Artists of Love!

GREAT LOVERS: NEGRO MEN AND FRENCH WOMEN

by

Langston Hughes

In the popular mind all over the world, Negro men and French women have the reputation of being great lovers. They are famed as skilled and desirable companions of passion. From here to yonder wherever I have travelled, their bourdoir acclaim is international.

 Folks think they are artists at love.

EIGHT TO TWO

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_française_ is popularly endowed. For instance, _In Mexico_
City, the "French" houses have the highest prices.

In his book, _THE ROAD TO BUENOS AIRES_, Albert Londres
wrote of the fame and desirability of the French _demi-_
mondaine in South American cities, and of the pre- war traffic
in women from Marseilles to the Latin American countries.
Londres also says that these women often make enough money from
their bodies in a year or two in the Argentine to return to
France for life and settle down in bourgeois comfort as small
businesspeople often do in tavernes.
That is, he says, if they do
not fall under the influence of the _creolos_ whose dusky powers
often induce these fair female artistes in love to give up their
lives, including the hard-earned cash they had meant to take back
to Europe. Once they fall for such creole lovers, it seems
they are usually lost, and forget all about going home.

however,

So far as I know, no black Don Juans or Casanovas have left written records of their amorous exploits for posterity to read. (They probably were too busy practicing the art of love to take time out to write about it.) But concerning at least two distinguished literary names of color, Pushkin in Tzarist Russia and Dumas in France, the chronicals of their times state that both were great favorites with the women of Moscow and Paris, and their achievements in love as well as letters were mighty. The high society of their respective capitals accepted them as great lovers.

At the other end of the social ladder, in the Middle Ages were the black page boys of Venice imported from Africa by ladies of fashion. But, mere pages though they were, servants in caste, word has come down through the centuries that not only did these dusky lads run milady's errands, but also frequently served milady in a much more intimate capacity--which helped to account for their great popularity with the mistresses of ducal palaces and doges' mansions. Not for nothing did these shinning black lads wear slims and velvets, too, and sometimes cords of gold about their necks.

Discretion and the libel laws prevent discussion of contemporary swains of famous or great lovers. color in our own day and age who are known to have occupied positions of high estate in the hearts of internationally famous ladies of American or Continental snow-white society, from whose hands have emanated gifts of great value. But almost anybody who moves in rich and sophisticated society in Paris, London, or New York can tell of many such cases concerning dark lovers and soigne'd ladies. However, because of our still quite provincial color complexes in the United States, such alliances are discussed less openly here than abroad, and with more color than amusement.

Certainly there are those living at this moment who are known for their resentment

RIGHT TO TWO

by
Langston Hughes

In the popular mind all over the world, wherever I have travelled, French women and black men have the reputation of being very great lovers. As skilled and desirable companions of passion, they are known from her to yonder. Their boudoir acclaim is international.

In both the underworld and the upper world, amorous esteem for the French female on the one hand and the black man on the other holds true. In fact, in some countries--including the American South--the sex prowess of the Negro male has become a folk legend, magnified beyond the possibility of physical truth. And from Shanghai to Cape Town the amorous charms of Gellie women are, among men, held to be of the highest. Folk beliefs, no doubt, have made these charms seem greater than they are.

Catering to this world folk belief from Chicago to Conakry, Hamburg to Havana, the underworld of prostitution often attempts to palm off as French, women who are no more French than an Eskimo is Italian. But for business reasons ladies of the

EIGHT TO TWO

by
Langston Hughes

In both the underworld and the upper world, amourous esteem for the French female on the one hand and the black man on the other holds true. In fact, in some countries--including the American South--the sex prowess of the Negro male has become a folk legend, magnified beyond the possibility of physical truth. And from Shanghai to Cape Town the amourous charms of Gallic women are, among men, held to be of the highest. Folk beliefs, no doubt, have made these charms seem greater than they are.

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evening often pretend to be direct from Paris, and their tariff
is correspondingly raised to cover the extra charms with which
**la française** is popularly endowed. For instance, in Mexico
City, the "French" house of ill fame have the highest prices.

In THE ROAD TO BUENOS AIRES, Albert Londres wrote of the
popular desirability of the French *deminondaine* in South Ameri-
can cities, and of the traffic in women from Marseilles to the
Latin American countries. Londres also stated that these women
often make enough money from their bodies in a year or two in
the Argentine to return to France for life and settle down in
bourgeois comfort as small business women or bar owners. That
is, if they do not fall under the influence of the South Ameri-
can *creoles* whose dusky powers often induce these fair female
*artistes* of love to give up their all, including the hard-earned
cash they had meant to take back to Europe. Once they succumb
to such creole lovers, it seems they are usually lost, and
forget all about going home.

