The Black Metropolis, Between Past & Future: Race, Urban Planning, and Afro-American Culture in Chicago is a three-day, multidisciplinary colloquium in Paris bringing together sociologists, historians, art historians, and artists to reevaluate the cultural contributions of Chicago’s South and West Sides in defining an African American identity nationally and internationally.

The colloquium celebrates the centenary of the “Great Migration” and explores the social and cultural life of Chicago’s South Side and West Side from the end of the 1930s, which were marked by the cultural zenith of the Bronzeville neighborhood, to the present, which is characterized by numerous private and public initiatives in favor of an urban renewal.

Cultural events in connection with the colloquium include: Black Chicago, a group photography show; Chicago, the Black Metropolis, an exhibition featuring books and pictures of the South Side and West Side of Chicago; a screening of two documentaries, Maxwell Street by Marvin Newman and Yasuhiro Ishimoto and Shadowgram by Augusto Cotento; and From Black Metropolis to Yellow City, a performance by musicians Mike Reed and Olivier Benoit.