Picked this up today— 

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, And The Real Count Of Monte Cristo

by Tom Reiss

From NPR Books: Tom Reiss’ new book follows the mixed-race swordsman and father of novelist Alexandre Dumas, discussing his rise to the French aristocracy, his military triumphs and the adventures that inspired such classics as “The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

Nina Simone (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) in concert at Morlaix (Bretagne, France), May 1982. Roland Godefroy, photographer.

Bitter over America’s racism, disputes with the record companies, and troubles with the IRS, Nina Simone left the United States in 1970. For the next eight years, she lived in Barbados, Liberia, Switzerland and Paris.

In 1985, Simone returned to the United States to record and perform. Her career soared when a British commercial for Chanel used her 1958 recording of “My Baby Just Cares for Me,” which then became a hit in Europe.

Nina Simone eventually moved back to Europe— first to the Netherlands then to the South of France in 1991. She died in  Carry-le-Rouet, France on April 21, 2003.

Chester Himes began his writing career while serving a sentence in an Ohio prison for armed robbery, from the late 1920s to mid 1930s. He published several short stories, using his prison number as his pen name. He continued to write after his parole in 1936, working odd jobs to support himself. He eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a screenwriter and novelist. Himes later wrote about the racism he experienced in Los Angeles:

Up to the age of thirty-one I had been hurt emotionally, spiritually and physically as much as thirty-one years can bear. I had lived in the South, I had fallen down an elevator shaft, I had been kicked out of college, I had served seven and one half years in prison, I had survived the humiliating last five years of Depression in Cleveland; and still I was entire, complete, functional; my mind was sharp, my reflexes were good, and I was not bitter. But under the mental corrosion of race prejudice in Los Angeles I became bitter and saturated with hate.

In the 1950s, Himes emigrated to France, joining a number of African American writers and artists who left the United States seeking greater freedom and acceptance. He lived in France until 1969, when he moved to Moraira, Spain. He remained in Spain until his death in 1984.

Himes was an extremely prolific writer whose works encompassed many genres. His Harlem Detective series, which comprised nine novels, brought him the most success. Three movies are based on the series: Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), its sequel, Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972) and A Rage in Harlem (1991).

the-seed-of-europe:

Newly decorated with the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre with palm, Josephine stands at attention with Commandant Cournal at Les Milandes, August 1961. (Source: Jean-Claude Baker, The Hungry Heart.)

(via womenatwar)

South Carolina native James Arthur Briggs (1899-1991) was a member of the Harlem Hellfighters’ band during World War I. He did not serve during the war because he was too young.  Once the war was over, he joined other band members who returned to Europe to fuel the fire that their military jazz band had begun. 

Briggs was one of the Americans interned by the Nazis when he refused to leave Paris prior to their invasion.  He survived detention in two concentration camps to continue to play and teach jazz in the post-war era. He founded Hot Club de France, a night club that helped define jazz in Paris over six decades.

Briggs is laid at the Montmartre cemetery in Paris.

William Gardner Smith (February 6, 1927 – November 5, 1974) was an American journalist, novelist, and editor. He published his first book, The Last of the Conquerors, when he was only 21 years old. His third book, South Street (1954), is considered to be one of the first black militant protest novels.

Smith was born in south Philadelphia. He settled in France after World War II and maintained an expatriate status in there. However, due to his various journalistic and editorial assignments, he also lived for extended periods of time in Ghana. In the final decade of his life, Smith would travel to the United States to visit family and friends and write about the racial and social upheaval that was occurring there.

Smith was a frequent contributor and guest on radio and television programs in France, where he was considered an expert on the political struggle, civil unrest, and racial tension occurring in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Photo credit: William Gardner Smith, photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1948 [source: http://pandinos.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html]