Thursday, August 6th, 2026
Black Paris on the Map: Public Sites Named to Honor People of African Descent
Cover Image: Gare Rosa Parks at twilight
© Entrée to Black Paris
One of the questions I get asked most often on our Entrée to Black Paris walking tours is some version of this: "Wait—there's a whole neighborhood named after Rosa Parks?"
The honest answer is yes!
Flier for celebration in the Rosa Parks quarter
© Entrée to Black Paris
Paris has quietly named more than two dozen of its parks, streets, squares, and transit stations after people of African descent—and most people walk right past every one of them without noticing.
There is the garden named for Nelson Mandela near Les Halles in the 1st arrondissement ...
Signage for Nelson Mandela garden
© Entrée to Black Paris
... the street named after aviator Bessie Coleman in the 20th arrondissement ...
Street sign for rue Bessie Coleman
Photo by Chabe01
License: CC BY-SA-4.0
... the place named after Félix Eboué in the 12th arrondissement ...
Place Félix Eboué
© Entrée to Black Paris
Over the years, we've written about each of these places and spaces as we've discovered them. Some of them have been on the map for years, while others have been recently inaugurated. We count at least one place commemorating a Black person in thirteen of Paris' 20 arrondissements.
The most recent addition came just this past spring with the March 2026 dedication of part of the Trocadero Garden to Jacques Martial, the Guadeloupean actor and former Paris Deputy Mayor who died in 2025. This space will become the home of the National Memorial to the Victims of Slavery.
Not every commemoration takes the form of a garden or a memorial, however. Often, honoring history means marking a single doorway or façade.
In April 2025, the city affixed a plaque above the entrance to the building found at 49, rue Saint André des Arts in the 6th arrondissement during A Ceremony in Honor of the Chevalier de Saint-George.
Going back yet another year, Paris honored one of the U.S.' most beloved singers. The first phase of A Paris Park Named after Aretha Franklin was completed and opened to the public in July 2024. When work is finished in 2028, the park will have expanded to 30,000 square meters (32,917 square feet) of biodiverse terrain.
The reimagining of the Trocadero Garden, the installation of a beautiful marker in central Paris, and the creation of a new park on the edge of the city represent three different ways Paris is writing Black history into its landscape. Entrée to Black Paris will continue to look for and report on new instances of Black people officially being commemorated in the city.
