Black British and Black European History Resources
These are a few of the books, websites, and writing organizations I use when I write my books with Black characters. Please note that this is only a place to begin, and primarily for British history. There are many, many more resources out there for you to discover.
Reference/Nonfiction Books
If you can only afford one book, David Olusoga’s Black and British is by far the most comprehensive, beginning with Roman Britain and continuing up to present day. There’s also a “teenagers” version that’s more condensed and a British history series hosted by Olusoga himself. I cannot recommend this book highly enough as a look at the full history of African-descended people in Great Britain.
Some of the other ones I use a lot:
Children of Uncertain Fortune: Mixed-Race Jamaicans in Britain and the Atlantic Family 1733-1833 by Daniel Livesay
Livesay has uncovered a huge amount of hidden history in this book about wealthy mixed-race Jamaicans in both Jamaica and Great Britain. For most of the covered period, family was still more important than race, so while there was bigotry and prejudice, many people lived perfectly happy lives. And for people who try to tell you that, yes, there were Black people in Britain but they were all lower-class, the very first chapter of this book ends with the story of a mixed-race Jamaican heiress who married one of the younger sons of a Scottish earl.
Black England: A Forgotten Georgian History by Gretchen Gerzina
This is a slightly newer edition of Gerzina’s influential book Black London: Life Before Emancipation, so be careful you don’t get both since they’re essentially the same book. This is one of the original books published in the mid-1990s that started exploring specifically Black English history. It has a lot of great information about the famous Somerset v Stewart case that ended slavery within the borders of England, Scotland, and Wales (though it was not banned throughout the Empire until 1833).
A Bittersweet Heritage: Slavery, Architecture, and the British Landscape by Victoria Perry
This is focused on British architecture and landscaping in the Georgian/Regency Era, and how it was funded by the slave trade. If you’re interested in more of the “hidden history” of how the slave trade influenced every aspect of British life even when it wasn’t discussed, this is a great book for that.
Black British History: New Perspectives edited by Hakim Adi
This is a more academic work and covers multiple time periods, but it’s a good place to start if you’re not sure what era you want to write about.
African Europeans: An Untold History by Olivette Otele
This is a relatively short book, especially compared to Olusoga’s, but it gives a good overview of Europe as a whole, not just England. If you’re interested in France, be sure to get Tom Reiss’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, The Black Count.
Websites
Author Vanessa Riley has a huge amount of research on her website that’s available to anyone. By necessity, it’s a brief overview, but it’s a great place to get started or spark some ideas.
There’s also Reclaiming Jane, a podcast by and for marginalized people who love Jane Austen. They have a great page to answer the burning question of how many Black people were in Regency England, anyway?
Honestly, I don’t use websites very often anymore except for very basic information. If you scroll down, there’s a writing organization I belong to and recommend that’s specifically for the Regency Era.
Recommended Historical Romance Authors
These are only the ones I read regularly, and only the historical authors. Some of them I happen to know either casually or well. There are many others out there to discover, I promise!
Ms. Bev. The queen. Start here.
Vanessa Riley (Regency romance, historical fiction, and historical mystery)
Cecilia Rene (Regency romance)
Amalie Howard (Regency romance, fantasy romance)
Addy DuLac (Regency romance)
Lisa Rayne (Highlander and American West)
Piper Hugueley (American historical fiction and historical romance)
Alyssa Cole (American Revolution, American Civil War, and Tudor England)
Elysbeth Grace (Tudor England)
Denny S. Bryce (Historical fiction and historical women’s fiction with romance)
General Writing Help
I have been a member of Regency Fiction Writers since before they broke away from Romance Writers of America (they are NOT affiliated with RWA anymore and have not been since 2020). The members have a wealth of information to share on the forums and are extremely knowledgeable about the Regency Era. They offer free webinars every month and at least two paid online classes. It will be the best $60 you ever spent.
Writing the Other is an amazing set of classes and workshops that you can take online. It’s great for all author, but especially for authors who want to write fantasy or science fiction without falling into stereotypes. If nothing else, check out all of their recommended writing resources.