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5 Sub-Saharan Africans: La Force Noire The world war demonstrates that these people of all colors, these 70 million Africans and Asians, France has made not subjects but citizens, and more than citizens: patriots.1 The participation of sub-Saharan colonial troops in France’s struggle against Germany from 1914 to 1918 transformed the primary image of black Africans that government officials and entrepreneurs presented to the public in the postwar period. Instead of stressing the negative or “primitive ” qualities of Africans and African society, many officials began to focus on the participation and performance of African troops in the conflict. The colonial force noire, a source of pride for the French army, provided a vital reinforcement for the continental troops. Over 160,000 black Africans fought and died for France in the trenches of Europe.2 Advocates of colonialism praised the commitment and bravery of the black troops and argued that their presence on the side of France was a deciding factor in the final outcome of the war.3 After the conflict, African soldiers stayed in the public eye. Some African troops remained on French soil in military bases and others were posted to the occupied Rhineland. Commercial images of the tirailleurs sénégalais, such as the one made famous in advertisements for the breakfast drink Banania, came into vogue during the war years.4 French supporters of colonialism expressed gratitude to black soldiers in a variety of ways. Organizers of colonial expositions in Marseilles and Paris praised black African soldiers in public and private forums for the help they provided to their white colonizers. In their speeches they claimed that since 92 children of france, 1914–1940 the native troops had offered their physical strength to the French, France had the responsibility (le devoir) of training and providing for their societies . It seemed evident to French imperialists that the mère patrie should raise her colonial children to maturity. The men who prepared the Exposition nationale coloniale in Marseilles in 1922 and the French sections of the Paris Exposition coloniale internationale in 1931 used creative methods to instill the utility of the African colonies in the mind of the metropolitan public and demonstrate that France had a parental role to fulfill. Organizers added new types of performances and exhibits alongside displays patterned from past fairs. Product trademark designers also responded to contemporary developments by placing pictures of West African soldiers and black performers on new trademarks. The image of blacks as a force noire brought about new ways of interpreting the colonial relationship. During the interwar colonial expositions, French officials began to stress fraternal partnership and union with African peoples while maintaining an ideological framework of white racial and cultural superiority. The idea of partnership suggested a future of close collaboration where African economic and cultural contributions would be valued but where the French would continue to exert their “superior” position as a modern and civilizing nation. This chapter explores the changing French depiction of sub-Saharan Africans during the period 1914 to 1940. It begins by focusing on the evolution of trademark images and moves to portrayals of Africans at the two major French colonial expositions of the interwar years. Finally, it considers the last major government attempt to highlight sub-Saharan Africa to the metropolitan public—the 1937 Exposition internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie moderne. In the last years of the Third Republic, colonial officials hoped to keep the promise of the African colonies alive before the public, but the economic downturn and tensions in France and abroad limited the scope of attention the 1937 exposition devoted to overseas possessions. Trademark Images, 1914–1940 Although French commercial images of American and African blacks changed after the Great War, the concepts of many trademark designs did not change. Blacks remained important symbols on trademarks for darkcolored products such as coffee, tea, cocoa, and industrial oils. Merchants continued to picture them as exotic subjects to draw attention to a variety of products that seemed to have no symbolic or geographical connection to black peoples. And entrepreneurs continued to show blacks as servants and laborers, just as they had in earlier years. These three uses of black subjects, which often coincided, characterized trademarks after the war. In the trademarks registered in Paris and Marseilles from 1914 to 1940, 93 sub-saharan africans: la force noire blacks remained important exotic subjects for attracting the attention of consumers. For example, the JAM spark plug company...

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