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。