St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1958-11-28
TOP NEGRO WRITERS
LIVE ABROAD TO
ESCAPE US. BIAS

, American negro authors have set
= tied In France or Italy TO escape
5 the color bar ip their own native
! land.
Says TIME: The U. s. expatri-
ates Of the '20s chung to Paris
as long as their money-or their
7 parents mOney-held out against
the Depression. Today, in duffel
coats and boards, new generation
Of expatriates throngs lie Select
and Les Deux Magots But a siza-
Bile number Of the US. exiles. and
the most stable group among them.
are seldom seen in the Left Bank
cafes. They are Negro artists and
writers.
The Negro intellectuals usually
live separated from one another.
and most have settled into French
life in way that is rare for their
white compatriots. At moments Of
acute Inconsistencies, an American
Negro may stop at the Cafe lie
Tounon, student bistro near the
Luxembourg where he win find
similarly afflicted friends, or 49,
tempted by the thought Of bar
becued spare ribs, corn bread and
deepdish apple pie-he will drop
into Leroy & Gabby's, near the
Place Pigalle.
Voluntary Exiles. Some Negro |
artists have done impressively
we'll Writer Chester Hines, 40,
from Jefferson City, Mo. last week
won the Grand Prix de Literature
Policiere for his novel, La Refine
des Pommes, a roman noir or dark
toned crime story that was hailed
by Author Jean Giono as "the most
extraordinary novel l have read
in a long time" and praised by
Jean Cocteau as "a prodigious mas
terpiece" Sculptor Harold Cousins,
from Washington, DC, has lived
nine years in Paris, sold a sculp-
ture last month to the Claude
Bernard Gallery. and has been
commissioned by SUISSE, the famed
bronze caster, to do a mobile.
Painter Beauford Delaunay, from
Tennessee, lives in a small cottage
in suburban Clamart and exhibits
his work at the avant- garde Face
hetti Gallery on the Left Bank.
Racial discrimination in the us.
gave most Of the Partisan Negroes
the initial push toward self exile,
but they stay in France for other ,
reasons. Chester Hines comedies 1
that Tin America you have this [
personal problem, of course. But !
that's not what I mean about {
France. I like France, and can {
work here because everybody, and /
mean everybody-the concierge /
as well as the intellectual-re- 1
spects creative work. They under
stand writers and help them" :
Philadelphia William Gardner /
Smith, author of Last of the Con-
querors, a study Of Negro GLs
in Germany, lives in a working
class quarter in Paris where Amer 4
leans are seldom seen. He feels I
that in the us. zone wastes too {
much time being angry, Life here {
is more natural, more leisurely {
In discussions with French people, !
they never say, How do you, a {
Negro. see this? p They simply ask, '
How do you see it?' In Paris {
you forget the color of your skin" [
Painter ollie Harrington, who {
earns his living as a cartoonist {
for the Pittsburgh Courier and
other Negro newspapers, enjoys |
the freedom to travel. II like TO I
swim and ski and deep-sea fish, ,
all strictly restricted in the us
Here l can step into my car and /
drive wherever l like, certain that Ii
at the end Of the day I will find
a good hotel and a good restaurant,
and that I can sit down without l
the slightest attention, I
or exciting curiosity. In Sweden,
that's stil another matter: they
run after you there. can do with
out that, too"
Richard Native SOM Wright, the
dean Of Negro writers abroad, says
Il like to live in France
because Il Is a free country. Then
there are my daughters. They are
receiving an excellent education
in France" What of the danger of
getting out OF touch with u. s.
llfeT Snaps Wright; The Negro
problem In America has not chan
ged in 500 years" Other Negro
writers are not so sure William
Gardner Smith confesses that "the
problem I have Is missing
my roots. I've no intention Of writ
ing about France. much as like
Franch. It's not my homeland. But
II I'm going 20 DO writing about
the States something may be
wrong. little nuances I'm very far
from my country"