Many Africans lived in Yorkshire during the time of the Roman Empire nearly 2,000 years ago.

In fact the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was black and he died in York in 211. He was born in North Africa which, along with Britain, was part of the Roman Empire at the time, so there was a great movement of people across the Roman empire linking regions such as north Africa with Yorkshire.

 Archaeologists have found that more than one in 10 of the skeletons studied from Roman York show features of African ancestry. Some appear to have had high status and wealth such as the ‘ivory bangle lady’ a young woman of mixed African and European heritage who was buried with expensive luxuries such as jet and ivory bracelets.