Africans in France in the late 19th century
August 27, 2021 11:46 PM Subscribe
Africans in France in the late 19th century
In the past few months, I've been providing answers for the r/askhistorians subreddit, mostly (but not only) to questions about French history. A question about the presence of Africans in France in the late 19th century prompted me to investigate this topic, which has been little studied by academia: there are works on Africans before and after the 19th century, and, for that century, works on Afro-Caribbean people, but not so much on Africa-born residents. So I did a little bit of research and wrote this 8000-word essay which includes a few stories (found in newspapers) about some African people who lived in France in last quarter of the century, decades before African immigration began.
A selection of answers I gave in the past months:
In the past few months, I've been providing answers for the r/askhistorians subreddit, mostly (but not only) to questions about French history. A question about the presence of Africans in France in the late 19th century prompted me to investigate this topic, which has been little studied by academia: there are works on Africans before and after the 19th century, and, for that century, works on Afro-Caribbean people, but not so much on Africa-born residents. So I did a little bit of research and wrote this 8000-word essay which includes a few stories (found in newspapers) about some African people who lived in France in last quarter of the century, decades before African immigration began.
A selection of answers I gave in the past months:
- The history of envelope-licking (and how people found it icky)
- Was Marlene Dietrich actually arrested by the French police for wearing trousers? (I was later interviewed about this by news channel France24 for their "debunking" section)
- Would a medieval peasant in say Northern Europe recognise exotic animals?
- Is it true that the trend of women give birth laying down is because King Louis XIV had a fetish for watching his wife give birth and wanted a better view of it happening?
- Still life paintings from the Dutch masters often feature popular foods such as fish, bread, poultry and.... bowls of peeled lemons? Were the Dutch of the golden age really chomping on lemons as a snack, or was this simply artistic license?
- Was a cow convicted of sorcery in 1740 Paris, France?
Role: Writer
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Well done, in any event, keep it up.
posted by BWA at 7:51 PM on August 29, 2021