Famous people of African ancestry

Rewind has Alexandre Dumas backwards and is off by a generation. His father the General was mulatto (half-black), his paternal grandmother was black. Napoleon was not a racist - he only took against General Dumas when the General objected to Napoleon making himself Emperor.

Alexandre Dumas fils (son of Alexandre Dumas pere and a white mistress) still showed traces of African ancestry but was a light-skinned blue-eyed blond.

Dumas pere wrote "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo" among many many many other books; Dumas fils wrote "La Dame aux Camelias" (aka "Camille").

The Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi liked "La Dame aux Camelias" so much that he composed an opera, "La Traviata", based on it, changing all the names. Violetta Valery is the camellia lady, Aldredo Germont is loosely based on Dumas fils, and Giorgio Germont, his father, is even more loosely based on Dumas pere (who was no stickler for propriety).

Alfredo, not Aldredo. Typoman...sigh....