History Main / NoEqualOpportunityTimeTravel

* In season 2 of ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019', the Hargreeveses (adoptive siblings of varying backgrounds) ends up in 1963, they experience different levels of prejudice. The white, straight, healthy Luther easily fits in. The pansexual Klaus falls in with hippie free-loving liberals who accept him, but deals with a violent, homophobic bigot. Vanya's Russian name makes people think she is a Soviet spy, and her attraction to a woman is considered a disease. The black Allison is almost lynched by racists right after she arrives and is constantly in danger. Diego is arrested and put into an insane asylum (oh, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and news reports think he's Cuban]]).

* Inverted in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24376201/chapters/58791808 Kamino's Ward]]'', where after Izuku, here a Captain America {{Expy}} from when Quirks first emerged and those with powers were feared and hated, is frozen for centuries, he wakes up in a Japan that not only embraces people with Quirks but even has several praised as superheroes.

* Inverted in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24376201/chapters/58791808 Kamino's Ward]'', where after Izuku, here a Captain America {{Expy}} from when Quirks first emerged and those with powers were feared and hated, is frozen for centuries, he wakes up in a Japan that not only embraces people with Quirks but even have several with the praised rank of superheroes.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Not actually time travel, [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible but a similar idea]]: for those who want to research their family history, they'll probably run into trouble after a few generations if they aren't of English descent. Why? Because most other countries (particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe) didn't keep detailed records of births and deaths until the late nineteenth century, and even today, that's only a handful of generations ago (as in [[LiteralMetaphor the number of generations can be counted on one hand]]). On the other hand, ''Eastern'' countries did keep records for a long time, but if you don't live in an Asian country yourself, you probably can't read them. Thus, in the English-speaking world, if you aren't of [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASP]] descent on at least one branch of your family, you're probably out of luck if you want to trace your ancestry back far.
** Also happens within the U.S. with African-Americans, who usually can't trace ancestry before the 1860s, since detailed records of black people before then are hard to find.
* Doesn't work for England before Henry VIII either, as it was his chancellor Thomas Cromwell who ordered that every (then still Catholic) priest in England make a record of all the births and deaths in their parish. They were rather leery of the idea at the time because they (rightly) suspected it would be used as a way of determining the extent to which certain districts ought to be taxed, but the idea's more than proven its worth in the times since.
* Would not be, ''contra'' the Louis C.K. quote, an exclusively white thing, since ethnic mobility was quite low for most of history. Try being ''anything'' other than Japanese in Edo Japan, for instance.
* The closest real-world equivalent would probably be "No Equal Opportunity Time ''Zone'' Travel". Let's say, for instance, that you were an interracial couple traveling from New York to California in 1950. Assuming you never crossed the Mason-Dixon Line, your marriage would be legal in only about one-quarter of the territory through which you passed. And even today, in Texas, where "dry" counties still abound, transporting a moonshine still across a county border will as likely as not get you pulled over.
[[/folder]]

** In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith", this gets played with when Rani goes back to the 1950s looking for Sarah Jane — Rani assumes she's getting looks because of racism, but later realizes people are staring at her because of [[ChangedMyJumper her outfit]], and the only reason she's getting away with it is because she isn't white.

** In ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', Jack Harkness and Toshiko Sato are stuck in 1940s Cardiff, and Tosh expresses some very real concerns about being Japanese and in WWII. Fortunately, the attack on Pearl Harbor (and the British Asian colonies) is still several months in the future.

Note that one should be careful not to generalize, as bigotry was never universal even in eras when it was at its height. Hillsdale College was a 'liberal-arts school' (i.e. university) in the "Great Lakes" area USA State of Michigan that admitted women, Jews, atheists, and Africans as students ''before the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar'' — a big deal given that the USA did not ban slavery until the very last months of the Civil War.[[note]]So as to hamstring the economies of her rebellious states and decide forever the ultimate fate of slavery, the uncertain and controversial future of which had been a big factor in starting the war.[[/note]] Bigotry becomes socially unacceptable at various times as well, only to reappear later because of shifting power dynamics. In Britain in the late 19th Century for example racism was considered unacceptable because it was associated with the United States (whom they were still sore about losing to: indeed one of the major reasons Britain outlawed the slave trade was to annoy the Americans). Also, remember that people we would now consider white weren't always: go back to 1920 and simply having a non-English name could cause you a lot of trouble. Go back to 1600 and you're more likely to be ragged on about your religion than your race: modern racism as we think of it was in its infancy at this time. Before 1600, time travel would actually be pretty equal-opportunity: for all cis-men anyhow.

Frequently subverted for laughs with a DiscriminateAndSwitch — e.g., nobody cares that you're a black woman, but ''[[ChangedMyJumper wearing trousers?!?]]''

Compare BlackVikings, PoliticallyCorrectHistory. Also EternalSexualFreedom. Not really related to TimeTravellingLesbians, which is about the setting ''as a world in which time travel can exist'' making being queer more acceptable — this can definitely still apply in those stories.

