Author: Bethan Hughes

Bethan Hughes completed her masters in History at Queen's University Belfast in December 2014. Her dissertation "French Colours: Race, Americans, and French Culture during the Interwar Years" examines the limitations and complexities of colour-blind France by contrasting the experiences of black colonial subjects with that of black and white Americans. Her research interests include transnational perceptions of race, black identities, and the African Diaspora.
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The Promise and Disappointment of 1920’s Paris for “Ebony Venus” Josephine Baker

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Josephine Baker’s successful Parisian career is often cited as proof that France was a “colour-blind” nation in the 1920s, says Bethan Hughes, but this overlooks how Baker’s blackness was intrinsic to her success due to French perceptions of black sexuality. Continue reading