Great choice, Lauren!

Many people, black and white, don't know about Dumas' heritage.

Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, As a teen I must have read it a dozen times it was my bible of perseverance, revenge and redemption.
Actually, the life of Alexandre Dumas, was the stuff of novels, Paris loved him and he loved the Parisian women and wine, sometimes a little too much, especially the married ones.

Let me add one additional historical character:
The Medici family was the most powerful family in Italy (Florence-Rome) during the 17th. century, and they produced three Popes, starting with, Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici (Leo XI) and on…
What's little spoken of, is the fact that their great grandmother was a former Haitian slave, and their mother, from paintings and description was dark in complexion and African in hair.

The Medici (meh-de-ci)family created the banking system, controlled the land and religion.

one of my favorite writers. but this is our history. The father of Jim Crow

ps: ice spot mind if i add u to my blog roll, let me know via comment

Great choice Lauren. I rarely run into people who know anything about Dumas' heritage. Don't even get me started on Alexander Pushkin.

I'm ashamed to say that I didn't know he was Black. Thanks for the education, stereohyped!

Wow I also did not know that he was Black. If I knew I would of paid more attention when I had to read the Three Musketeers in school.

Neenee, Please get a copy of the "Count of Monte-Cristo" I guarantee you will enjoy it, the book is far, far better than the movie.

I'm not sure how I knew. I think my granny told me when I was little. Mabye my great granny. The best part it telling a white person b/c they NEVER know. Ha!

I didn't know about the Medici family however. My husband and I traveled to Florence (my frist time, his second) in 2006 and I would have loved to have known that prior. We went on a tour and I could have said in broken Italian, "so y'all know these dudes were black, right?

Hmm, Hmm " The Man in the Iron Mask" also one of his! Even though there is known african lineage in the monarchy (Europe). Is it true one of the elizabeths asked Halle Selassie to interbreed with his bloodline? Does anyone know of this???

Mz Brown,
I didn't want to mention this, but I will:
The British royal family and a few of the other European TRUE royal lineage are direct descendants of King Solomon and The Queen of Sheba (this is all historically true and in the British hall of records)that is Why Elizabeth and Selassie were distant cousins.
This is not a hidden fact it's there for the research, it's just not advertised.

Forget the Bible, read about King Solomon's history for the historians and you will know why the Israel call a certain sector of Ethiopians, "The Lost Tribe" because the royal house of King Solomon was split when "The Queen of Sheba" bore him a son and took him back to Ethiopia with her.

Problem is White scholars have no reason to advertise this, and Black scholars are not into in depth factual reserch.

^^^I guess you have the right handle.

TruthTeller says: "The British royal family and a few of the other European TRUE royal lineage are direct descendants of King Solomon and The Queen of Sheba (this is all historically true and in the British hall of records)that is Why Elizabeth and Selassie were distant cousins."

I don't believe that the monarchy of Britain are direct descendants of King Solomon and Queen Sheba but I do acknowledge that the monarchy of Europe has been white-washed and that there is african lineage and influence in the monarchy.

An interesting tid-bit though Yaphet Kotto has said publicly queen elizabeth is a distant cousin of his and I have not heard of any denial of his statement!

Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr Ben Jochannan, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Richard King and countless others. There is a huge treasure chest of African-american scholars waiting to be discovered.