The book begins with a quote from the English historian Hugh Trevor-Rope, who in the 1960s said that black history was not worth teaching.
Amat Levin is not a historian himself, but wants to broaden the picture of - and knowledge of - the history of black people through the book.
The focus is partly on the countries south of the Sahara, but the book also makes inroads in other parts of the world where black people are, such as the Caribbean and North America.
Sweden's role in the slave trade
The book deals with the time before the Europeans came to Africa, but Levin also writes about more recent people such as the godmother of rock, Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Sweden also occurs on several occasions.
In part, it describes Sweden's role in the slave trade, but also that in the 1930s “exhibitions” were arranged with black people at the Gröna Lund amusement park.
- Africans were taken there and people got to come and look at them.
It is very interesting to dig into the newspaper archives from that time.
All the major newspapers such as Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet were there and it is quite clear that these people were treated with a great deal of disgust.
The quotes from the newspaper articles are very rough, says Amat Levin.
He continues:
- I think it is interesting, because for many years I have seen how to take up human exhibitions that have taken place in Belgium.
There is a very famous picture with a black girl in a fence.
When I tell you that this has also happened in Sweden, people are very surprised.
Resistance, revolt and liberation
The transatlantic slave trade is also depicted, but in the book Amat Levin also highlights the organized resistance that existed among the enslaved people.
- The resistance was always there and was very strong.
I think it's important to direct the spotlight on that side as well, so that it does not appear that these people were just helpless victims.
They tried to influence as much as they could.