ABSTRACT
Exile and expatriation have helped black writers to understand better the racial problems of the American society. Black writers will need to go abroad, to leave America. Equally powerful in stemming the flow of expatriates were the political factors, mainly in France, that discouraged black writers from leaving America. Once again, with the onset of the French-Algerian war, French racism directed against North Africans became more acute. As such, some black expatriate writers began to criticize French society by likening the French attitude toward North Africans to American whites' hatred of blacks. In France, black writers came after World War II because the cost of living was cheap and French people were receptive to them, especially United States citizens who brought dollars to help stimulate the French economy. Polite typifies a new type of black expatriate, one who recognizes or admits France is no longer a symbol of greater racial tolerance.