* In an ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' story involving time travel, the group runs into this problem -- they wind up at Princeton University, circa 1934, in an alternate timeline with a lot of differences from the real one -- where someone calls Cassie [[TWordEuphemism something she would REALLY rather not be called]]. She puts him in his place to the tune of a 900-pound Polar Bear.

* Pretty much the entire point of Harry Harrison's ''A Rebel in Time''. White supremacist goes back in time to help the South win the Civil War, and a black federal agent decides it will be a snap to follow the killer back to antebellum deep south. When the slave owners of the era see his high-quality clothes and hear his 20th century New York college educated accent, things proceed pretty much as you'd expect under the circumstances.

* The premise of one ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch was to bring a rather camp 17th century [[ArtisticLicenseHistory Belgian]] nobleman and his equally camp black (free) manservant together with [[UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan KKK]] member[[note]]ex-member, actually: he had just been thrown out for being too violent[[/note]] Creator/JohnBelushi in the DeepSouth.

** Averted in the episode "Time's Arrow", where the android Data is sent back in time to late-1800s San Francisco. His Starfleet uniform gets more attention than his albino-pale skin and yellow eyes, and he's able to pass without trouble by telling everyone [[Film/{{Coneheads}} he is from France.]] (It helps that, having a perfect memory, he can speak perfect French.)

:: Not surprising given that the X-Men are [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything one big metaphor for racism and prejudice]]. Though Storm is more amused than offended -- after facing persecution her whole life for being a mutant, she remarks that plain old-fashioned racism is almost ''quaint''. Amusingly also something of an inversion, as this also gets them mistaken for beatniks, resulting in a patron with beatnik sympathies siding with them in the ensuing brawl.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Germany". Mort, who is Jewish, accidentally activates Stewie's time machine and is set to Poland on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Stewie and Brian go back in time to rescue him. At one point they need to pass as Nazis themselves, and having Mort the walking stereotype in tow proves problematic. At one point, they tried to pass Mort off as a Catholic priest. [[HilarityEnsues And then he's asked to give someone their Last Rites.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Legends", several leaguers are sent to an alternate Earth based on UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks and team up with [[{{Expy}} expies]] of The ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica. On most accounts, they are actually [[FairForItsDay Fair For Their Day]], but include uncomfortable moments like Black Canary's expy suggests Hawkgirl StayInTheKitchen and Jay Gerrick's praises African American Green Lantern Jon Stuart by calling him a credit to his race.

* Not actually time travel, [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible but a similar idea]]: for those who want to research their family history, they'll probably run into trouble after a few generations if they aren't of English descent. Why? Because most other countries (particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe) didn't keep detailed records of births and deaths until the late nineteenth century, and even today, that's only a handful of generations ago (as in [[LiteralMetaphor the number of generations can be counted on one hand]]). On the other hand, ''Eastern'' countries did keep records for a long time, but if you don't live in an Asian country yourself, you probably can't read them. Thus, in the English-speaking world, if you aren't of [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASP]] descent on at least one branch of your family, you're out of luck if you want to trace your ancestry back far.

* Doesn't work for pre-Henry VIII England either, as it was his Chancellor Thomas Cromwell who ordered that every (then still Catholic) priest in England make a record of all the births and deaths in their parish. They were rather leery of the idea at the time because they (rightly) suspected it would be used as a way of determining the extent to which certain districts ought to be taxed, but the idea's more than proven its worth in the times since.

* The closest real-world equivalent would probably be "No Equal Opportunity Time ''Zone'' Travel". Let's say, for instance, that you were an interracial couple traveling from New York to California in 1950. Assuming you stayed north of the Mason-Dixon Line, your marriage would be legal in only about one-quarter of the territory through which you passed. And even today, in Texas, where "dry" counties still abound, transporting a moonshine still across a county border will as likely as not get you pulled over.

* Creator/OctaviaButler covers the perils of time traveling while black in the 1979 novel ''Kindred'' - the black protagonist goes to 19th-century Maryland to meet her ancestors, one of whom is a white slave owner. Drama ensues.

Note that one should be careful not to generalize, as bigotry was never universal even in eras when it was at its height. Hillsdale College was a 'liberal-arts school' (i.e. university) in the "Great Lakes" area USA State of Michigan that admitted women, Jews, atheists, and Africans as students ''before the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar'' — a big deal given that the USA did not ban slavery until the very last months of the Civil War.[[note]]So as to hamstring the economies of her rebellious states and decide forever the ultimate fate of slavery, the uncertain and controversial future of which had been a big factor in starting the war.[[/note]] Bigotry becomes socially unacceptable at various times as well, only to reappear later because of shifting power dynamics. In Britain in the late 19th Century for example racism was considered unacceptable because it was associated with the United States (whom they were still sore about losing to: indeed one of the major reasons Britain outlawed the slave trade was to annoy the Americans). Also, remember that people we would now consider white weren't always: go back to 1920 and simply having a non-English name could cause you a lot of trouble. Go back to 1600 and you're more likely to be ragged on about your religion than your race: modern racism as we think of it was in it's infancy at this time. Before 1600, time travel would actually be pretty equal-opportunity: for all cis-men anyhow.

