Dr Olivia Wyatt (PhD, AFHEA)

Teaching and Research Fellow in Black British History

Biography

Background

I am a historian of modern Britain whose research documents how the lived truths of Black subjects, both within the imperial metropole and the colonies, unravel the national myth of a homogenous, liberal kingdom. From my expertise as a public historian looking at absentee plantation ownership within Yorkshire, and the roles of African women within the British Health Service, to my research as an academic historian investigating Black women’s community activism in northern Britain, I seek to challenge our notions of Britishness, its borders, and the spaces in which it was constructed and contested.

I am a Teaching and Research Fellow in Black British History at the University of Edinburgh, and I was previously a Teaching Associate in History at Queen Mary University of London, where I taught on a variety of modern British history courses.

I was born and raised in Leeds and completed my first degree at the University of York, and my MA in Race and Resistance at the University of Leeds. I completed my doctoral studies at Queen Mary University of London under the supervision of Dr Rob Waters, Dr Leslie James, Dr Christienna Fryar, and Professor Kim Wagner. I recently returned from a Visiting Fellowship at the University of the West Indies St. Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago over the summer, which was funded by the North American Conference for British Studies. 

My upcoming book – Complexities of Complexion: Colouring race in modern Britain – demonstrates the ways in which complexion mattered to how Black people negotiated their presence in twentieth-century Britain. 

Responsibilities & affiliations

Convenor of the Institute of Historical Research's Black British History seminar series

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 

Previously the Justin Champion Doctoral Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, and the Diversity and Inclusion Fellow of the North American Conference for British Studies

Undergraduate teaching

I teach Representations of Blackness in Britain and Europe, 1800 - 1950 (HIST10480) for fourth-year students and Carnival in the Atlantic World: Play, Power and Politics (HIST10479) for third-year students. 

I teach on the Pre-Honours course The Historian's Toolkit, where I will deliver a lecture on Uncovering Blackness within the Archive

I supervise undergraduate dissertations on Blackness, women's history, and the relationship between decolonisation and deindustrialisation in Britain. 

Postgraduate teaching

 I teach on the MSc in History, where I will deliver a Pathways topic on The Black Women's Movement

Research summary

Places:

Britain

Europe

Caribbean

Themes:

Black British history

Race and racialisation

Politics and activism 

Gender and beauty

Oral history and memorialisation

Periods:

Twentieth Century

Nineteenth Century

Likkle bit of Eighteenth Century

Current research interests

'Complexities of Complexion: Colouring race in modern Britain' will read academic texts and newspapers alongside cultural magazines, political literature, and oral histories to reinsert complexion into our understanding of racialisation in twentieth-century Britain. Through an examination of the effect of skin tone on the treatment of ‘hybrid’ Britons, the experiences of postwar Caribbean immigrants, the dynamics of political activism, and the construction of beauty cultures, this book will historically contextualise colourism and mixed-race identity, while providing new understandings of social experiences of race and the politics of blackness. Through an examination of three major case studies, my next project will explore the relationship between colonial respectability and Black conservatism within modern Britain.

Past research interests

I have paid particular attention to community forms of activism within Black Britain, as well as the solidarities and tensions between Black female activists throughout the 1970s and 1980s. My multi-award-winning MA dissertation — '“Painting Our Own Portraits”: Caribbean women and the protection of community in Leeds' — was adapted into a chapter for the second edition of New Perspectives on Black British History (Pluto Press, 2023), which was shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society's Alexander Prize. I have also researched and written about the historical connections of Harewood House – a Yorkshire country house – to enslavement and colonialism within the Caribbean. This research has led me to work with production companies that operate on behalf of the BBC, Channel 4, and Channel 5.

