Looking for a different side to Paris? Black culture is everywhere, if you know where to look.

PARIS — Usher roller-skated, twerked in a replica of Atlanta’s Magic City strip club, and crooned on a fiery red bed, bringing the Dirty South to the City of Light. During his sold-out October residency, the singer confessed to fans why he brought his Las Vegas revue to Paris Fashion Week.

“There is so much history in Paris,” Usher said, his black pajama-like ensemble sparkling under La Seine Musicale’s hot lights. “There was a time when our entertainers came here because they weren’t respected in America. I wanted to pay respect to that history.”

Filling in for Lil Jon on “Yeah,” the audience embodied Paris’ multicultural vibe, a melting pot of Black and white Parisians, Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, and African Americans.

They were the Black American travelers and expats curious to see what it feels like to vacation and live where their Blackness is not an issue. They were the Afro-Parisian and Afro-Caribbean entrepreneurs whose upscale thrift shops, restaurants, and braiding salons are helping them build legacies and adding diversity to Paris’ tourism landscape.

Paris remains one of the world’s most visited cities, with its tourism numbers approaching pre-pandemic levels. Between January and April of 2023, 11.6 million travelers visited the greater Paris area, putting the city on par to equal the 40 million annual visitors who visited in 2022. And with the Summer Olympics scheduled in Paris in 2024, the number of tourists in the city will balloon even more in coming months.

No doubt, Black people will be in the mix. Black Americans are particularly fond of Paris, especially Black women, said Melody Bostic Brown, associate vice president of consumer media content at Blavity Inc., which hosts Travel Noire, a publication dedicated to the Black travel experience.

The city’s Black American history, an emergence of a Black Parisian retail and hospitality scene, and an unparalleled art, restaurant, and high-fashion scene are all to thank. “African and Black influences are accentuated throughout the city, including notable restaurants like Mama Jackson and walking tours like Entrée into Black Paris,” Brown said. “Our audience wants to experience unique vacations, phenomenal stays as expats, and be their authentic selves.”

I recently spent a week in Paris, arriving on the 98th anniversary of Josephine Baker’s 1925 Paris debut at the controversial La Revue Nègre produced by Baltimorean, Baker historian, and travel guide Brian Scott Bagley. Baker would become one of Paris’ most beloved entertainers, serve as a French spy during World War II, and become the only Black woman to be honored at the Panthéon, where France celebrates its heroes.

What I found while in Paris was a city where the sights and sounds of Black life were around every corner. Black culture abounds. Speaking with locals, expats, and fellow travelers, it was clear that the Black diaspora has influenced all corners of the city, from literary circles to music to fashion. Whether you’re looking for a Black-led tour or want to explore Paris off the beaten path, here’s your guide to Black Paris, in all its iterations.

The Black American experience in Paris began in the 1800s, when free mixed-race artists from New Orleans arrived in the city seeking refuge from racism. However, it wasn’t until Black World War I veterans started to emigrate to France during the ’20s (rather than be treated with disdain in America despite valiant service) did Paris earn its color-blind reputation, said Monique Wells, who leads the Entrée into Black Paris tours.

“For all intents and purposes, that was their experience,” Wells said. “But they did not understand the reason they were accepted so readily is because they were American, not because they were Black.”

From the early to mid-1900s, Black Americans introduced jazz and ragtime to French audiences, opened night clubs, painted, sculpted, and wrote award-winning fiction, leaving an indelible mark on the city’s arts scene.

Walk through Paris and you’ll find nods to Black culture everywhere. Take the Luxembourg Garden, where you can retrace the steps of 20th-century Black writers like James Baldwin and Chester Himes. A short jaunt from the Louvre, the Hip-Hop Cultural Center is a government-funded project celebrating the various forms of hip-hop, from dance to graffiti, and is a jewel of Châtelet–Les Halles, a major train hub, and shopping center in the 1st and 2nd arrondissements.

The problem is that it’s hard to know which cobblestoned alley Baldwin lived on, or the nightclubs where classical music performer and veteran James Reese Europe may have performed. “There aren’t plaques to mark these places,” said Baltimorean turned Parisian travel guide Brian Scott Bagley. “The history is here, but it’s not easy to find.”

Meet the tour guides who will walk you to — and through — Black Paris’ historic hidden gems. Book early, as their calendars fill quickly. Tours usually include about a dozen people and come with as many questions as you like. You will get answers and, in some cases, even cocktails.

Late on a Friday afternoon, Bagley emerged from the Blanche Metro stop on Boulevard de Clichy where Pigalle and Montmartre meet. We immediately scurried across the street to the Moulin Rouge, the world-renowned cabaret house founded in 1889, where the first internationally known Black clown, Chocolat, performed, as did prominent African American jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong and Adelaide Hall.

Pigalle, bordering the 9th and 18th arrondissements, was one of the first neighborhoods Black World War I veterans flocked to to open clubs and restaurants. Still a center of nightlife, Pigalle revs up at twilight.

Bagley took us to Le Carrousel, where the crowd to get in spilled into the streets. He ignored it, pointing to a plaque above the entrance that read: Here Josephine Baker (1906-1975), music-hall artist, resistant, and civil rights activist, operated a cabaret from 1926 to 1928 that promoted the diffusion of jazz and African American culture. Chez Josephine was Baker’s first nightclub and this marker is one of the few plaques in the city that commemorates Black history.

