African Europeans: an untold history

Abstract

"A dazzling history of Africans in Europe, revealing their unacknowledged role in shaping the continent. Conventional wisdom holds that Africans are only a recent presence in Europe. But in African Europeans, renowned historian Olivette Otele debunks this and uncovers a long history of Europeans of African descent. From the third century, when the Egyptian Saint Maurice became the leader of a Roman legion, all the way up to the present, Otele explores encounters between those defined as "Africans" and those called "Europeans." She gives equal attention to the most prominent figures--like Alessandro de Medici, the first duke of Florence thought to have been born to a free African woman in a Roman village--and the untold stories--like the lives of dual-heritage families in Europe's coastal trading towns. African Europeans is a landmark celebration of this integral, vibrantly complex slice of European history, and will redefine the field for years to come."--Amazon.

Contents

Introduction -- Early encounters: from pioneers to African Romans -- Black Mediterraneans: slavery and the Renaissance -- The transatlantic slave trade and the invention of race -- Neither here nor there: dual heritages and gender roles -- Fleeting memories: colonial America and forgotten figures -- Claiming a past, navigating the present -- Identity and liberation: African Europeans today -- Epilogue.