Bricktop's Paris

T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting

Description

2015 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title

Longlisted for the 2015 American Library in Paris Book Award

During the Jazz Age, France became a place where an African American woman could realize personal freedom and creativity, in narrative or in performance, in clay or on canvas, in life and in love. These women were participants in the life of the American expatriate colony, which included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Cole Porter, and they commingled with bohemian avant-garde writers and artists like Picasso, Breton, Colette, and Matisse. Bricktop's Paris introduces the reader to twenty-five of these women and the city they encountered. Following this nonfiction account, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting provides a fictionalized autobiography of Ada "Bricktop" Smith, which brings the players from the world of nonfiction into a Paris whose elegance masks a thriving underworld.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
The Women
Map of Bricktop’s Paris
Map Key

Book I. Bricktop’s Paris

Introduction: The Other Americans, 1919–1939

1. Les Dames, Grand and Small, of Montmartre: The Paris of Bricktop

2. The Gotham-Montparnasse Exchange

3. Women of the Petit Boulevard: The Artist’s Haven

4. Black Paris: Cultural Politics and Prose

5. Epilogue: “Homeward Tug at a Poet’s Heart”: The Return

Appendix: “Negro Dance,” Opus 25, No. 1, Nora Douglas Holt

Book II. The Autobiography of Ada “Bricktop” Smith or Miss Baker Regrets

Foreword: Gained in Translation?
Alice Randall

Preface: History’s Marginalia, Autofictional Mysteries, and a Fondness of Matters French
T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting

The Autobiography of Ada “Bricktop” Smith, or Miss Baker Regrets
Ada “Bricktop” Smith and T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting

Glossary (Book II)
Notes to Book I
List of Archives and Libraries
Selected Bibliography
Index to Book I

Sujets

• Ethnic studies
• Indigenous peoples
• 20th century
• History of Europe
• Cultures
• France

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781438455020
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

BRICKTOP’S PARIS

Published by S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS , A LBANY
© 2015 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production, Laurie D. Searl Marketing, Kate R. Seburyamo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sharpley-Whiting, T. Denean.
Bricktop’s Paris : African American women in Paris between the two World Wars / T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5501-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-5502-0 (ebook)
1. African American women—France—Paris—History—20th century. 2. Bricktop, 1894–1984. 3. African American women—France—Paris—Biography. 4. Women entertainers—France—Paris—Biography. 5. Nightclubs—France—History—20th century. 6. Paris (France)—Intellectual life—20th century. 7. Americans—France—Paris—History—20th century. 8. Paris (France)—Social life and customs—20th century. 9. Montmartre (Paris, France)—Biography. I. Title. II. Title: African American women in Paris between the two World Wars.
DC718.B56B85 2015 305.48′8960730944361—dc23
2014010396
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Haviland
CONTENTS

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
The Women
Map of Bricktop’s Paris
Map Key
BOOK I. BRICKTOP’S PARIS
Introduction: The Other Americans, 1919–1939
1 Les Dames , Grand and Small, of Montmartre: The Paris of Bricktop
2 The Gotham-Montparnasse Exchange
3 Women of the Petit Boulevard: The Artist’s Haven
4 Black Paris: Cultural Politics and Prose
5 Epilogue: “Homeward Tug at a Poet’s Heart”: The Return
Appendix: “Negro Dance,” Opus 25, No. 1, Nora Douglas Holt
BOOK II. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ADA “BRICKTOP” SMITH, OR MISS BAKER REGRETS
Foreword: Gained in Translation?
A LICE R ANDALL
Preface: History’s Marginalia, Autofictional Mysteries, and a Fondness for Matters French
T. D ENEAN S HARPLEY -W HITING
The Autobiography of Ada “Bricktop” Smith, or Miss Baker Regrets A DA “B RICKTOP ” S MITH AND T. D ENEAN S HARPLEY -W HITING
Glossary (Book II)
Notes to Book I
List of Archives and Libraries
Selected Bibliography
Index to Book 1
ILLUSTRATIONS

