During my first real trip to France, I set out to discover the “black” Paris, asking a tourism official if they had any information to share. Lacking anything to give me, she finally pulled out a map and pointed to the metro stop Chateau Rouge, in the heart of the La Goutte d’Or neighborhood, and said, “Go there.”

When I emerged from the metro, I wasn’t sure if I was still in Paris. I heard no French being spoken on the streets. Shops sold meat and produce for African cuisines and special cloth for African clothes. Large posters promoting upcoming African parties covered the walls of abandoned buildings. As I walked toward the Barbés-Rochechouart metro, the shops began to cater to people of North African descent. It was only later that I learned about the deep immigrant history of the neighborhood.

Read the rest here.