A journey through Joséphine Baker's Paris

I must admit, the first time I went to Paris in my twenties, I wasn't at all impressed.

Although I'd traveled and lived abroad, I felt Parisians were cold and off putting. I wouldn't return for 15 years, deliberately avoiding Paris when I vacationed to other parts of Europe.

But as I finally returned to the City of Lights, I began to understand why black Americans have such an affinity for Paris.

Black Americans have been an integral part of the Parisian fabric since the early 1800s. It was here that Sally Hemmings allegedly fell in love with Thomas Jefferson and where she obtained freedom for her children; here that fellow St. Louisian William Wells Brown, a former slave turned abolitionist, experienced the freedom denied him in the U.S. and was able to write and pray freely with whites.

It was in Paris where another fellow St. Louisian, Joséphine Baker, attained the fame and international celebrity which perpetually eluded her in the States, irrespective that she had become the most photographed icon of her time and the first black American female millionaire.

Just what is it about this magical place that lures so many black American travelers and expatriates to this fascinating city?

Frequenting Paris over the last couple of years, I have truly experienced a sense of freedom and have been captivated by the magical allure of the city, which has shown me time and again that anything really is possible for black Americans here.

I began to wonder why so many people, even Baker and Brown, with whom I share a hometown, had such a love affair with Paris and created their best work and their best selves here. So, I decided to take a walk in Josephine's footsteps in an attempt to gain a firm historical understanding which would hopefully shed more insight on this city's allure for blacks. I wanted to see, thorough Josephine's eyes, why she, like so many other black Americans "felt liberated in Paris."