Cover image: Conference title graphic displayed at Reid Hall
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African & African American Research brought together an amazing chorus of university-affiliated and independent scholars to celebrate two of Paris' most famous African-American expats, Josephine Baker and James Baldwin.

Scholars, artists and writers, and "scholar adjacents" gathered in Paris for a two-day conference that examined the lives of "Jo and Jimmy" through the lens of "exile."

The welcome event and opening discussion took place on the evening of November 12 at the Sorbonne's Amphithéâtre Liard. 

Sorbonne courtyard
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Signage for welcome event
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Moderated by Yale University professor Kaiama L. Glover, it featured an opening statement by Sorbonne Nouvelle President Daniel Mouchard-Zay, followed by a scintillating conversation between Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of the Hutchins Center, and 1986 Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.

Daniel Mouchard-Zay, Kaiama L. Glover, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
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Wole Soyinka and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
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On the following two days, panelists, moderators, and attendees filled the Grande Salle Ginsburg-Leclerc at Columbia's Paris Global Center at Reid Hall. 

Courtyard at Reid Hall
© Alice Fennelly

Thursday, November 13 was devoted to Baker, and Friday, November 14 was devoted to Baldwin.

Though I can wholeheartedly attest to the passion with which the panelists delivered their insights and opinions, I cannot begin to do justice to the volume and depth of the information they shared during their discussions in this blog post.

So what I am posting here are descriptions of moments that stood out in my memory as I reviewed the numerous photos I shot of the entire event.

During the opening conversation about Josephine Baker, Professor Maboula Soumahoro of the Université de Tours "came out" by saying that she never liked Baker and still doesn't, even though she is quite familiar with the research published about Baker's persona and the ways in which Baker chose to portray herself on and off stage.

Baker opening panel
L to R: Lauren Michele Jackson, Maboula Soumahoro, and Kaiama L. Glover (moderator)
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Maboula Soumahoro
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That afternoon, during the Scholars' Roundtable, Professor Terri Francis of the University of Miami talked about how Elizabeth Alexander’s poem "The Venus Hottentot" impacted her scholarship and described how Alexander subtly references Baker through Saartjie Baartman's voice when Baartman speaks of her “imaginary daughters, in banana skirts/and ostrich feather fans” in the verse.

Baker Scholars' Roundtable
L to R: Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Cheryl Finley, Salamisha Tillet, Terri Francis, and Arlette Frund (moderator)
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Terri Francis
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Later, during the Artists' Roundtable, Professor Deborah Willis of New York University referenced the poem again when she introduced panelists Ming Smith and Carla Williams, saying that they could well be considered Baker's imaginary daughters.

Artists' Roundtable
L to R: Deborah Willis (moderator), Ming Smith, Carla Williams, and Mike Ladd
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Mike Ladd talked about Baker's ever present influence in his life and showed a scene from the Netflix mini series Transatlantic for which he and a fellow composer wrote the score. In it, the woman performer is clearly modeled after Baker.

Mike Ladd
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The afternoon ended with a brief presentation of images of Barbara Chase-Riboud's The Josephines sculptures. 

On Friday, Nicholas Boggs provided fascinating insight into the work that went into his new biography entitled Baldwin: A Love Story.

Baldwin opening panel
L to R: Farah Jasmine Griffin, Nicholas Boggs, and Brett Edward Hayes (moderator)
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Nicholas Boggs
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During the afternoon Scholars' Roundtable, the panelists and moderator kicked off the session with a glass of white wine in the spirit of gathering around Baldwin's Welcome Table.

Baldwin Scholars' Roundtable
L to R: Andrée-Anne Kekeh-Dika (moderator), Nadia Yala Kisukidi,
Dagmawi Woubshet, Robert F. Reid-Pharr, Jacqueline Goldsby, and Yannick M. Blec
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In the spirit of the Welcome Table
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Professor Jacqueline Goldsby of Yale University dazzled the audience with her discussion of the metamorphosis of the manuscripts that preceded the version of Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain that was finally published in 1953.

Jacqueline Goldsby
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Léonora Miano was the only woman participant in the Writer's Roundtable, and I was pleased to listen to her story and learn about her incredible work.  She began by talking about her childhood in Cameroon, where the extensive library her parents had created contained no books by Black authors.  Her discovery of Baldwin's work was transformational.  Years later, she would write a book called L'Opposé de la blancheur: Réflexions sur le problème blanc (The Opposite of Whiteness: Reflections on the White Problem).

Writers' Roundtable
Jesse McCarthy (moderator), Simon Njami, Léonora Miano, and Jake Lamar
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Léonora Miano
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The last session of the day, and of the conference, consisted of readings by Marlon James and Barbara Chase-Riboud.

James shared his personal thoughts on exile from his vantage point as a Jamaican who expatriated to the U.S.  He then read Baldwin's essay "Stranger in the Village."

Marlon James
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A ~9-minute video featuring the works displayed in Barbara Chase-Riboud's unparalleled exhibition Quand un noeud est dénoué un dieu est libéré (Everytime A Knot is Undone A God is Released) was shown, followed by Chase-Riboud talking about her sculpture Africa Rising II. 

She then read excerpts from her poem "Africa Rising" and entire additional poems, finishing with "Been There, Done That." 

Barbara Chase-Riboud
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Finally, Professor Gates presented Chase-Riboud with a bouquet of roses, delivered his closing remarks—including thanking Hutchins' executive director,  Dr. Abby Wolf, for her role in organizing the conference—and posed for a photo with Chase-Riboud.

Abby Wood and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
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Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Barbara Chase-Riboud
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The entire event was rich with scholarship and community!