OK---so as I have earlier on shared my current month read---a biography about a woman of low repute who infiltrated high aristocratic society of England--Lady Emma Hamilton. Anyway, this lady---had an infamous adulterous relation with a war hero---Nelson Horatio---who later defeated Napoleon. So---this same Nelson-also went to war in Africa--and in return-- he brought an African girl to England to be a 'gift' as a maid to the lady in question. Now--the author who is an oxford graduate- began her deducing of where exactly the female African came from--she said it is 'possible' the maid came from Sudan in the war of ----I forget the war ---lol---then---the name of 'fatima' was mentioned! ANd I started cracking up! Fatima was most definitely a Tanzanian or a coastal Kenya name--isn't it? IS the name Fatima common in Sudan? Perhaps the muslim side? Anyway, I was shocked to realize that these aristocratic women could have an African maid??? The author went ahead and said---it was 'extremely fashionable' for a lady to have an African maid as it enhanced their pale skin next to the dark skinned African maid. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL (Marie Antoinette was very pale skin, so white milky skin was vogue all of Europe lol)
I know the French aristocratic women had black maid-- and the issue of freeing slaves began in France. But I highly always doubted English ladies could have a black maid. But in the interest of disclosure--this lady Hamilton resided in Naples. Italy--and not England. And she was NOT a lady by birth. She was a lowly English person who was once a maid herself.
Seriouslly???????????
