Contested histories

Europeans and Africans have been encountering one another since as early as the 3rd century, according to the historian Olivette Otele. In her new book, African Europeans: An Untold History, she traces those meetings through the lives of individuals, both ordinary and extraordinary. She tells Tom Sutcliffe that exploring a past long overlooked raises prescient questions about racism, identity, citizenship and power. Toussaint Louverture – the subject of Sudhir Hazareesingh’s biography, Black Spartacus – was no ordinary figure. A former slave, he became the leader of a revolution in the 1790s that transformed Haiti, the former French Caribbean colony. With access to archival material often overlooked, Hazareesingh draws a portrait of an extraordinary man who combined Enlightenment ideals and Machiavellian politics with Caribbean mysticism and African traditions. As Professor of Public Engagement with History at the University of Reading, Kate Williams has thought hard about how to tell history. Her books, TV and radio programmes have covered topics from England's queens to the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, often turning upside-down preconceived images of Britain's most powerful women. She discusses the new debates raging in history, including how we should approach the legacies of colonialism and misogyny. Producer: Katy Hickman