Listen to Part One of ArtMuse's episode on Dido Elizabeth Belle, England’s first female aristocrat of color. Dido was born at the height of the transatlantic slave trade, to an enslaved mother and white father.  Dido’s life story is undeniably remarkable. That a woman born into slavery could later be raised as a member of an important aristocratic family at the height of the transatlantic slave trade was virtually unheard of. But though Dido was in many ways the exception, her story cannot be removed from the dark history of slavery itself. It’s essential that Dido’s life is understood within the context of the time she lived. And while we honor Dido and her incredible life, we also honor the lives of the innumerable black men and women whose stories have been unfairly lost to history.