The West African man is dressed in the khaki uniform and red fez worn by French colonial soldiers of the era. But he wasn’t a French soldier – he was a famous Senegalese dancer based in Paris at the time, Francois Benga. Now immortalized in James A Porter’s 1935 painting, “Soldado Senegales,” his portrait today hangs among the many art works on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum...
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