Copyright � 2026 by Shane
Tourtellotte
Maintaining an effective disguise in the past is tricky enough when your physical appearance blends in perfectly with everyone around you. If it doesn't, complications multiply, or exponentiate. This brings us to that uniquely delicate subject: race.
The obvious pitfalls don't need much explanation. It's quite uncomfortable to be a black visitor to Atlanta in 1860, a Jew in 1936 Berlin, or Japanese in 1942 Los Angeles. On the other hand, being an English-speaking Caucasian in Tokyo that same year would be plenty more hazardous than the L.A. example, and being white in 1804 Haiti is basically Russian roulette with five loaded chambers. There are bad times and places for people of any race.
That said, you can find many past eras more tolerant of different races than you might expect. Prejudice, at least the organized variety, does not nucleate around one individual, or even a sprinkling of them. It is once you pass some nebulous threshold that the dominant culture will begin to perceive a smaller group existing within the society as a potential threat1.
This doesn't mean that merely being white in White Society X will be worry-free. In a minority situation, a group will unify, making itself as large as possible. When a group is a large majority, however, it ends up emphasizing its own subdivisions. Gradations that seem subtle and meaningless to an outsider will carry much greater weight within the group. The difference between, for example, English and Irish would seem barely theoretical to a homebody Chinese or Angolan, but in 19th-century America2, the Irish felt the difference quite keenly.
A time-traveler needs to take a very broad perspective on these matters, as on many others. "White" is not a homogenized race, and neither is "European," not to whites and not to Europeans. By the same token, "black" is not one blended whole, and neither is "African3." The same goes for "Asian," and "Middle Eastern," and "Indian," and so on. The trick is to be aware of these differences, and of how the locals view these differences. You may end up drawing attention to yourself by being of a different race or ethnicity, but that won't necessarily be an impenetrable barrier, and could even assist you. Safety lies in knowledge.
Now to our accustomed examples, to exercise your mind on what knowledge you need.
Japan has been, throughout its history, a remarkably homogeneous society, uninterested in assimilating outside populations into itself. This does not equal a constant intolerance for outsiders, though. Japan has gone through centuries-long cycles of seeking out foreign concepts, then spurning them, and back again.
The Sengoku period falls in one of those open cycles. These Japanese have substantial trade with their neighbors, and when the Europeans arrive, are welcoming and curious about what they can learn from these strangers. Racial tolerance is at a peak: good news for you.
Once the presence of Europeans is well established in Japan, by 1550 or 15604, European-descended white time-travelers should be reasonably accepted. The Japanese won't grasp the fine ethnic divisions yet, so being Greek or Polish while passing as Portuguese or Dutch is no deal-breaker. You might not want to pose as Spanish after 1575, however. That's when Spain captured Luzon in the Philippines, and Japanese began worrying about Europeans' military might.
Asians shouldn't have great trouble, either. If you're ethnic Japanese, you have no worries. Other sub-groups should pass in society because of the ties of trade. China did ban foreign trade during the early Sengoku period, but this just meant Chinese sailors joined up with Japanese ships5. Expect some moderate cultural restrictions, but no deep xenophobia.
Black explorers won't work, simply because your presence would alter the historical record. The Japanese encountered exactly one black person during this period, a Jesuit priest's "servant" known as Yasuke6. He caused a sensation in the capital of Kyoto in 15817, and the leading warlord of the day, Oda Nobunaga, arranged to receive him as the priest's gift. Yasuke entered Oda's retinue as a bodyguard, or a curiosity, or both.
Yasuke was no passive hostage to history. When Oda died in an assassination plot the next year, Yasuke spirited his heir off to Nijo Castle, and fought with the defending forces when it was attacked. Captured by the enemy, he was scorned by the opposing general as a foreigner and an ignorant beast, and given back to the Jesuits. History never hears of him again.
Now imagine what effect the second black man in Japan could have, on Japan, history, and the gaming industry. Sorry: we need to protect the timeline.
England has a relevant similarity to Japan of the same era: it is an island nation at the periphery of its continent. Outsiders are unlikely to go there on their way to someplace else, and this limits the natives' contact with foreign races and nationalities. On the surface, this portends xenophobia, and the English could be quite mistrustful of foreigners. As with Japan, though, underneath are some mitigating factors.
One factor is that England was becoming more seafaring, with the expanded trade that follows. This brings institutionalized contact with foreigners, with an emphasis on getting along so you can make good deals. Another is that religious strife in Europe has sent a stream of Protestant refugees into England. French and Germans, Belgians and Dutch, even a sprinkling of Italians and Spanish came, enough so that a tenth of the inhabitants of London during parts of the Elizabethan era were foreign-born. Londoners learned to get along with these strangers. Both these factors, however, are primarily urban in scope. Plenty of rural England will never have seen a foreigner, either refugee or merchant, and their lingering insularity could be troublesome.
