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Richard Allen always liked French. Though he grew up listening to Hispanic Spanish, he was not really attracted to this language. But when he heard his grade school classmate, Gabriel Racine, speak French, he decided that he wanted to learn it. True to his passion, he went on to earn a B.A. in French and Economics at Morehouse College and moved to France to learn more after completing his military service in Belgium. He arrived in Paris on 11 June 1972, enrolled at the Sorbonne, and studied for there for two years.
Richard as photographer
Richard’s love of photography has allowed him to work throughout much of the world, beginning with the now defunct American Center in Paris. He began in the photo lab and before he knew it, he was working as the director of photography there. He went on to work at UNESCO as a communications consultant and expert in photojournalism. His job was to promote photojournalism around Africa and Asia, and work in the field to help journalists in these countries become photojournalists. He created regional, Anglophone training centers for photojournalism in Kenya and Ghana, and Francophone training centers in Togo and Madagascar. During a mission to photograph a three-day medical conference in Gabon in 1979, he had the distinction of being asked to cover the presidential campaign of Gabon’s President Omar Bongo. His last mission to Africa and Asia was in 1991. Richard returned to Africa in 1992 as a photographer with Essence Magazine to do a 15-page travel special on Ghana.
Richard also worked as a fashion photographer for prestigious houses such as Dior, Ungaro and Givenchy, shooting press-kits for models as well as photographing models in-house and on the runway. He worked for Givenchy for 9½ years, covering their haute couture and prêt-à-porter shows, as well as their men’s collections. His photos were often viewed in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar (French/Italian), Essence Magazine, American Vogue, GQ, and many other worldly magazines. But he eventually grew tired of working in fashion and 1995 he decided that he wanted to go into business.
Richard as businessman
Richard’s business career began in Minnesota in 1997 when he was hired as director of new business and project development at a consulting firm called Results Unlimited. He was responsible for finding new clients, introducing the basics of the company to them, and inviting them to visit to the home office to receive further information. He continues his business activities today as a freelancer who works for French companies.
When asked about the distinctions between American and French business culture, Richard noted that there are differences in behavior between employees in-house as well as in approaching a potential client to make a sale. He said that in-house, Americans are not very social with their greetings at the beginning of the day whereas French people go around to everyone to shake hands and perhaps even kiss. With regard to selling, he said that Americans are more aggressive in their approach and are a bit less diplomatic. In contrast, the French are slower and less aggressive, preferring to get to know their buyers and counterparts better before they begin to sell.
Richard agrees with the American approach to selling, but says that he likes a little of both approaches. He prefers the American style of knowing your company’s products and showing them, as well as studying the products and knowing the weaknesses of the competition. He says that Americans sell aggressively and “get it out of the way.” But he also likes the personal, more relaxed approach that the French take to selling. He thinks that part of the reason that French companies hire him may be his ability to see things from both an American and French point of view and because he can identify these differences, help them with their weaker parts, and show them the stronger parts of the American way of doing things.
Richard as singer
Richard began singing in Paris during the time that he worked as a photographer, joining a group called Les Voix Américains. His first tour with the group was in Algiers, Algeria and he went on to tour France with them as well. He formed a group of three singers called Faith, which did quite well but eventually dispersed. He now sings with a choir called Voices International. He says that the group rehearses once a week and occasionally performs on weekends.
Richard’s love of music stems from his childhood, when he sang in a choir in junior and senior high school and played first trumpet in the city band and city orchestra at that time as well. Singing is not a profession for him, though he’d love for it to be. At present, he pursues it (and photography) as a hobby. He says with a smile that he may pick up singing as a career when he retires.
Richard as filmmaker
Richard’s legacy as an African-American expatriate lies in his documentary film Paris: In Search of a Dream. His original idea was to create a coffee-table book on African-American cultural exchange between America and Paris from just before the end of the Second World War to the (then) present day. Beginning in 1985-1986, he interviewed individuals – some of whom lived in Paris and some of whom were just passing through – and asked them to express their feelings about staying in the French capital.
The focus of the book was to be on jazz and on African Americans working and living in France. Richard planned to conduct the interviews and provide photos, and anticipated having historian Tyler Stovall (author of Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light) provide historical perspective for the publication. The documentary grew out of the idea for the book.
Richard says that people in America always have the question “How was it in France with the African Americans?” He wanted the documentary to answer this question, and he thinks that he accomplished this.
Richard and a friend named Bob Dockery filmed Paris: In Search of a Dream in Paris in 1997. Those who were featured talked about their aspirations, their inspirations, as well as what they anticipated from their arrival in Paris, from French culture, and from what they could learn from the French people they met. The two-hour documentary was broadcast in two parts by ABC and NBC affiliates. The film was aired between April 1998 and June 2001 and was eventually purchased by PBS. From the feedback that Richard received, it was well appreciated by U.S. audiences.
The book has never been published – though Richard still has plans to produce it. The documentary is a great film – it is definitely worth seeing if you have the opportunity.
Photo courtesy of Richard and Sandy Allen
When asked about life in Paris, Richard replied that his two favorite cities are New York and Paris, and he’s had the good fortune to live in both of them. Regarding Paris, he loves the lifestyle, the restaurants, the museums, the monuments, the people . . . . He says that he has the chance to do everything that he wants to do in the city. He lives in the 15th arrondissement, which he finds to be “fabulous.”
One of the many reasons that Richard loves Paris is because this is where he met his lovely wife Sandy. During his military stint at NATO SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) in Belgium, he would sometimes come to Paris on the weekends. A friend invited Richard to lunch at UNESCO in May 1972 and introduced him to Sandy there. Richard left the military in June of 1972, moved together in 1974, and in 1975, he and Sandy got married. The rest is history!
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