Due to World War I, France saw an influx of African colonials migrate into Paris. This sudden rise in diversity led white Parisians to become fascinated by the introduction and immersion of black cultures in the city. During the late 1920s, several Parisian nightclubs began hosting bals, or authentic African-inspired dances, which were very popular among both the black and white French crowds. These bals became one of the leading interracial social spaces in France.
While African immigrants went to a bal colonial, or bal nègre, for recreation and fun, French surrealists often came for the scientific observation of black culture. The jazz music and dancing found in black nightclubs were studied by surrealists as major components of black civilization. This appreciation of the night lifestyle of Black Africans and African Americans in France was really the French sexualizing and fetishizing black culture.[15] The bals were also one of the most prominent areas for interracial exchanges and relationships to occur.[16] Hidden in the dark of night, young French and African adults could socialize and interact in ways that were highly controversial in average European society.
To the average Frenchman, the bal nègre was considered an opportunity for "exotic" experiences and sexual freedom.[17] Black party-goers were no longer thought to be in these bals for their own enjoyment, but for the interests of white guests. As the appeal of exoticism rose, the opportunity for white people to interact and dance with black people became very attractive. This promise of "exotic experimentation" made these nightclubs very popular with the French bourgeois and turned them into tourist attractions. Interracial dancing gave the French a sense of liberation from the conventions of modern society, especially since the French deemed Africa and Africans primitive and passionate. These "progressive" interracial relations did not surpass the walls of the Parisian nightclubs. The racial and social structures remained the same for Blacks and whites in France during the early 20th century.[17]
