Based on a study of 250,000 documents during 10 years of research, the book became part of a campaign by a Waltham Forest community group targeted at the UK government to diversify Britain's education curriculum.

Based on a study of 250,000 documents during 10 years of research (including a 1501 letter written by statesman Thomas More to his friend John Holt), the book explores the history of Black people in Tudor-era England, focusing on challenging the conventional historiographical narrative "that Africans in the Tudor period automatically occupied the lowest positions in society [and were] usually stigmatized as slaves, transient immigrants or dangerous strangers."

Through his work, Onyeka aims to show that Black Britons held numerous positions of importance in Tudor-era England, living in urban metropolises such as London, Plymouth, Bristol and Northampton, and were frequently employed by the English upper class due to their specialised technical abilities (Onyeka notes that most contemporary sources concerning Black Britons during the Tudor era comes from "personal letters sent between individuals or other correspondence not written for publication").

[1] In addition, Onyeka aims to challenge the assertion that most Black Britons in the Tudor era were foreign-born, arguing that a significant minority had both been born and grew up in England.

[2] In a review published in Media Diversified, Rowena Mondiwa writes of the book: With well-cited facts, records and other documents, credibility is lent to an under-researched and generally unpopular area.