An Evening of Readings Inspired by Tannie Stovall's Book Collection

On the evening of Saturday, April 20th, a lively group assembled at the home of Kathleen Dameron to listen to a series of short readings inspired by the book collection of Tannie Stovall. Kathleen is the guardian of what is now the Tannie Stovall Memorial Library, a collection of ~170 books that Tannie entrusted to Kathleen for safekeeping. His desire was that his books, including those that he authored, be the source of stimulating conversation and the instigators of lively debates on sociopolitical and cultural issues.

Kathleen and Cheryl Pegues co-organized the event and five people read that evening. Each explained why he or she thought the passage selected was appropriate for the event and then proceeded to recite it for the group.

Cheryl Pegues and Kathleen Dameron
© Discover Paris!
Ellen Kountz read from an essay called "Blacks Don't Read: They Are Still Our Slaves." It has become somewhat of an urban legend. Though its source is unknown, it is powerful food for thought.

Ellen showing a photo of Tannie and friends
© Discover Paris!
Curtis Robert Young reminisced about his hometown of Chicago and talked about his son, who worked for the Obama administration, before reading a passage about a community meeting at a church in Chicago from Obama's Dreams from My Father.

Curtis Robert Young
© Discover Paris!
Cheryl selected a passage from the first chapter of The Spook Who Sat by the Door, a novel by Sam Greenlee. The book is a favorite of her current beau and coincidentally is one that Tannie read and loaned to someone. Cheryl donated her copy to the library.

Cheryl standing before the audience
© Discover Paris!
Randy Garrett read from Tannie's last novel, Two Centuries in Two Weeks. He selected a passage that explains why Ralph, the African-American protagonist of the book, has decided to take his own life.

Randy Garrett
© Discover Paris!
Finally, Jake Lamar read from Chester Himes' The Quality of Hurt, fondly remembering how Tannie expressed disdain and disbelief when Jake admitted that he had not read any of Himes' work prior to coming to Paris.

Jake Lamar
© Discover Paris!
After the readings, a scrumptious Indian-Mauritanian buffet was served and the group danced and chatted for the duration of the evening.

Dancing
© Discover Paris!
The Tannie Stovall Memorial Library will eventually become a lending library.

The Library
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To learn more, contact Kathleen Dameron at .


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Tannie Stovall, Cheryl Pegues, Ellen Kountz, and Jake Lamar are all featured in the Discover Paris! publication Black Paris Profiles. Click here to learn more about the book.

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Black Paris Profiles™: Ellen Kountz

Ellen Kountz is one of the few African Americans in Paris whose professional life centered on finance and banking. She earned an undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an Executive MBA at ESSEC (Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Sociales) in Paris (La Défense). She is also a vocal advocate of political engagement in the U.S. and an active member of the Minority Caucus of Democrats Abroad France. I introduced you to her a few weeks ago as the person who organized the first Black History Month event at the American Church in Paris. I am pleased to feature her in this month’s Black Paris Profile™.

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You’ve lived in Paris for over 20 years. What sparked your interest in living here?

I’ve had a lifelong curiosity about living overseas, which was sparked from the numerous international trips that my family was fortunate to take at the height of my father’s career in the 1970’s. This interest solidified when I went to summer camp in Crans Montana, Switzerland from the ages of 11 to 14. I was exposed to cosmopolitan polyglot teenagers from around the world and was acutely aware that being an American meant having a linguistic disadvantage. Somewhere in the back of my mind I decided to rectify this and go beyond what high school French classes could offer.

Ellen at the Pont Mirabeau
Photo credit: Franz Kennedy
Tell us how you came to settle here.

Ironically, I arrived in France after having avoided French classes for years. When I attended the Wharton School undergraduate program in 1988, there was no language requirement. I had put that interest on the back burner to focus on my best subjects – economics, statistics, and business. As a junior, I was informed that requirements had changed and that I needed a liberal arts credit to graduate. I freaked out!

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Black Paris Profiles™ is now available on Kindle.  Only excerpts are available on this blog.

To get your copy of Black Paris Profiles™, click HERE.

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Mona Lisa in Black

Leonardo's Mona Lisa is probably the world's most famous painting. It hangs in the Louvre, and draws countless thousands of visitors to the museum every day.  Numerous artists have been inspired by this work, and have created their own art using Mona Lisa's image.

Ealy Mays is one of these artists.  He has teamed up with the Paris bookstore Mona Lisait (which means "Mona read " [past tense]) for an exposition of several of his Mona Lisa-inspired works.  These works are part of a series of paintings that he has christened "Mama."

Caribbean Mama (Is There Life on Mars?)

2010, Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!

Mona Lisa Likes Pancakes

2010, Oil on canvas

© Discover Paris!

Yellow Mama Lisa

2010, Oil on canvas

© Discover Paris!

Mays is a Texas native and long-time Paris resident. He is a prolific painter, and has produced at least ten works that in some way make reference to Mona Lisa.  Many works from his "Mama" series also feature Aunt Jemima, either alongside Mona Lisa or alone.  Mays does not hesitate to include elements from previous series of his in current paintings - an example is the blue watermelon from his "Blue Watermelon" series in Yellow Mama Lisa.

Social commentary through art is a prominent feature of Mays' oeuvre.  His painting Obama in Paris is a prime example of this:

 Obama in Paris

2008, Oil on canvas
Image courtesy of Ealy Mays

Obama is seen in the lower register of the painting, looking upward.  The kiosk bears colorful images of Paul Colin's famous portrayal of Josephine Baker in her banana skirt, the Banania man, Aunt Jemima, a self-portrait of Beauford Delaney, a photograph of Alexandre Dumas, père, and other persons or objects relevant to black history and culture.

For a close-up view of this painting, click here. (Prints are available from Dorothy's Gallery.)

Mays has a studio on rue Christine in the 6th arrondissement, and paints at the Cité International des Arts on rue de l'Hôtel de Ville in the 4th arrondissement every summer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Guggenheim are among the world-renowned museums that have displayed his works.

 Ealy Mays
© Discover Paris!

Joe Langley filmed the vernissage (the opening of the exposition) on June 15, 2010.   Click here to see the video.

To see the current exposition at Mona Lisait, visit the store at:

6, rue Danton

75005 Paris

Tel: 01 43 29 57 72 
Metro: Odéon - Saint Michel

The expo will hang until August 31, 2010.

To see an online gallery of Mays' work, visit his blog at http://ealymays.blogspot.com/ or his MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/ealymays. 

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  Entrée to Black Paris™ is a Discover Paris! blog.