The Lion of the 17th: the story of Georges Dukson and the Liberation of Paris

10-Minute Talks

Gary Younge Hon FBA explores the French Liberation of 1944 and the story of Georges Dukson, "le Lion du 17ème", a soldier from French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon) who fought for the Free French forces during the liberation of Paris. Almost a million Africans, more than a million African Americans and roughly 16,0000 Caribbeans served in the Allied forces in the Second World War, but – often partly by design – their stories have rarely been heard. From the 'blanchissement' to the allied powers’ denial of the basic civil rights of Black and Brown people, Younge argues that the Second World War cannot be meaningfully understood as one for democracy or freedom.

Speaker: Professor Gary Younge Hon FBA, Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester; Journalist and author

This podcast is for informative and educational purposes.

Image credit: Georges Dukson, a Black soldier, is on the edge of the procession that General Charles de Gaulle is leading down the Champs-Élysées as part of the liberation of Paris. Photo by Serge DE SAZO / Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images.

10-Minute Talks are a series of pre-recorded talks from Fellows of the British Academy, published on YouTube and also available on Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/10-minute-talks/id1530020476

Additional photos of Georges Dukson described in this talk can be viewed on this blog by Matthew Cobb: https://elevendaysinaugust.com/2013/03/09/georges-dukson-2/

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