Note that one should be careful not to generalize, as bigotry was never universal even in eras when it was at its height. Hillsdale College was a 'liberal-arts school' (i.e. university) in the "Great Lakes" area USA State of Michigan that admitted women, Jews, atheists, and Africans as students ''before the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar'' — a big deal given that the USA did not ban slavery until the very last months of the Civil War.[[note]]So as to hamstring the economies of her rebellious states and decide forever the ultimate fate of slavery, the uncertain and controversial future of which had been a big factor in starting the war.[[/note]] Bigotry becomes socially unacceptable at various times as well, only to reappear later because of shifting power dynamics. In Britain in the late 19th Century for example considered racism unacceptable because it was associated with the United States (whom they were still sore about losing to: indeed one of the major reasons Britain outlawed the slave trade was to annoy the Americans). Also, remember that people we would now consider white weren't always: go back to 1920 and simply having a non-English name could cause you a lot of trouble. Go back to 1600 and you're more likely to be ragged on about your religion than your race: modern racism as we think of it was in it's infancy at this time. Before 1600, time travel would actually be pretty equal-opportunity: for all cis-men anyhow.

Note that one should be careful not to generalize, as bigotry was never universal even in eras when it was at its height. Hillsdale College was a 'liberal-arts school' (i.e. university) in the "Great Lakes" area USA State of Michigan that admitted women, Jews, atheists, and Africans as students ''before the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar'' — a big deal given that the USA did not ban slavery until the very last months of the Civil War.[[note]]So as to hamstring the economies of her rebellious states and decide forever the ultimate fate of slavery, the uncertain and controversial future of which had been a big factor in starting the war.[[/note]]

* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'' season 1 finale "It's a Bot Time"/"Bot to the Future". No one says anything at all about [[BlackBestFriend Frankie's]] race or gender. This is justified since Rescue Bots is a children's show and the scientists that meet her have [[TransformingMecha bigger things]] to think about. However, many of the town's top scientists of that era also seem to be non-white, so it seems that Griffin Rock was just as far ahead socially from the rest of the country as it was technologically.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]]: The Doctor leaves [[spoiler:the Master (now played by British Indian Sacha Dhawan)]] stranded with angry Nazis [[spoiler:and no TARDIS]]. He mentions having to live the most infuriating 77 years on TheSlowPath, the implication being that he's had to deal with intense racism [[spoiler:for the first regeneration of his life]].

** The early Hartnell series sometimes avoided this by having the female characters dress as men. This happens in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E6TheCrusade "The Crusade"]] and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E1TheSmugglers The Smugglers]]". "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre The Massacre]]", meanwhile, has no female companion until the very end (which is set in the present day).
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]" revolves in part about Sarah Jane, a 1970s-[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture '80s]] feminist, getting stuck in the Dark Ages and the trouble this causes for her. She is treated horribly, both the men and the aliens in this time period are ridiculously misogynistic, and even clever and likable contemporary woman scoff at the idea of not being basically slaves.
** Rose also gets called out in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw Tooth and Claw]]" by Queen Victoria herself and several other characters who repeatedly describe her as being naked, due to the short overalls and tights she wears through the episode.

*** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E2TheShakespeareCode The Shakespeare Code]]" had Martha worried about being sold as a slave, but the Doctor assured her this wasn't actually an issue. In reality, there actually were some black people in England, none of whom were slaves, and the dialogue was actually meant to teach kids that England wasn't entirely white in the 17th century.

** Also treated seriously in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E8TheWitchfinders The Witchfinders]]", which sees a [[Creator/JodieWhittaker now-female Doctor]] travel to England in the early 1600s, and everyone ignores her opinions and condescends down to her. Her Psychic Paper ID even fails to convince King James that she is of a position of authority. Worse, her usual habit of waving a sonic screwdriver around and spouting {{technobabble}} around a posse of extremely paranoid [[TheWitchHunter witch hunters]] nearly sees her getting dunked.

Modern European society is legally and officially an egalitarian environment for all ethnicities; most fiction writers suggest that the sci-fi future will be even more so. But if time travel ever becomes an institution in the future, some parts of the past may not be safe for all people to travel to. In particular, the use of Africans as slaves on plantations in the Americas and Arabia in the period c.1600-1870 and the establishment of European protectorates (puppet-governments) over the entire continent of Africa from the 1870s 'til the 1980s led to Africans being thought of as intrinsically inferior to non-African peoples -- [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra the last regime to espouse the inferiority of African peoples was only toppled in 1994]]. It's safe to say that this period of history casts a long shadow over present-day Africa and the African diaspora in the Americas in particular.

