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*This is part II of Tudor England: Exploring Britain's African connection. For part 1, click here  * I've lost count the number of times I've been told, or shown that I do not belong in Britain. And on the surface, what I was taught in school seemed to support that. How could I confidently defend my right to be in a country when I was unaware that more than likely the people telling me to go home had African blood running through their veins? An 'depiction 'of an African dignitary visiting Queen Victorian © photographed by MisBeee Writes from postcard English historian Peter Fryer, who wrote  Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain , tells us that there were Africans in Britain before the English came here! According to his research, Africans were soldiers in the Roman imperial army that occupied the southern part of the island for three and a half centuries. These soldiers were a division of the Moors named after a former Roman empero...

Don't judge a book by its cover © Lolo&Mango Growing up as a child of Ghanaian origin in England, I often wondered why history lessons at school never made mention of Africans other than them being slaves. I remember vividly those awkward classroom sessions (as the only Black girl in the class), where I’d feel eyes boring into me as the teacher droned on about these poor Africans forced on to ships to the Americas. No explanation was given about what preceded that momentous Transatlantic Slave trading period. And no acknowledgement of the impact Africans (such as Fante-born 18th century slave abolitionist Quobna Ottobah Cugaono, and Igbo-born abolitionist Olaudah Equiano) made in shaping the modern world.  The unsaid This omission said more to me about this massive gulf I was being forced to breach. I was schooled to believe that highly developed and sophisticated people from African kingdoms such as those of ancient Ghana, Mali and Dahomey had been ...

Attending Africa Writes - the annual African literary festival in London - was an impulsive decision for me. A quick scour of the programme; a hop on the bus, and although 15 minutes late, I managed to sneak into the British Library auditorium without too many disapproving looks. A reader's paradise © MisBeee Writes In the past, friends have raved about Africa Writes. Now running since 2012, the Royal African Society's event is a growing platform for writers and readers to rub shoulders and celebrate creativity from across the Motherland and diaspora. The evening session opened with a five-strong panel of Africa39 writers. Africa39 is a Hay Festival and Rainbow Book Club project, which celebrates the best Sub-Saharan African writers under the age of 40.   Bookworms Chaired by author and journalist Hannah Pool, the panel took turns to name their celebrated authors.  Somali-born Nadifa Mohamed spoke passionately about Ahmadou Kourouma's book ...