So far as I know, no black Don Juans or Casanovas have
left written records of their amorous exploits for posterity
to read. (They probably were too busy practicing the art to
take time out to write about it.) But concerning at least two
distinguished literary men of color, Pushkin in Tzarist Russia
and Dumas in France, the chronicals of their times state that
both gentlemen were great favorites with the women of Moscow and
Paris, and their achievements in love as well as letters were
mighty. The high society of their respective capitals accepted
them as great lovers.

EIGHT TO TWO - 3

At the other end of the social ladder in the Middle Ages were the black page boys of Venice imported from Africa by Italian ladies of fashion. But, mere pages though they were and servants in caste, word has come down through the centuries that not only did these dusky lads run milady's errands, but frequently served milady in a much more intimate capacity--which helped to account for their great popularity with the mistresses of ducal palaces and doges' mansions. Not for nothing did these shining blackamoors wear silks and velvets and sometimes sport cords of gold about their necks.

During the American slave period, intrigues between mistresses and slaves were sometimes reported. And no wonder, because the strongest and most virile male Negroes were sometimes set apart particularly as breeders, bringing high prices on the Southern slave block. Of course, they were not supposed to breed with their master's womenfolk, but slip-ups did on occasion occur. Since some Negro breeders became quite famous--as blue-ribbon prize bulls are famous now--gentle ladies could hardly be expected not to be curious concerning them. This the novel, "Mandingo," vividly reports.

History records that Virginia, known as a slave raising state, bred Negroes so rapidly that an average of six thousand a year could be sold to other parts of the South. John Hope Franklin, in his excellent history, "From Slavery To Freedom", states that slave breeding was a highly approved method of increasing agricultural capital. Concerning Negro babies, he quotes one planter as saying that "every one of them was worth

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two hundred dollars the moment it drew breath." Negro women of great fertility were worth considerable money to their masters, but black stud males were even more valuable on the slave market. That these sleek and healthy human studs should occasionally attract white women's glances is hardly against nature--although it was against the established mores of the South. If the truth were known, some stud Negroes were probably worth more to their mistresses than to their masters.

Discretion and the libel laws prevent discussion of contemporary swains of color who are famous in our own day and age as lovers. But there are those living in this year of our Lord who are known to have occupied positions of high estate in the hearts of internationally famous ladies of American or Continental society from whose snow-white hands have emanated gifts of great value. Almost anybody who moves in rich and sophisticated society in Paris, London, or New York can tell of various such cases concerning dark lovers and soigne'd ladies. However, because of our provincial color complexes in the United States, such alliances are discussed less openly here than abroad, and with more resentment than amusement.

J. A. Rogers, in his volumes on SEX AND RACE, has much to say about interracial love around the world in all countries and all ages. Many distinguished and serious writers on sex, including Havelock Ellis, comment on the extraordinary powers of the Negro male and his sustained capacity for physical dalliance. American Army statistics bear this out, if what I have been told at army prophylaxis centers is true.

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During my tours of army camps and USO clubs in the World
War II years as a newspaper columnist I was frequently shown
throughout camp installations from motor pools to hospital
operating rooms and VD control centers. At more than one camp
I was told by attendants or physicians that prophylactic station
records indicate greater sex activity per man among Negro soldiers
than among whites, according to the tabulation of those men who
registered for prophylaxis to prevent the development of disease
following sexual contacts. Indeed, one source reported the
over-all figures racially as being eight to two per month per
man--eight rounds of love for the Negro male out of camp on pass
or furlough, as compared to two rounds of love for the white male
a month. This, of course, applied only to those reporting to
military pro stations after contacts presumed to have been illicit
or commercial.

Eight to two--reduced to the ratio of four to one--puts the
Negro GI well in the lead as a more frequent physical love maker.
This is on local soil. Unofficial word of mouth reports from
overseas with each returning Negro unit after the War indicated
that the world folk belief of Negro prowess in amours had been
ably upheld by dark GI's from Burma to Rome, Melbourne to Marseil-
les. In years to come, the facts will gradually be embroidered
into further legend, re-enforced, no doubt, by that summer of
1945 newspaper story of the weeping and wailing English girls
at Bristol standing all night in the rain beyond the compound
gates to bid farewell to their beloved chocolate soldiers about
to sail for home.

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That British farewell will probably become one of the
stories of World War II that will go down through the ages--
incidentally helping to immortalize the song, DON'T FENCE ME
IN. That is the song the lassies sang to their Negro sweet-
hearts behind the barbed wire of the embarkation camp. The
dark soldiers finally no longer able to stand being fenced
in, tore the barbed wire down and rushed across the line to
clasp the English lassies in their arms as rain and tears
mingled with their kisses.

That old saying that "being born black is to be born
behind the eight-ball" hardly applies to love--not when it's
eight to two!

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