Afro-French

Afro-French

Thierry Henry, Christiane Taubira, Michael Pietrus, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Rama Yade, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Total population
Estimates vary, it is illegal for the French State to collect data on ethnicity and race.
Regions with significant populations
Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Strasbourg, Overseas departments and territories of France
Languages
Common French with various native languages such as African languages, French Creoles and others. Those from Cape Verde speak Portuguese and Kriolu. Arabic is also used by some Muslims.
Religion
Christianity, Islam, irreligious

Afro-French or Noirs en France (Blacks in France) are French citizens or residents who are of Black African or Caribbean ancestry.

Population statistics

Although it is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and race, a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958,^[1] various population estimates exist. One source states that there are 1.5 million black people in France,^[2] while another states 1.865 million, equivalent to just under 4 per cent of the population.^[3] An article in the New York Times stated that estimates vary between 3 million and 5 million.^[4] It is estimated that four out of five black people in France are of African descent, with the remainder being of Caribbean ancestry or African Americans in France.^{[5] [6]}

Some organizations, such as the Representative Council of France's Black Associations (French: Conseil représentatif des associations noires de France, CRAN), have argued in favour of the introduction of data collection on minority groups but this has been resisted by other organizations and ruling politicians,^[7][8] often on the grounds that collecting such statistics goes against France's secular principles and harks back to Vichy-era identity documents.^[9] During the 2007 presidential election, however, Nicolas Sarkozy was polled on the issue and stated that he favoured the collection of data on ethnicity.^[10] Part of a parliamentary bill which would have permitted the collection of data for the purpose of measuring discrimination was rejected by the Conseil Constitutionnel in November 2007.^[1]

Afro-French people in French politics

Afro-French members of the French Parliament or Government from Overseas France

There have been dozens of Afro-Caribbean or Afro-French MPs representing overseas electoral districts at the French National Assembly or at the French Senate, and several government members.

Jean-Baptiste Belley (1746-1805) was the first French Black deputy during the French revolution. He represented the Northern department of the French colony of Saint-Domingue at the National Convention (1792-1795), then at the Council of Five Hundred (1795-1799).

Blaise Diagne became in 1914 the first Black African member of the French national Assembly, and in 1931 the first Black undersecretary in a French government.

Christiane Taubira, deputy from French Guyana, was the first Black candidate to a French presidential election, in 2002.

Afro-French people elected in Metropolitan France

• Élie Bloncourt (fr) (1896-1978), first Black metropolitan deputy (1936-1940, 1945-1947), first Black metropolitan general councillor (1934-1940, 1945-1951)^[11]
• Ernest Chénière (fr)(1945-), former deputy for Oise (1993-1997)
• Raphaël Élizé (fr)(1891-1945), first Black metropolitan mayor (1929-1940)^[12]
• Gaston Monnerville (1897-1991), first Black metropolitan senator (1946-1974), president of the French Senate (1947-1968), mayor, president of Lot's general council
• George Pau-Langevin, Paris deputy (2007-)
• Arthur Richards (fr)(1890-1972), general councillor in Bordeaux (1951-1964), deputy for Gironde (1958-1967)
• Rama Yade, former minister
• Kofi Yamgnane, former minister, former MP, former mayor, former general councillor in Brittany

See also

• Cape Verdean French
• Haitians in France

References