History Main / NoEqualOpportunityTimeTravel

* In the 1990's DC series ''ComicBook/{{Chronos}}'', about a time traveler named Walker Gabriel (who, we eventually learn, is half Chinese and half ''ancient Mayan),'' Walker's first time trip takes him to the Old West, where he's startled when some random cowboy punches him in the face just on general principle because he looks like a Native American.

* 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.

* 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.

* ''Literature/ThePsychologyOfTimeTravel'': Lucille Waters, a Black woman and one of the creators of time travel, briefly discusses this trope with regard to moving backwards in time. She says it is a non-issue, since it is impossible to travel back to before the first time machine existed. That being said, social justice is not linear and there are times in ensuing centuries where various groups are more repressed than others.

* ''Literature/ThePsychologyOfTimeTravel'': Lucille Waters, a Black woman and one of the creators of time travel, briefly discusses this trope with regard to moving backwards in time. She says it is a non-issue, since it is impossible to travel back to before the first time machine existed.

* ''Literature/ThePsychologyOfTimeTravel'': Lucille Waters, a Black woman and one of the creators of time travel, briefly discusses this trope with regard to moving backwards in time. She says it is a non-issue, since it is impossible to travel back to before the first time machine existed. Interestingly, Lucille made this statement in 1967. It's no wonder she seems to prefer living in the (relative) future.

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* 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.
* One of the ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Justice League]]'' one-shots had a story where Comicbook/{{Steel}} and Franchise/WonderWoman are sent back in time to the year 1574. In order to hide their true identities, Wonder Woman poses as a pirate, while Steel is forced to pose as an African slave.

* In the 1990's DC series ''Chronos,'' about a time traveler named Walker Gabriel (who, we eventually learn, is half Chinese and half ''ancient Mayan),'' Walker's first time trip takes him to the Old West, where he's startled when some random cowboy punches him in the face just on general principle because he looks like a Native American.

* 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.

* Loosely features in the ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga''/''Film/Titanic1997'' fic “[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8342386/1/Never-Letting-Go Never Letting Go]]”, when Jack and Rose swap times and places with Bella and Edward, leaving Bella and Edward in Rose’s stateroom on the night of the sinking. Since Edward knows the time period, he helps Bella put on one of Rose’s dresses so that she can pose as a first-class passenger and guarantee a place on a lifeboat (as a vampire, Edward can stay behind with the sinking ship and be rescued later).
* "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3201344/14/Where-is-Hannah-Montana Where is Hannah Montana?]]"- featuring [[Series/HannahMontana Miley Stewart and Lilly Truscott]] travelling with the [[Series/DoctorWho Tenth Doctor]]- features a minor version of this when the TARDIS materialises in America during the Civil War, as the Doctor has to impulsively claim that Miley's a war orphan to justify her southern accent while they're in Union territory.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Timeline}}'': In the movie adaption of Creator/MichaelCrichton's novel, one of the time travelers 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.

* Averted in ''Film/BlackKnight2001''. 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 more 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 too super welcome there, but we should totally go!"
* In ''Film/LateForDinner'', two guys unknowingly end up becoming subjects to a cryogenics experiment. They then get accidentally thawed out 29 years later. Not sure what happened, they go to a hospital to patch up a bullet wound in one of them. One of the guys comments to a black doctor of how great it is that black people are being allowed to be doctors. The doctor is a little taken aback at this, although seeing a card from a cryogenics lab is a little more disturbing to him.

* Creator/OctaviaButler covers the perils of time traveling while black in the 1979 novel ''Literature/{{Kindred}}'' - the black protagonist goes to 19th-century Maryland to meet her ancestors, one of whom is a white slave owner. Drama ensues.
* In ''Literature/ToSayNothingOfTheDog'' by Connie Willis, the time-travel research division at Oxford contains a black student and a South Indian professor. The plot of the book involves everyone else in the department being forced to do far too much time travel for their own health to satisfy a rich donor's demands in researching the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral. Those two celebrate their good luck, as they can't do much time-traveling into pre-1940s England for safety reasons.