Imagine being a black man in the U.S. and traveling to a place and time when all blacks were second-class citizens (e.g. 1950) or slaves (e.g. 1860) and had to carry papers to prove otherwise, or where they were likely to be lynched for using the wrong public toilet or being in the wrong neighborhood. Similar issues exist for other peoples too -- a non-Chinese of ''any'' sort found in China during the Boxer Rebellion would be beaten to death in short order. Likewise traveling to [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi Germany]] (or any Nazi-occupied area, for that matter) and loudly proclaiming socialist sympathies or your Jewish ancestry is an ''excellent'' way to commit suicide.[[note]][[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Probably by dying of typhus you caught from being malnourished and overworked when producing German Army trousers for Hugo Boss]].[[/note]] If they go to these dangerous time periods anyway, expect repercussions. Women in many eras and places will have similar issues, although to a lesser degree -- the culture shock of a less modern and/or liberal society may be a plot point.

How realistic (at least, to the extent that a story about time travel can be rooted in realism) this trope is varied. There is no use pretending that racism did not exist, but the levels and expressions thereof have varied wildly throughout history -- it is not cleanly divided between the dangerous Past and the accepting Present. It's also paranoid (in most cases) to assume that a "modern" person's very ''[[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence existence]]'' will trigger violence or repression. Most civilized societies will tolerate just about anyone as long as they don't "cause any trouble" -- although, granted, "trouble" will be defined very broadly if a society really is that reactionary.

Of course, a discriminated-against character who is superpowered, a highly-trained soldier or vigilante, or just plain deranged can easily punch and/or slaughter their way through a past era following any number of MuggingTheMonster moments. In this way, such a character can earn respect - or at least fear, though that might trigger even worse persecution if the past era manages to muster a sufficient force against them.

Note that one should be careful not to generalize, as bigotry was never universal even in eras when it was at its height. Hillsdale College was a 'liberal-arts school' (i.e. university) in the 'Great Lakes' area USA State of Michigan that admitted women, Jews, atheists, and Africans as students ''before the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar'' - a big deal given that the USA did not ban slavery until the very last months of the Civil War.[[note]]So as to hamstring the economies of her rebellious states and decide forever the ultimate fate of slavery, the uncertain and controversial future of which had been a big factor in starting the war.[[/note]]

Frequently subverted for laughs with a DiscriminateAndSwitch -- e.g., nobody cares that you're a black woman, but ''[[ChangedMyJumper wearing trousers?!?]]''

Compare BlackVikings, PoliticallyCorrectHistory. Also EternalSexualFreedom. Not really related to TimeTravellingLesbians, which is about the setting ''as a world in which time travel can exist'' making being queer more acceptable -- this can definitely still apply in those stories.

* ''Radio/ThirdDoctorRadioDramas'': ''The The Ghosts of N-Space'' has the Doctor dress his companion Sarah Jane in boys' clothing during a visit to medieval times, causing her to be repeatedly [[MistakenForGay mistaken for "his catamite"]].

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

** The early Hartnell series sometimes avoided this by having the female characters dress as men. This happens in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E6TheCrusade The Crusade]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E1TheSmugglers The Smugglers]]". "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre The Massacre]]", meanwhile, has no female companion until the very end (which is set in the present day).

*** The later "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature Human Nature]]"/"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood The Family of Blood]]" (set in 1913), had Martha's race subtly addressed as nobody believed a woman, let alone a ''poor minority'' woman, was capable of being a doctor.

*** When [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E9EmpressOfMars encountering Victorian soldiers on Mars]], their commander laughs at the idea of Bill being a policewoman since women couldn't be cops at that time (but, interestingly, doesn't seem to notice her skin color).
*** Averted when [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight visiting Scotland during Ancient Roman times]], as Bill's admittance to being a lesbian is taken in stride by the Roman soldiers (the Ancient Roman concept of sexuality could be complicated, and people often had relationships with both sexes -- the taboo was being, if one was gay, the receiver rather than the giver; one of the soldiers is gay, and the rest just think he's missing out on half the fun he could be having), and no one bats an eye at her skin color (the gay soldier is also black), which is entirely reasonable -- the Empire ruled much of North Africa by this point, and one of the later Emperors, Septimius Severus, was mixed-race, if not black (no one's entirely sure).

** Also treated seriously in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E8TheWitchfinders The Witchfinders]]", which sees a [[Creator/JodieWhittaker now-female Doctor]] travel to England in the early 1600s, and everyone ignores her opinions and condescends down to her. Her Psychic Paper ID even fails to convince King James that she is of a position of authority. Worse, her usual habit of waving a sonic screwdriver around and spouting TechnoBabble around a posse of extremely paranoid [[TheWitchHunter witch hunters]] nearly sees her getting dunked.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall Spyfall]]", the Doctor leaves the Master (now played by British Indian Sacha Dhawan) stranded with angry Nazis and no TARDIS. He mentions having to live the most infuriating 77 years on TheSlowPath, the implication that he's had to deal with intense racism for the first regeneration of his life.
** In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith", this gets played with when Rani goes back to the 1950s looking for Sarah Jane -- Rani assumes she's getting looks because of racism, but later realizes people are staring at her because of [[ChangedMyJumper her outfit]], and the only reason she's getting away with it is because she isn't white.

