"Encounter on the Seine: Black Meets Brown"
Baldwin compares Black Americans to Blacks in France. Whilst Blacks in France have a history and a country to hold on to, Black Americans don't—their history lies in the United States and it is in the making.
"A Question of Identity"
Baldwin explains how American students living in Paris are shocked when they arrive and are eager to return home.
"Equal in Paris"
Baldwin recounts getting arrested in Paris over the Christmas period in 1949, after an acquaintance of his had stolen a bed sheet from a hotel, which he had used. The essay stresses his cultural inability to know how to behave with the police.
"Stranger in the Village"
Baldwin looks back to his time in a village in Switzerland—how he was the first black man most of the other villagers had ever seen. He goes on to reflect that blacks from European colonies are still mostly located in Africa, while the United States has been fully informed by blacks.