* Pretty much the entire point of Harry Harrison's ''A Rebel in Time''. A 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.
* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/PastwatchTheRedemptionOfChristopherColumbus'', only one of the three time-travelers sent to change the result of Columbus' first encounter with native Americans is the appropriate race for the culture that they will be dealing with (and none of them are white). In the end, [[spoiler:one character, a black woman, has to overcome a lot of prejudice to win over the natives, but she eventually succeeds]] while another, [[spoiler:a middle-eastern man sent to sabotage one of Columbus's ships, actually uses his race to the mission's advantage, revealing himself and allowing his HeroicSacrifice to unite the crew against the "Muslim enemy".]] The [[spoiler:Muslim]] is explicitly stated as being white. It is only when he [[spoiler:speaks Arabic and declares himself a Turk]] that his race becomes an issue... even the Mayan going back to visit the Mayans is a foot taller than the Mayans of that time, making him stand out. The "foot taller" part helps, as his goal is to [[spoiler:convince the natives that he's a messenger of the gods]].
* ''[[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.
* Averted in S.M. Stirling's ''[[Literature/IslandInTheSeaOfTime Nantucket]]'' series: Capt. Alston, an African-American Coast Guard officer, is assumed, by the Bronze Age people she encounters, to be a respected Nubian warrior chief. Of course, many presume she is a man until convinced otherwise.
* 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-competence 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 with in ''The Freedom Maze'' by Delia Sherman. Sophie -- who is white in 1960 -- goes back in time to 1860 and is instantly assumed to be a slave thanks to her tan and frizzy hair.
* Averted (and lampshaded) in the ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' series. Two black characters from twenty-first century America are both doctors, and this is readily accepted by the seventeenth-century Europeans, who assume they're Moors (who were far and away the most trusted physicians of the time, with the possible exception of Jews). The only issue is that they're father and daughter and it takes the down-timers some time to be convinced of the daughter's qualifications as she's a woman.
* It is mentioned in the first ''Literature/TimeWars'' novel that while the Temporal Corps recruits women, they are often limited to support roles in missions as not many time periods have frontline female fighters.
* 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.
* Played straight with women in Scott Meyer's ''[[Literature/Magic20 Off to Be the Wizard]]''. It's fairly easy for men who discover the file and travel back in time to pretend to be wizards/sorcerers/fakirs/shamans/etc. in the past. However, any woman who tries to do the same usually runs straight into the BurnTheWitch attitude of most of history. Thus, most women end up traveling to the 4th century BC to the city of {{Atlantis}}, a LadyLand built in the Mediterranean as a safe haven for sorceresses. Averted with wizards named Tyler (black) and Eddie (Asian). They choose to live in 12th century England. When asked, Tyler replies that he claims to be a Moor. The locals then assume that he has either converted to Christianity or is powerful enough not to care. Eddie pretends to be a sorcerer from the Far East named Wing Po, despite his heavy {{Joisey}} accent. Either way, being a powerful wizard means that the locals won't dare touch them or complain about their [[BuffySpeak non-whiteness]]. Most male time travelers tend to go to a place and time that fits with their ethnicity and cultural heritage. The second novel also reveals that not every native Mediterranean is okay with women being in charge.
* ''Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'': In ''The Plotters'', the Doctor attempts to avoid trouble by dressing his female companion Vicki as a boy (as he had previously done in the TV story "The Crusade"), only to find this has the opposite of the intended effect when she attracts the attention of a lecherous old gay king who sets about trying to woo her.
* ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'':
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresHumanNature Human Nature]]'', the Doctor's companion Bernice Summerfield is supposed to be keeping a low profile during an extended sojourn in the 1910s. She ditches her skirts about twenty minutes into the adventure in favour of her regular trousers. This gets her into a ''lot'' of trouble.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresAllConsumingFire All-Consuming Fire]]'', she goes full SweetPollyOliver in the 1880s, having decided that if she's keeping a low profile, this is probably more effective than being a woman who gets into fights with men who proposition her.
* Some of the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' novels have this become a bit of an issue for Anji Kapoor. In the 18th and 19th centuries, she's treated as exotic and mystical but not outright abused. Wearing a sari helps; too bad she hates wearing saris. Fitz Kreiner, who's white and British, gets almost as much trouble for stuff like his lower-class London accent.

* The trailer for the Fox comedy ''Making History'' has a bungling time traveler realizing he's messed up Paul Revere's ride. He then brings his college professor pal back with him to fix things. However, both have overlooked the tiny fact that a black man in 1776, no matter how educated he is, will automatically be thought of as a runaway slave.

* ''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]].
* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'' season 1 finale "It's a Bot Time"/"Bot to the Future". No one says anything at all about 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 suggesting to Hawkgirl that they should leave the room and "[[StayInTheKitchen cook something while the men talk]]" and Jay Garrick's praises African-American Green Lantern Jon Stewart by calling him "[[YouAreACreditToYourRace a credit to his people]]".

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'', a few alternate-universe versions of the X-Men travel back to the '50s to save the younger Professor Xavier from a time-traveling assassin. They all talk at a cafe, and the owner gets pissy about the fact that ComicBook/{{Storm}} and ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} (an African woman and a white man, respectively) are a couple. Naturally, this makes Wolverine completely flip out.