* The closest real-world equivalent would probably be "No Equal Opportunity Time ''Zone'' Travel. Let's say, for instance, that you were an interracial couple traveling from New York to California in 1950. Assuming you stayed north of the Mason-Dixon Line, your marriage would be legal in only about one-quarter of the territory through which you passed. And even today, in Texas, where "dry" counties still abound, transporting a moonshine still across a county border will as likely as not get you pulled over.

* An third season episode of ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'', the titular sub ends up in the '60s during the UsefulNotes/CubanMissileCrisis. [[NumberTwo Commander Jonathan Ford]] (a black man) takes a team to the surface. They "borrow" a car and take it to their destination on the shore. On the way, they pass by a car full of young men. They arrive at the beach only to see the other car pull up behind them and the guys getting out with baseball bats. Ford suddenly notices a "No blacks allowed" sign and remembers his history. Plus, he was in the same car as a white woman, which only pissed off the '60s guys more. Luckily, all of the team members are military-trained, so a bunch of punks with baseball bats is not a threat.

* Done with ''space'' travel rather than time travel on the original ''Series/TheTomorrowPeople'', when the characters visit a planet of HumanAliens. As there are no dark-skinned people on that world (or at least that part of it), a black character from Earth isn't able to accompany her companions in public.

* Averted but discussed in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "1969". The hippie calls Teal'c "brother" and insists that he ride up front with him. The hippie is making a point of showing that he's not racist, unlike a lot of his contemporaries.

** Also treated seriously in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E8TheWitchfinders The Witchfinders]]", which sees a [[Creator/JodieWhittaker now-female Doctor]] travel to England in the early 1600s, and everyone ignores her opinions and condescends down to her. Worse, her usual habit of waving a sonic screwdriver around and spouting TechnoBabble around a posse of extremely paranoid [[TheWitchHunter witch hunters]] nearly sees her getting dunked.

How realistic (at least, to the extent that [[CaptainObvious a story about time travel can be rooted in realism]]) this trope is varied. There is no use pretending that racism did not exist, but the levels and expressions thereof have varied wildly throughout history -- it is not cleanly divided between the dangerous Past and the accepting Present. It's also paranoid (in most cases) to assume that a "modern" person's very ''[[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence existence]]'' will trigger violence or repression. Most civilized societies will tolerate just about anyone as long as they don't "cause any trouble" -- although, granted, "trouble" will be defined very broadly if a society really is that reactionary.

* [[CaptainObvious Not actually time travel]], [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible but a similar idea]]: for those who want to research their family history, they'll probably run into trouble after a few generations if they aren't of English descent. Why? Because most other countries (particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe) didn't keep detailed records of births and deaths until the late nineteenth century, and even today, that's only a handful of generations ago (as in [[LiteralMetaphor the number of generations can be counted on one hand]]). On the other hand, ''Eastern'' countries did keep records for a long time, but if you don't live in an Asian country yourself, you probably can't read them. Thus, in the English-speaking world, if you aren't of [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASP]] descent on at least one branch of your family, you're out of luck if you want to trace your ancestry back far.

How realistic (at least, to the extent that [[CaptainObvious a story about time travel can be rooted in realism]]) this trope is varies. There is no use pretending that racism did not exist, but the levels and expressions thereof have varied wildly throughout history -- it is not cleanly divided between the dangerous Past and the accepting Present. It's also paranoid (in most cases) to assume that a "modern" person's very ''[[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence existence]]'' will trigger violence or repression. Most civilized societies will tolerate just about anyone as long as they don't "cause any trouble" -- although, granted, "trouble" will be defined very broadly if a society really is that reactionary.

* Averted in ''Film/BlackKnight''. Creator/MartinLawrence's character Jamal ends up in Medieval England and isn't treated any different from a white man, although he gets annoyed at frequently being called "Moor". In fact, the big problem people have with him is his attitude. Of course, he starts being treated much better after he accidentally names himself as the messenger of the Duke of Normandy. Any of his oddities are attributed to him being a "Norman". Then again, [[spoiler:it was AllJustADream -- or was it?]]. This is one of those RealityIsUnrealistic cases. While black Africans were discriminated against in most European countries at that time, and moreso as time moved on, the idea that it'd have more to do with his place of origin and not specifically his skin color is pretty valid.
* ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine2'' when the guys are going to go back to the 1770s to "Make America Happen" Jacob tells Nick (who is black) "you're not going to be to super welcome there, but we should totally go!"

* Pretty much the entire point of Harry Harrison's ''A Rebel in Time''. White supremacist goes back in time to help the South win the Civil War, and a black federal agent decides it will be a snap to follow the killer back to antebellum deep south. When the slave owners of the era see his high quality clothes and hear his 20th century New York college educated accent, things proceed pretty much as you'd expect under the circumstances.

