Great Performances

Harlem in Montmartre (37x25)

Air date: Aug 26, 2009

Many African Americans who found themselves in Europe at the end of WWI stayed there because there was less racism than in the United States. Over the next twenty years, until the violence of WWII, they created an expatriate community of musicians, entertainers and entrepreneurs, in Paris' Montmartre neighborhood. This documentary tells the story of this neglected portion of African American cultural history. Inspired by the book Harlem in Montmartre: a Paris Jazz Story by William A. Shack. Narrated by S. Epatha Merkerson.