1.1. Panama Trio, 1916, Cora Green, Florence Mills, and Ada Smith. Courtesy of Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
1.2. Bricktop, Paris, Le Grand Duc, 1925. Courtesy of Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, Tilden Foundations.
1.3. Invitation to the Opening of Chez Bricktop at 66 rue Pigalle. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
1.4. Chez Bricktop with Ada “Bricktop” Smith, Mabel Mercer, and guests, 1932. Courtesy of Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
1.5. Lillian “Madame Evanti” Evans-Tibbs as Lakmé, Paris, 1927. Courtesy of Center for Black Music Research Library and Archives, Chicago, Illinois.
1.6. Josephine Baker undated, seated at piano, Paris. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
1.7. Château des Milandes, Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, France, Josephine Baker’s estate in the Dordogne region of France. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
1.8. Bricktop and Josephine Baker at Bricktop’s in Mexico City, undated. Courtesy of Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
1.9. Florence Mills, undated. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
1.10. Nora Holt. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
1.11. Ethel Waters, undated. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
1.12. Valaida Snow, undated. Courtesy of Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
1.13. Elisabeth Welch, 1935. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
1.14. Alberta Hunter, Paris 1929. Courtesy of Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, Tilden Foundations.
1.15. Adelaide Hall, undated. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
2.1. Jessie Fauset. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
2.2. Bessie Coleman, undated. Courtesy of National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
2.3. Bessie Coleman’s pilot’s license, 1921. Courtesy of National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
2.4. Laura Wheeler Waring, undated. Courtesy of Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.
2.5. Gwendolyn Bennett, Pipes of Pan cover art for The Crisis , 1924. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
2.6. A’Lelia Walker, undated. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
2.7. Gwendolyn Bennett, Columbia University, summer 1924. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
2.8. Dorothy Peterson, August 1931. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
2.9. Nella Larsen. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
2.10. Anita Thompson, Paris, 1928. Courtesy of Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.
3.1. Lois Mailou Jones on a boat to Paris, France, 1937. Courtesy of Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.
3.2. Lois Mailou Jones painting on the banks of the Seine, undated. Courtesy of Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.
3.3. Les Fétiches , Lois Mailou Jones, 1938. Courtesy of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Museum purchase made possible by Mrs. Norvin H. Green, Dr. R. Harlan, and Francis Musgrave.
3.4. Selma Burke fellowship application photograph, ca. 1936–1937. Courtesy of Julius Rosenwald Archives, Fisk University.
3.5. Selma Burke Avant-Garde Gallery brochure. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
3.6. Nancy Elizabeth Prophet on a boat to Paris, 1922. Courtesy of Nancy Elizabeth Prophet Collection, John P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
3.7. Prayer , Nancy Elizabeth Prophet. Courtesy of Nancy Elizabeth Prophet Collection, John P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
3.8. Augusta Savage, 1931 passport. Courtesy of Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, Tilden Foundations.
3.9. Green Apples , Augusta Savage, 1928. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
4.1. Eslanda Goode Robeson, undated. Courtesy of Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’d first like to thank my editor, Beth Bouloukos, who saw my vision and believed in the trade potential of this project, as well as the editorial staff and production and marketing team at SUNY Press. I would like to acknowledge Vanderbilt University’s Office of Sponsored Programs managed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research for a summer 2007 grant that helped me mine various research leads in France. Mona Frederick and the Robert Penn Warren Center for Humanities were also instrumental in furthering my research as have been the Offices of the Provost and the Dean of the College of Arts and Science. There were many libraries, archivists, organizations, centers, and people who have assisted in the completion of this project. The staff at Beinecke Library at Yale, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Dean Jean Carney Smith and Fisk University Special Collections, the Schomburg Center, Maria Lopes at Rhode Island College, Danish National Archive, the various Bibliothéques nationales in France, the British Library, and the Library of Congress were especially helpful. I’d also like to thank Vivace Press, University of Missouri–St. Louis, for use of Nora Holt’s musical composition, “Negro Dance.”
My colleagues in African American and Diaspora Studies have been more than supportive, reading versions of the book and offering feedback. I’d like to single out in particular Victor Anderson, who understood what a sabbatical means; Houston A. Baker for his sharp mind and wit; Tiffany Patterson