* ''[[Literature/MooseJawTunnelsSeries Tunnels of Treachery]]'' plays with this -- the two previous books both involved white kids going back in time using the Moose Jaw tunnels, and when their Chinese-Canadian friends do so, they get a very different reception.

* In ''Literature/TimeScout'', Women cannot be scouts. ''Period.'' When Margo insists, [[spoiler:she ends up tortured and gang-raped by downtime Catholics and is almost ''burned at the stake.'']] They can be guides. Guiding and scouting are wildly different professions; guiding is a fairly safe if high-compentence profession strictly limited to well-explored times and places where a woman can learn to blend in. Scouting is an extreme-risk profession where one is operating without a net and guides all but guaranteed to die horribly. The race issue is never brought up.

* Played completely straight in Creator/JonBirmingham's ''Literature/AxisOfTime'' trilogy, where a Multinational Taskforce from the 21st century is transported by a NegativeSpaceWedgie to 1942. A good number of crewmembers from the "uptimer" ships are either black or Asian. In fact, the "temps" are incredulous to find out that the "uptimers" put a black woman in command of a warship. One of the main characters is a black Marine, who jibes as a "temp" named Dan Black about racism. Dan shuts him down by pointing out that in his father's household, anyone who used the N-word would be sorry. The liberal views of the 21st century clash hard with the "normal" views of 1940s America. To this end, Admiral Kolhammer gets FDR to declare an area in California as a Special Administrative Zone, where the laws and customs of the 21st century are the norm (and people can be sued for violating those laws, even if the act happens outside the Zone). JEdgarHoover is determined to shut down the Zone, claiming that it's amoral. In response, Kolhammer tries to expose Hoover as a closet gay.

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]" revolves in part about Sarah Jane, a 1970s-[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture '80s]] feminist, getting stuck in the Dark Ages and the trouble this causes for her. She is treated horribly, both the men and the aliens in this time period are ridiculously misogynistic, and even clever and likeable contemporary woman scoff at the idea of not being basically slaves.

*** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E3ThinIce Thin Ice]]", upon finding she's in 1814, she is worried about how she'll be treated on account of being black. The Doctor sadly acknowledges that slavery is still a reality in this time period, but Bill is surprised by the fact that the non-white population of London in the Regency is higher than she was expecting, and most of the characters don't bat an eye at her. The one character who ''does'' is Lord Sutcliffe, who is a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain, and promptly gets decked by the Doctor for it. A slight Research Fail by the authors as, while slavery did exist at this time, Lord Mansfield's judgement established that slavery was incompatible with English Common Law and effectively had not existed in England since the Romans left.
*** When [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E9EmpressOfMars encountering Victorian soldiers on Mars]], their commander laughs at the idea of Bill being a policewoman, since women couldn't be cops at that time (but, interestingly, doesn't seem to notice her skin color).
*** Averted when [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight visiting Scotland during Ancient Roman times]], as Bill's admittance to being a lesbian is taken in stride by the Roman soldiers (the Ancient Roman concept of sexuality could be complicated, and people often had relationships with both sexes -- the taboo was being, if one was gay, the receiver rather than the giver; one of the soldiers is gay, and the rest just think he's missing out on half the fun he could be having), and no-one bats an eye at her skin color (the gay soldier is also black), which is entirely reasonable -- the Empire ruled much of North Africa by this point, and one of the later Emperors, Septimius Severus, was mixed-race, if not black (no-one's entirely sure).

** Also treated seriously in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E8TheWitchfinders The Witchfinders]]", which sees a [[Creator/JodieWhittaker now-female Doctor]] travel to England in the early 1600s, and everyone ignores her opinions and condescends down to her. Worse, her usual habit of waving a sonic screwdriver around and spouting TechnoBabble around a posse of extremely paranoid [[TheWitchHunter Witch Hunters]] nearly sees her getting dunked.

** In ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', Jack Harkness and Toshiko Sato are stuck in 1940s Cardiff, and Tosh expresses some very real concerns about being Japanese and in WWII. Fortunately the attack on Pearl Harbor (and the British Asian colonies) is still several months in the future.

* An third season episode of ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'', the titular sub ends up in the 60s during the UsefulNotes/CubanMissileCrisis. [[NumberTwo Commander Jonathan Ford]] (a black man) takes a team to the surface. They "borrow" a car and take it to their destination on the shore. On the way, they pass by car full of young men. They arrive to the beach only to see the other car pull up behind them and the guys getting out with baseball bats. Ford suddenly notices a "No blacks allowed" sign and remembers his history. Plus, he was in the same car as a white woman, which only pissed off the '60s guys more. Luckily, all of the team members are military-trained, so a bunch of punks with baseball bats is not a threat.

** Averted on the episode "Time's Arrow", where the android Data is sent back in time to late-1800s San Francisco. His Starfleet uniform gets more attention than his albino-pale skin and yellow eyes, and he's able to pass without trouble by telling everyone [[Film/{{Coneheads}} he is from France.]] (It helps that, having a perfect memory, he can speak perfect French.)

