Race, Archival Silences, and a Black Footballer Between the Wars

Abstract

Abstract The relative absence of colour in archival sources has led the British historiography of race to concentrate too much on the reactions of white Britons and not enough on black experiences. With some notable exceptions, this has created an analytical emphasis on racism and discrimination rather than the agency of black men and women to resist prejudices and live meaningful lives. This article explores the life of Welsh footballer Eddie Parris in order to investigate the working-class black experience in interwar Britain. It acts as a reminder of the importance of thinking of people of colour in early-twentieth-century Britain as individuals rather than just as a racialized category. Nonetheless, notions of racial difference were so pervasive that race was never irrelevant for their lives. The task for the historian is to acknowledge and investigate the impact of these ideas without letting them push aside the actual people within them.