In honour of Black History Month, the Institut Franco-Américain in Rennes has varied events about African-American culture and history.
There is music, with a gospel and dance show, Shosholoza, an exhibition and concert on female jazz singers and a bilingual lecture about hip-hop. As well as a conversation with Brooklyn-based Dawnie Walton on her first novel The Final Revival of Opal and Nev (newly translated into French) about a 1970s rock/punk duo.
There are lectures in French about how the U.S. public school system is still segregated and the efforts of black American athletes to not only gain medals but to obtain equal treatment.
On 15 February, there is a screening of the documentary film Ok, Joe ! ou les Mémoires du soldat Guilloux, inspired by a short book by French novelist Louis Guilloux, who worked as an interpreter for the American Army in 1944. He was shocked by the treatment of black G.I.s.
Institut Franco-Américain Rennes
Black History Month programme
Shosholoza Gospel Show
6 February 2024 6.30 p.m.
Les athlètes olympiques noirs américains, entre excellence sportive et lutte pour l’égalité, 1896-1984
Lecture in French
8 February 2024 6.30 p.m.
Conversation with Dawnie Walton about her first novel The Final Revival of Opal and Nev
13 February 6 p.m. at Théâtre de la Parcheminerie
Documentary film: Ok, Joe ! ou Les mémoires du soldat Guilloux
15 February 2024 6.30 p.m. at Cinéma Arvor
Éducation aux USA : l’école publique sur la sellette
Lecture in French
22 February 2024 6.30 p.m.
Jazz Women
Exhibition at the library, 5-31 March and a free concert on 28 March 7 p.m.
Hip Hop Culture in the formation of intersecting American identities
Bilingual lecture
26 March
Tag(s) : "Black History Month" "civil rights" "documentary" "February" "James Baldwin" "Malcolm X" "Martin Luther King" "Rennes" "U.S. culture"