Black time-travelers will get a surprise -- but which kind of surprise I cannot say. There are enough Moorish traders in Elizabethan London that the sight of a dark face is not going to be a shock, and perhaps not even a novelty. It is not going to be commonplace, regardless of current-day depictions. The modern habit of portraying any past English society, as far back as Shakespeare or Hastings or King Arthur, as 15 to 25 percent black is historically laughable, as a trip back to the actual history will quickly demonstrate. It is historical malpractice, and by my earlier statement that safety lies in knowledge it is terribly dangerous. But they aren’t listening to historically informed people, so why would they care about some band of underground time-travelers? It’s only our lives they’re putting at risk.
Yes, I feel better now. Back to the actual topic.
It took until sometime in the 17th or 18th century for the black population of England to reach as high as one percent. Black travelers can fit in pretty well, at least in the cities8, but you aren’t going to have a lot of company.
Asians aren't so lucky: English ships are beginning to reach the Far East, but the traffic isn't going the other way yet. You are going to be something unknown to the English, with the impediments that brings. On the bright side, you're probably better off than if you were obviously Spanish, especially in 1588 and after.
Ancient Rome, at least once it had made a sprawling empire of itself, proved itself reasonably tolerant of other races. You won't find yourself barred from social or economic activities due to the shade of your skin. Being too exotic might subject you to nettlesome curiosity and probably some condescension, but this is not an officially organized reaction, just how some individuals respond.
Rome prided itself on being a cosmopolitan city, though as a compensation: they sensed themselves the cultural inferior of Alexandria and Athens. As the capital of an empire that to them was effectively worldwide, they thought it natural that foreign people should be drawn to them. They were willing to appreciate a foreigner's particular talents. They even built shrines and temples to alien deities in Rome for the convenience of foreigners. As long as you respected Rome's political primacy -- for that's what mattered most to them -- they would be quite accepting of you.
This isn't to say they believed in liberty the same way that term is understood in modern times. There was widespread slavery in Rome, but it is key to recall that this was not a racial matter. Granted, some Romans might view some nationalities as "natural" slaves, often the nation most recently conquered by Roman arms, but this did not mean there was any nationality exempt from this status. A native Roman could be born or become a slave like anyone else, and his nationality would not raise him level to even the lowliest of free foreigners.
There are limits, as always. An ethnic Chinese, for example, will have some trouble functioning simply from being too unknown to everyday Romans. Explaining that you're from China could well end up sharpening curiosity rather than sating it. Blacks will probably have an easier time: there's enough contact between Rome and Saharan Africa to make you exotic rather than alien. Someone so blond as to appear obviously German may need to have a cover story ready, explaining why you're sojourning near Rome rather than swilling beer in the Black Forest with your barbarian kinfolk. In all cases, try to show you've assimilated some Roman culture. Romans like feeling they've made progress in civilizing the world, and your acceptance of their culture will make them more comfortable.
In short, the old cliché holds: when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Footnotes:
If I had to make a back-of-the-envelope guess, I would put the base value at one percent, with many muddying factors including differences between the local and the national percentage, the insularity of the minority group, and its economic status.
Not to mention in the British Isles.
As for "African-American," let me put it this way: to a Roman, "Africa" is the province where Carthage used to be, covering what is today northern Tunisia, much of coastal Libya, and a corner of northeast Algeria -- not a whole continent. And "America?" What's that? Do you mean Ameria, that hill town north of Rome? Or Armenia, perhaps? There are many things a time-traveler must unlearn, or at least compartmentalize.
The first known Western ship to visit Japan arrived in either 1542 or 1543. Historical dates can be dismayingly uncertain even in the relatively recent past.
Many of those ships admittedly being pirate vessels. It was Japanese piracy, raiding as far inland as the outskirts of Nanjing, that drove China to bar trade. A time-traveling ethnic Chinese may want to play-act some reticence about discussing his day job.
You may have heard of Yasuke due to his inclusion in a recent installment of a computer game franchise that aroused … some controversy. I advise that you forget literally everything you’ve heard about him from that angle. Filling in historical blanks can be fun, but it’s best not to fill them with fresh horse manure.
The Japanese had him strip to the waist to see if his color went all over, and may have tried to scrub it off his skin.
But ladies, don't go cozying up to young William Shakespeare in hopes of being the inspiration for the Dark Lady of the Sonnets. It's tasteless.
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