Bagley also pointed out the Grand Duc, at 52 Rue Pigalle. Eugene Bullard, the first Black man to fly a plane in combat, owned the club in the early 1900s. We stopped in front of the club’s bedraggled red back door. Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes famously worked there in the early 1920s.

I joined eight other tourists in front of Le Petit Journal, a jazz club on the Latin Quarter’s Boulevard Saint Michel in the 5th arrondissement, one Friday morning for Entrée into Black Paris’ Luxembourg Garden tour. Tom Reeves, husband of owner Monique Wells, led us through the gardens where marigolds, salvias, and petunias were in their colorful early fall bloom.

Reeves lingered in front of Fabrice Hyber’s Le Cri, L’Écrit, three life-size chain links that memorialize the abolition of slavery in France. Perhaps the garden’s most popular statue is Baron Charles Arthur Bourgeois’ 17th century L’Acteur Grec (The Greek Actor). Richard Wright, author of Native Son, took one of his last photos here. But the real ghosts of Black American authors live in cafes:

While traveling the world, Jacqueline Ngo Mpii kept running into people who didn’t believe Black people lived in France.

“I found myself having to explain that yes, there is a Black African culture in Paris,” said Mpii, who was born in Cameroon and moved to Paris when she was 10 years old. In 2014, she launched Little Africa, a travel and hospitality company that celebrates the businesses like fabric stores that sell Ankara and kente cloth, and braiding salons in Château-Rouge in the 18th arrondissement. Many African American servicemen settled in the area under the shadow of the Basilica Sacré-Coeur in the 1920s. Today it is the epicenter for African entrepreneurs.

Mpii also publishes a city guide, a comprehensive list of Paris’ Black-owned businesses, and offers tours in Château-Rouge and Goutte D’Or. The crown jewel is Little Africa Village Concept Shop, an upscale collection of housewares, jewelry, and vintage clothing she curates from the continent. “I wanted to create something that I could share my vision of Paris and also invite the world,” Mpii said. 📍6bis Rue des Gardes

Mama Kossa

In Paris on a Thursday night? Mama Kossa, an African and Afro-Caribbean café in Goutte D’Or is the place to be. The weekly happy hour, which starts at 7 p.m., is replete with chicken wings, burger specials, kebabs, and wine. Here, the music is an homage to 1990s hip-hop. 📍8 Rue Myrha

Marché Dejean

Outside vendors selling fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat made me wish I lived in Paris just so I could whip up my own meal. But I had to be content sipping espresso while walking the blocks of this bustling, sprawling market. This is the part of the city that’s not featured in travel brochures, but it is the center of African life in Paris, a mix of fabric shops, hair salons, and tailors that remind visitors and residents of the richness of the African diaspora. Shop the market and enjoy the sights, but don’t take a photo without asking permission of the shopkeeper — it’s frowned upon and considered rude. These are people to comingle with, not stare at for your amusement. 📍Rue Dejean, 18th arrondissement

Marché Noir

Fashion isn’t always logical. Western countries often sell unwanted leather jackets to Togo, Marche Noir owner Anah Ayivi’s home in West Africa. But when you really think about it, who needs a leather jacket in a tropical climate? So, when Ayivi goes home, he buys the jackets and resells them in his Le Maris boutique in the city’s 3rd arrondissement; it’s his way of giving back to his hometown with a resource they actually need, money; and championing sustainability. Also on the store’s racks are one of a kind Baktakali, traditional Ghanaian smocks, for special occasions. 📍18 Rue Commines

Nice Piece

A draw for tourists, fashionistas, and fashion editors, Nice Piece’s owner Bonaventure Kell has built a solid reputation for reselling the best of the best designer pieces. Every inch of the 2,000 square-foot space is filled with Givenchy, Chanel, and St. Laurent. I’m talking furs, satin, silk, and lots of sparkle. Nestled in the collection was a red-and-white striped Balenciaga shirt dress that made my credit card itch. We’re talking hours of fashion fun and finds. 📍 76 Rue Charlot

Musée du Quai Branly

Situated along the Seine River, this museum is known for its signature exhibitions centering African art and artists. It’s latest attraction, “Kehinde Wiley’s: A Maze of Power,” open through Jan. 14, is a collection of 11 current and former African heads of state including Macky Sall, the president of Senegal, and Felix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Wiley is best known for his portrait of President Barack Obama that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.) The only woman featured in the show is Sahle-Work Zewde, the president of Ethiopia. The portraits, organized in a dark maze, feature Wiley’s signature saturated hues and busy backgrounds replicating the 17th-century style of lifelike portraiture. 📍 37 Quai Jacques Chirac

Black Legends Tour

Black American music impacts the world and it touched writer Valery Rodriguez in Spain. His Black Legends musical, performed at the 13th Art in the 13th arrondissement, chronicles the history of Black music from the spirituals of the enslaved to Beyoncé and will run through 2024. The show is narrated in French, but all of the songs are performed in English. The best part of the show is the Jackson 5 performances — ‘70′s-style neon-colored bell-bottom suits are a treat to watch in any language. 📍 30 Avenue d’Italie