Walking the Spirit celebrates 30 years of sharing Black history in Paris

How did Walking the Spirit begin?

Julia Browne was born in the United Kingdom, to parents who were part of the Windrush generation - the first large groups of Caribbean people to emigrate to the UK, named after the first ship carrying them, HMT Empire Windrush. Julia’s family emigrated to Ontario, Canada, in the 1960s, where Julia learnt French at school and started to take an interest in all things Francophone. Later, she moved to French-speaking Montreal and ultimately to Aix-en-Provence in France. Here, she met the man she would later marry, and together they moved to Paris, arriving in 1990, on 1 February - a date that happened to be the anniversary of the birth date of one of her favourite writers, Langston Hughes. It was here that a sequence of events led to a passion project turning into a successful business.

Julia explains: ‘I was living the life of getting settled, I was a new mother, working in film and television and trying to follow opportunities there. I started taking courses at the Sorbonne, and took a class with the late Professor Michel Fabre, the specialist of African American history and culture in France. He became my mentor and this world opened up to me. He had written a book for a conference, called A Street Guide to African Americans in Paris. I started walking around Paris, following where the book took me. I went to a place in my neighbourhood in the 17th district - where the book said Langston Hughes had lived. I found the building and waited for the concierge to go out for lunch and I snuck in, up to the top floor where he had lived. There I was, standing in front of the door where Langston Huges had lived and written his jazz poetry. I realised there was all this history here. That’s where it started for me. My being in Paris made sense to me then.’

Julia was fascinated - following this book, Paris revealed itself to her. Layers of history that weren’t visible on the ground showed themselves. She threw herself into researching more, following the characters and the events she hadn’t known about. When her friends wanted to know more, she showed them what she had found. Before long, journalists were asking about her tours and members of the public started to come along. Walking the Spirit was born in 1994 and is now celebrating its 30th year.

What does Walking the Spirit offer today?

Some of the original walking tours that Julia offered 30 years ago are still on the programme, alongside many new explorations of focussed subjects such as the African district, jazz, diaspora exchange, the Slave Trade and colonialism. The experiences Julia offers have now expanded, offering bus tours covering more of the city, as well as customised programmes for schools, and bespoke itineraries for travellers on holiday.

Julia has also joined forces with a film-making team and became associate producer and main presenter/lecturer of two important documentaries. ‘Paris Noir-African Americans in the City of Light’ gives an invaluable overview between WW1 and 1960. ‘Fighting For Respect’ captures the plight of African American soldiers who fought in WWI, receiving the Croix de Guerre military decoration from France, while still fighting discrimination and hatred at home in America.

The tours are expanding and developing all the time, influenced by both new research Julia continuously undertakes and equally by the people she talks to. ‘I research many sources, including the archives of different universities. There’s excellent and exciting scholarship being published regularly, I listen to really informative and thought-provoking podcasts, and I follow the news. This shows me what is of concern at the moment. I think, how does that reflect on what I talk about and reframe what we talk about? I talk to people who have made their lives here about their experiences, and that informs a lot of what I say to people.’

Walking the Spirit works with an organisation that specialises in university alumni tours They curate week-long programmes exploring Paris and Black heritage. ‘Every day is a different museum or tour or experience and every day is an opportunity to share my knowledge, but also to learn from the group. I get a different exchange every week and the value of that is immeasurable. It helps me finetune the stories that I tell. I might be telling the same story a different way every couple of weeks because of that interaction.’

Why is Paris an important place for Black history?

Julia estimates that 85% of people who come on the tours are Afro-descendant. She explains why Paris is such a significant place for them. ‘Paris has historically been a meeting point for people - those victims of the slave trade, people from the former colonies, from the Caribbean and the Americas - we have a meeting point right here. Timewise, it’s from the turn of the century, it’s from the abolitionist movement before that, from the first and second world wars. Throughout all those times, Paris has been a place where we become aware of each other and our experiences. In Paris, we can examine how Blackness unfolds and intersects, in this iconic city and country, in real time.’

Julia continues, ‘People come to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, to eat delicious French food, but in addition to all that, there is history of this city as a place of refuge, of immigration, and migration. People from all over have found a new beginning and growth opportunities and inherent challenges here in France. Black people have that in common with the Paris story.’

‘When Afro-descendant people come to Paris and learn about Black history, they see that they have a place here. For young people, for example those on study-abroad programmes here, it’s an opportunity to step out of their own culture and see where they might find a place, purpose and pride in the wider world no matter what the narrative is in their own country. Visitors go home often with a sense of exhilaration, or at least thoughtful about this iconic city and their expectations. When I do that for a group or an individual it’s very rewarding.’

One of Julia’s favourite stories to tell on the tours is that of James Baldwin. ‘His experience encapsulates the evolution of a person when their time in France has been life-changing. His is a story of personal evolution and personal courage. While he wasn’t always on his best behaviour, he was really learning about himself, and galvanising his personal power and identity politics as a Black man, an American, and a writer.’

What can other organisations learn from Walking the Spirit’s experience in sharing Black history?

‘I would say that the most important thing is to start to meet people who work in the community you want to engage with, not just the scholars but the people who are creating programmes in the community, those people whose goal it is to teach young people about their history, for example. Find out how they teach, what they’re teaching. Do some reflection and examination of unconscious biases you may be bringing into the collaboration. In cultural institutions, part of the mandate is to teach or provide tools for teaching, so it needs to be in partnership with the grassroots movements, with people who are knowledgeable and have access to the groups the cultural institution wants to engage with.’

What are Walking the Spirit’s plans for the future?

Here, Julia pauses to reflect, answering thoughtfully. ‘I am in the process of deciding where my next sphere of influence should be. I want to keep offering educational opportunities, be a resource to organisations regardless of their background. But I also want to work with more people who are doing the same work. In 1994, there was nobody else working with Black heritage in Paris or France. Now, there are people doing similar things in Amsterdam, Lisbon, Morocco, London… In all these places there is this Black history and heritage that should not be erased or ignored. I would like to help keep those fires lit.’

Find out more on the Walking The Spirit website, or follow on Instagram and Facebook.