The Ways of White Folks

In several stories, Paris serves as an important setting, and it comes to represent more than just a city. Every Black character who goes to Paris feels less ostracized for the color of their skin. In “Poor Little Black Fellow,” Arnie meets a diverse group of friends for the first time, feeling “Paris and music and cocktails made you forget what color people were—and what color you were yourself. Here it didn’t matter—color” (148). Conversely, when Roy returns to the United States from traveling across Europe, he notes, “His skin burned. For the first time in half a dozen years he felt his color. He was home” (36).

As Arnie continues to socialize, another partygoer makes the same comparison between Paris and the United States: “Well, what’s new in the States now? I haven’t been home for three years. Don’t intend to go soon. The color-line’s a little too much for me” (147). In “The Blues I’m Playing,” Oceola plays across Europe without any mention of race, which continues to be an issue between her and Mrs. Ellsworth stateside. Across the stories of The Ways of White Folks, Europe, and Paris in particular, represents a way of living more equally than many regions of the United States.