Most tourists associate the Arc de Triomphe with Napoleon, but those who have Ricki Stevenson for a guide learn instead about the Harlem Hellfighters. Officially the 369th Regiment of the then-segregated U.S. Army, the all-black unit fought under the French flag during World War I. They were the first Americans to reach the combat zone in France, the first to cross the Rhine in the German offensive, and the only Americans to endure 191 consecutive days in combat. When the war was over, a hero’s welcome greeted them at the emperor’s grand monument.
The Hellfighters are just one highlight of Black Paris Tours, offered by Stevenson, MA ’71. She operates daylong excursions focused on the historic African-American experience in the City of Light. As she leads her clients around town by foot, bus and metro, it’s part history lesson, part tourist survival guide, part cultural appreciation class, and part shopping, eating and entertainment spree.
After the Arc de Triomphe, they proceed to the former U.S. embassy. Here Thomas Jefferson, as a minister to France in 1787, sent for his 9-year-old daughter, Mary—and was surprised to find her accompanied not by the older slave woman he had requested, but by Sally Hemings. (It is believed that Jefferson began his relationship with Hemings in Paris.) At Avenue Montaigne, Stevenson conducts a tour of the theater where, in 1925, a topless Josephine Baker performed with other members of “La Revue Nègre,” taking Paris by storm.
“My clients are constantly amazed that there is so much African-American history in Paris,” Stevenson says. “They especially enjoy my stories about the black greats who lived and worked in the city.” There is much to tell, for 20th-century Paris was a mecca for those seeking a more equitable society than segregated America (see sidebar). Stevenson shows the haunts of expatriate artists and intellectuals like Paul Robeson, Richard Wright, Romare Bearden and James Baldwin, where she plays jazz recordings of Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Miles Davis.
The tour continues by city bus to the cultural and commercial areas of Madeleine and Opéra. After lunch, featuring French cuisine, it’s time to shop in the Paris garment district and in Goutte d’Or, or “Little Africa,” an area of outdoor markets and shops. A tram ride to the top of Montmartre for a stunning view of the city caps the day. Along the way, Stevenson dispenses advice on public transportation and where to get the best exchange rates. She’s also au courant on restaurants and nightspots owned by African-Americans, among them Percy’s Place (specialties: fried chicken and cheesecake) and the Grand Café de New York Karaoke Nightclub.
Stevenson’s own route to Paris took some twists and turns. As a Navy brat, she lived on newly integrated military bases in several states during the 1950s before her family settled in East Palo Alto. She majored in history and political science at Loretto Heights College in Denver; then, after earning her master’s in education at Stanford, started studies at Fisk University in Nashville. A career path suddenly crystallized when she became friends with Oprah Winfrey, then a 19-year-old reporter at the local black radio station, WVOL.
“Oprah convinced me to take over her job and spent time training me,” Stevenson explains. (Winfrey was leaving for a job as Nashville’s first African-American television reporter.) Within months, Stevenson became news director and host of a popular talk show on community issues. She caught the attention of the National Black Radio Network in New York, and they hired her.
Stevenson describes her first day there—August 8, 1974—as a trial by fire. “No sooner had I reported for work than I was rushed into the broadcast studio, seated next to radio great John Lloyd, and thrown on live air as President Nixon announced his resignation.” Stevenson remained with NBN for six years, anchoring national newscasts and producing the award-winning show “Black Issues and the Black Press.” She later worked for a number of radio and television outlets in the Bay Area.
Her dream of living in Paris began during a two-week assignment in the early 1990s for the San Francisco-based News Travel Network. In 1997, Stevenson—by then, the divorced mother of an 11-year-old daughter, Dedie—quit her job, rented out her Oakland home and moved to France.
“As an international travel reporter, I loved the experience of not having to deal with U.S. racism every day, and I wanted my daughter to know there were no restrictions on who she could be and how she could live. I knew that Paris had [historically] been a city where black people could live outside the box of racism, and I was curious about what that would mean for me.”
The transplant took: what started as a one-year experiment has turned into four years and a new line of work. Within a few weeks of Stevenson’s arrival in Paris, friends from the States began visiting. Showing them around, she discovered hidden gems of African-American history and culture and realized she could provide an entertaining and distinctive Parisian experience. Today, Black Paris Tours earns her a living. Stevenson enjoys the freedom in Paris “to walk just about anywhere I want to walk, at night, by myself if I so choose, and not having to look over my shoulder.” And her daughter is now fluent in French.
Stevenson says that when she studied education at Stanford, her aim was to broaden minds. “As a military child, I saw people living in relative racial harmony and thought that should be the goal. Also, growing up during the civil rights era, I was dedicated to doing something in my professional future that would open people’s eyes to the world—allow them to appreciate racial differences instead of being fearful of those differences.” Black Paris Tours has helped Stevenson achieve those goals.
Katrina Alison Jaggears, MLA ’00, is a freelance writer in Stockton, Calif.
