Paris and Europe? What do they discover here, and what do they leave behind? From Henry Ossawa Tanner to Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, from James Baldwin to countless scholars and creators who have traveled to Paris, Paris has long been a city where Black Americans have sought freedom, community, and creative space.

This public conversation brings together two leading voices on the history of African Americans abroad. Tamara Walker, professor of Africana Studies at Columbia University and author of Beyond the Shores: A History of African Americans Abroad, will be in conversation with Maboula Soumahoro, Associate Professor at Tours University and founder of Black History Month France. Together they will explore the long history of this transatlantic journey, its promises, its contradictions, and its enduring resonance — with ample time for questions from the audience.

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This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.

Reid Hall, the Columbia Global Paris Center, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination are not responsible for the views and opinions expressed by their speakers and guests.

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Host or Publisher Columbia Global Centers | Paris