Excursions

The group went go on multiple excursions throughout France to gain a more holistic understanding of Blackness in Paris. The group went to Dordogne, Toulouse, and Nantes.

Our first town was in Nantes, France. Nantes, located on the Loire River used to be the main slave port for France. While in Nantes we visited a new Abolition of Slavery Memorial. Created on the original docks for the slave ships, the memorial is dedicated to the abolition of slavery in France. We spent our time in Nantes learning of the city’s reliance on the slave trade and studying the efforts being made to reconcile that dark history.

Our next stop was through the French countryside to the small town Dordogne. While in Dordogne, we had the oppurtunity to visit Josephine Baker’s Chateau, Chateau des Milandes, where the black American expat lived with her twelve children. While learning about Josephine Baker’s impact on both French and American culture, we took a brief dance break and listened to her most popular songs.Along the way we stopped at the Lascaux Caves, depicting cave paintings over 17,000 years old. After the caves, we drove deeper into the French Countryside and learned to cook traditional French food and pair it with wines.