American migration to France
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 100,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Paris | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Americans in the United Kingdom |
Americans in France consists of immigrants and expatriates from the United States as well as French people of American ancestry. Immigration to France from the United States date back to the 19th century and according to the American embassy in Paris, as of 2010, there are about 100,000 American citizens residing in France.
Unofficial figures indicate that up to 50,000 free blacks emigrated to Paris from Louisiana in the decades after Napoleon sold the territory to the United States in 1803.
Paris was the art capital of the world in the nineteenth century and has attracted painters, sculptors, and architects from around the world including the United States. In the decades following the American Civil War, hundreds of Americans joined the throngs headed to Paris. American artists, who formed the largest contingent of foreign painters and sculptors in Paris, were only one segment of the capital's extensive American colony, which also included writers, businessmen, diplomats, and others in more-or-less permanent residence.
Many American artists stayed together, and enclaves of them developed on the Left Bank, along the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs and near the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian's headquarters. Although some lived in Paris for long periods—even the rest of their lives—most insisted on identifying themselves as American.
During the United States campaigns in World War I the American Expeditionary Forces fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces. The first 14,000 U.S. infantry troops landed in France at the port of Saint Nazaire and by May 1918 over one million U.S. troops were stationed in France, half of them being on the front lines.
In the aftermath of World War I, when about 200,000 were brought over to fight, Paris began to have an African-American community. Ninety per cent of these soldiers were from the American South. France was viewed by many African Americans as a welcome change after incidents of racism in the United States. Beginning in the 1920s, U.S. intellectuals, painters, writers, and tourists were drawn to French art, literature, philosophy, theatre, cinema, fashion, wines, and cuisine. It was during this time that jazz was introduced to the French and black culture was born in Paris.
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