** A FantasticRacism variation of this trope: player races that were not a part of the Alliance prior to the Third War are given a race-lift while running certain instances in the Caverns of Time, so that they avoid attracting unwanted attention. Of course, many of ''World of Warcraft'' PC races weren't even known to exist until sometime during or after the Third War, including the Worgen, Tauren, Night Elves, and Pandaren -- who weren't even discovered by the larger world until the aftermath of the Third War, and remain an obscure and little-known race by the start of ''Mists of Pandaria'' -- so some of it is less unwanted attention in the form of overt racism and more in the form of "What the hell are you, and why are you here?"

* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'' season 1 finale "It's a Bot Time"/"Bot to the Future". No one says anything at all about [[BlackBestFriend Frankie's]] race or gender. This is justified, since Rescue Bots is a children's show and the scientists that meet her have [[TransformingMecha bigger things]] to think about. However, many of the town's top scientists of that era also seem to be non-white, so it seems that Griffin Rock was just as far ahead socially from the rest of the country as it was technologically.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Legends", several leaguers are sent to an alternate Earth based on UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks and team up with [[{{Expy}} expies]] of The ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica. On most accounts they are actually [[FairForItsDay Fair For Their Day]], but include uncomfortable moments like Black Canary's expy suggests Hawkgirl StayInTheKitchen and Jay Gerrick's praises African American Green Lantern Jon Stuart by calling him a credit to his race.

* Doesn't work for pre-Henry VIII England either, as it was his Chancellor Thomas Cromwell who ordered that every (then still Catholic) priest in England make a record of all the births and deaths in their parish. They were rather leery of the idea at the time, because they (rightly) suspected it would be used as a way of determining the extent to which certain districts ought to be taxed, but the idea's more than proven its worth in the times since.

[[folder:Audio Drama]]

* One arc of ''[[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]]'' saw some of the team sent into the [[TheFifties 1950s]] to the time of the original Justice Society. The black Mr. Terrific had some unpleasant experiences in the pre-Civil Rights era, like being forced to change train cars, but took it rather stoically. And then, just to rub it in, he fights a [[TheKlan Ku Klux Klan]] chapter who manages to get a noose around his throat.

* When the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} have an adventure in [[TheEdwardianEra 1905]] UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Xavin--a Skrull (shapeshifting alien) whose default human form is a teenage black lesbian--sticks to an adult white male form for most of the adventure. Also, Nico encounters some racism and Karolina is nearly raped when she goes sight-seeing since a lone young woman must be "asking for it" (the would-be rapist got an energy blast for his troubles). Interestingly, Victor doesn't face any troubles despite being a Hispanic falling in love with a white girl.

* Inversion in the ''Winter Soldier: Winter Kills'' one-shot. Comicbook/BuckyBarnes (who is from the 1940s) uses the term "pansy" as an offhanded insult, and Kate Bishop of the Comicbook/YoungAvengers calls him out for being homophobic. He clarifies that he meant it as an insult for wimpy men, not gays.

* In ''Fanfic/MementoVivere'', a VideoGame/FinalFantasyX fanfiction, Rikku faces full on Al Bhed discrimination in the past.
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'' fanfic ''FanFic/MyMirrorSwordAndShield'' Suzaku accidentally time-travels from the year 2036 to a decade into the past when the racist Britannian Empire was active and is constantly discriminated, distrusted and degraded until he earns the trust of the young Emperor Lelouch elevating his status. Even then, no one gives him any respect and he's viewed with suspicion.

* ''Film/{{Timeline}}'': In the movie adaption of Creator/MichaelCrichton's novel, one of the time travellers gets killed by 14th century Englishmen (who are at war with France), due to his French accent. This is a bit odd, considering that British royalty actually spoke a French dialect at the time in Real Life, and French accents change over time, so a modern-day Frenchman wouldn't necessarily sound anything like a 14th Century Frenchman. This didn't occur in the original novel, which specifically [[ShownTheirWork showed that Middle French isn't anything much like Modern French]], so nobody is able to understand them until they learn it.

* ''Film/MenInBlack3'': Agent J is warned before he goes back in time that the 1960's, to paraphrase, "weren't the best time for... you guys". Minutes after arriving in 1960s New York City, the time pressed J steals a (rather nice) car to head off the villain's plot, after being thrown the keys when mistaken for a valet. Predictably, two white cops stop him along the way to his destination, leading to humorous results. Possibly a reference to his quip in the [[Film/MenInBlack2 second film]] about replacing a black inflatable driver for a white one due to being constantly pulled over.

* In an ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' story involving time travel, the group runs into this problem -- they wind up at Princeton University, circa 1934, in an alternate timeline with a lot of differences from the real one- where someone calls Cassie [[TWordEuphemism something she would REALLY rather not be called]]. She puts him in his place to the tune of a 900-pound Polar Bear.
-->'''Cassie''': "You don't like black people, Mr. Davis? No problem. I can turn white. Watch me."

