Celebrating black women living in Europe.

Glad to have you back!

Julia at Spirit of Black Paris is offering a tour of the fabulous Josephine Baker’s chateau in France.

Here are the highlights:

Join us in celebrating the best of Black Paris, traditional France, plus get a glimpse into the life of the legendary Josephine Baker. We start in Paris with a guided walking and bus tour that retraces the illustrious lives and achievements of Black Americans who chose to live in Paris between 1784-1960. Our tours will be provided by “Walking the Spirit Tours of Black Paris” and they focus on popular areas – The Latin Quarter/St. Germain-des-Pres, Champs-Elysees and Lower Montmartre. Tour 1 (Voices and Visions in Exile) walks through neighborhoods of writers Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Chester Himes, artists Henry O.Tanner, Lois Mailou Jones and Beboppers Miles Davis and Bud Powell. On Tour 2 (The Entertainers) we relive the excitement of Black Montmartre of the 1920s and 1930s where jazz flourished alongside African art, decadence, and black entrepreneurs. You will leave Paris with enough French history to give you a well-rounded picture of the times and circumstances. In an air-conditioned private motorcoach we then travel south to the Burgundy region to discover the world-famous vineyards and their panaromas, visit a winery, tour the wine cellars, enjoy tastings and explore theold village. And for the piece de resistance we continue further south to discover Josephine Baker’s Dordogne. Here, we are guided through an exclusive tour of her former home, Chateau des Milandes, which is now an awe-inspiring tribute and sxhibit to her life.

Get all of the details.

As previously reported Sade is coming out with a new album after a 10 year hiatus.

The release date is February 8, 2010 and you can pre-order now:

US

UK

Jeff Joseph, Mounia et Marie-Luce Penchard

Hat tip: Afro Europe Blog

Mounia, the first black supermodel from France, has been honored by the French government and elevated to the ranks of Knight of the Order of Merit (Chevalier de l’Ordre de Mérite). She was awarded the honor in late November at a posh ceremony in Paris.

In the name of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Marie-Luce Penchard (current Minister of Overseas Territories) described the model as she who had pushed the greatest grand couturiers to “rupture with aesthetique codes in vigor” of the time in order to include black women in their vision of elegance, sophistication and fashion.

She was born Monique Orosemane in the French islands. Sensing that she was truly special, her grandmother gave her a unique name befitting someone whose special destiny would one day unfold on the catwalks of the world. Moving to Paris, she first came to the attention of the grand couturier Hubert de Givenchy as early as 1981. Not a full year would pass before Yvès Saint Laurent would fall under her charm.

Yves Saint Laurent cast the French black pearl in his collection created as homage to “Porgy & Bess”. Incidentally this too would her first fashion show but not her last. From there her career was on fire. She captured the cover of Vogue, which honored her with a rare 27 page fashion spread!

In her career, she walked the catwalk for the industries best including alongside of other beauties including Christian Dior, Chanel, Emanuel Ungaro, Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Hubert de Givenchy, etc. And of course, her face has been immortalized time after time again by the most legendary fashion photographers of the 20 th Century including Horst P. Horst, Helmut Newton, Irvin Penn, Richard Avedon, Guy Bourdin, etc.

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