Dido Elizabeth Belle was the biracial daughter of a British naval officer and Maria Belle, a woman enslaved in the West Indies. She became a ward of her father's aristocratic family in 18th century England, the Earl and Countess of Mansfield, where she was treated as one of the family despite the fact that slavery was quite legal at the time, and therefore most people of color were regarded with racist attitudes and behaviors. She is the subject of a painting that launched much speculation, and is said to have been the inspiration for the Earl's decisions as a judge to vote in favor of several enslaved people going up against their "owners" in court. Dido Belle remains a bit of a mystery to us, but one thing is certain: European history is not nearly as white as we have been led to believe. So the next time some douche starts talking about "historical accuracy" when it comes to characters of color, you'll know exactly how to start dismantling that argument.

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