* Pretty much the entire point of Harry Harrison's ''A Rebel In Time''. White supremacist goes back in time to help the South win the Civil War, and a black federal agent decides it will be a snap to follow the killer back to antebellum deep south. When the slave owners of the era see his high quality clothes and hear his 20th century New York college educated accent, things proceed pretty much as you'd expect under the circumstances.

** The early Hartnell series sometimes avoided this by having the female characters dress as men. This happens in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E6TheCrusade "The Crusade"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E1TheSmugglers "The Smugglers"]]. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E5TheMassacre "The Massacre"]], meanwhile, has no female companion until the very end (which is set in the present day).
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior "The Time Warrior"]] revolves in part about Sarah Jane, a 1970s-[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 80s]] feminist, getting stuck in the Dark Ages and the trouble this causes for her. She is treated horribly, both the men and the aliens in this time period are ridiculously misogynistic, and even clever and likeable contemporary woman scoff at the idea of not being basically slaves.
** Rose also gets called out in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw "Tooth and Claw"]] by Queen Victoria herself and several other characters who repeatedly describe her as being naked, due to the short overalls and tights she wears through the episode.

*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E2TheShakespeareCode "The Shakespeare Code"]] had Martha worried about being sold as a slave, but the Doctor assured her this wasn't actually an issue. In reality, there actually were some black people in England, none of whom were slaves, and the dialogue was actually meant to teach kids that England wasn't entirely white in the 17th century.
*** The later [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature "Human Nature"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood "The Family of Blood"]] (set in 1913), had Martha's race subtly addressed as nobody believed a woman, let alone a ''poor minority'' woman, was capable of being a doctor.
** Donna, while treated fairly well, still complains when the Doctor's cover story for her in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp "The Unicorn and the Wasp"]] is that she's the "plucky young woman who helps me out" on account of there being no policewomen in 1920s Britain.

*** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E3ThinIce "Thin Ice"]], upon finding she's in 1814, she is worried about how she'll be treated on account of being black. The Doctor sadly acknowledges that slavery is still a reality in this time period, but Bill is surprised by the fact that the non-white population of London in the Regency is higher than she was expecting, and most of the characters don't bat an eye at her. The one character who ''does'' is Lord Sutcliffe, who is a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain, and promptly gets decked by the Doctor for it. A slight Research Fail by the authors as, while slavery did exist at this time, Lord Mansfield's judement established that slavery was incompatible with English Common Law and effectively had not existed in England since the Romans left.
*** When [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E9EmpressOfMars encountering Victorian soldiers on Mars]], their commander laughs at the idea of Bill being a policewoman, since women couldn't be cops at that time (but, interestingly, doesn't seem to notice her skin colour).
*** Averted when [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight visiting Scotland during Ancient Roman times]], as Bill's admittance to being a lesbian is taken in stride by the Roman soldiers (the Ancient Roman concept of sexuality could be complicated, and people often had relationships with both sexes — the taboo was being, if one was gay, the receiver rather than the giver; one of the soldiers is gay, and the rest just think he's missing out on half the fun he could be having), and no one bats an eye at her skin colour (the gay soldier is also black), which is entirely reasonable — the Empire ruled much of North Africa by this point, and one of the later Emperors, Septimius Severus, was mixed-race, if not black (no one's entirely sure).

** In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith", this gets played with when Rani goes back to the 1950s looking for Sarah Jane — Rani assumes she's getting looks because of racism, but later realises people are staring at her because of [[ChangedMyJumper her outfit]], and the only reason she's getting away with it is because she isn't white.
--->'''Rani:''' Yes, I get it, ethnic person in the 50s!
** In ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', Jack Harkness and Toshiko Sato are stuck in 1940s Cardiff, and Tosh expresses some very real concerns about being Japanese and in WWII. Fortunately the attack on Pearl Harbour (and the British Asian colonies) is still several months in the future.
* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' has ''Night of the Hawk'' when the team travels to 1958. Jax and Kendra get uncomfortable reactions to their interracial dating/fake marriage, and when Jax gets pulled over by a cop... Then there's Sara's budding romance with a cute female nurse. Stein initially expresses his belief in how great and simple a time it was, only to be brutally shut down by Jax and Sara, who point out that this is only true if you're a straight white male. Stein is forced to agree. In Season 2, the Legends end up in the middle of the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, and Jax and Amaya end up witnessing the plight of the slaves. Their non-submissive attitudes immediately land them in hot water with the white plantation owner.

* Inverted in ''Series/The4400'', Richard Tyler has been brought forward from World War II, where he was almost killed for being attracted to a white woman. It takes him a few episodes to get used to the relative lack of racism.

*** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E3ThinIce "Thin Ice"]], upon finding she's in 1814, she is worried about how she'll be treated on account of being black. The Doctor sadly acknowledges that slavery is still a reality in this time period, but Bill is surprised by the fact that the non-white population of London in the Regency is higher than she was expecting, and most of the characters don't bat an eye at her. The one character who ''does'' is Lord Sutcliffe, who is a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain, and promptly gets decked by the Doctor for it.