Conference details

International Conferences:

‘Caribbean Migrants and the Negotiation of Pigmentocracy in Britain’, Association for Caribbean Historians, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad (10th July 2025)

Roundtable on Methodologies in Black British History, North American Conference for British Studies, Montreal, Canada (due 14th November 2025)

‘TBC’, 'Black Europe: A field on the Move', Colombia University, New York (due 12th November, 2025)

‘’It’s an all-white house – but, well is he very dark?’: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Complexion in Britain, Student Exchange Symposium Queen Mary/Northwestern (March 2024)

 

Other Conferences and Workshops:

2025     Britain at Home and Abroad & Black British History seminar series (Institute of Historical  Research)

2024     Stuart Hall: Positions and Trajectories Conference (University of Birmingham)

2024     Friends & Fellows Symposium (Institute of Historical Research)

2023     46th Annual Conference of the Society for Caribbean Studies (SCS)

2023     Windrush 75 International Conference: Reforming Our Futures (National Windrush Museum)

2022     WHN MA Prize Lunchtime Roundtable Celebration (WHN)

2021     New Perspectives on the History of African and Caribbean people in Britain (History Matters)

2019     What’s Happening in Black British History? XI (ICS)

2019     Sociology in the Archives: Black and Asian activism by and for young people (British Library)

2019     RHS report on race, equality and diversity in history (RHS/ University of York)

2019     YARC Decolonise Workshop (University of York)

Invited speaker

‘’Black is Beautiful’: The Politics of Pigmentation in the Black Women’s Movement, Histories of Gender and Sexuality Seminars, Centre for the Study of Modern and Contemporary History, University of Edinburgh (2025)

Roundtable on Modern British History for Stuart Hall: Positions and Trajectories Conference, Stuart Hall Archive Project, University of Birmingham (2024)

‘Caribbean Migrants and the Negotiation of Pigmentocracy in Britain', Friends & Fellows Symposium on Current Research, Institute of Historical Research (2024)

‘When Sisters Disagree: Caribbean Women and the Politics of Community Organising in Leeds’, Race and Resistance: Black Feminist Movements, Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, University of Oxford (2023)

‘Uses and Abuses: Oral narratives in the reconstruction of Black British History’, Planning and Preparing Oral Histories, The Oral History Collective, University of Leeds (2023)

Masterclass on studying a PhD in Black British for undergraduate and postgraduate students, University of Manchester (2023)

Emerging scholars: Lightning Talks on Black British History, Black British History seminar series, Institute of Historical Research (2023)

‘The Value of Light Skin in Britain: A study of attitudes towards mixed-race people, c.1920-1960’, New Directions in Black Studies, Centre for Black Humanities, University of Bristol (2023)

‘Ethically producing oral histories’, The Politics of Black British History, University of Oxford (2022)

‘Key Black Struggles in 1970s Leeds’, What can today’s Socialist Movement Learn from the 1970s?, Independent Working Class Education Network (2022)

‘Reflections on From Margins to Centre: An Undergraduate Conference on Marginalised Histories’, National Learning and Teaching Annual Conference, Advanced Higher Education, University of York (2020)

‘Difficult Histories – Black Lives Matter: Dialogue & Debate, with Christienna Fryar, Tristram Hunt, and Zaiba Patel, Cumberland Lodge (2020)

Organiser

2025     Panel organiser: Passing in Britain: Trans, Jewish, and Black Lives (British History Today, QMUL)

2025     Panel organiser: The Struggle for Black Power in a Yorkshire city (Black Power at the Grassroots: Documenting, Preserving, and (Re)presenting Histories of Black Struggle in Britain, University of Manchester)

2023    Co-organiser: The Issue of Truth: Representing Black British history conference (Institute of Historical Research)

2020    Co-organiser of From Margins to Centre?: An undergraduate conference on marginalised histories (University of York)

 

More video

In the press

Advisory and Consultancy:

Historical consultant on the Black British Digital Archive project, Adam Matthew Digital Limited (2024)

Historical consultant and reader for Perfection: 400 Years of Women’s Quest for Beauty by Margarette Lincoln, Yale University Press (2023)

Historical consultant and reader for Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World by Kate Mosse, Pan Macmillan (2020)

Historical consultant and reader for Ask A Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know by Greg Jenner, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (2021)

Volunteer Historian of the Lascelles West Indian Archive, Harewood House Trust (2020 –)

Reference Group Member for the Blue Plaques Review, Leeds Civic Trust (2020 – 2021)

Research Intern for You’re Dead To Me history podcast, BBC Radio 4 (2020)

Research Volunteer for A Hidden History: African women in the British Health Service throughout the twentieth century, Young Historians Project (2019 – 2022)

Public Talks and Organised Events:

Talk on Black women’s community activism for Black History Month, Hounslow Council (2024)

Co-organiser of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Leeds Caribbean and African Centre, Leeds Caribbean and African Centre & Historic England (2023)

Chapeltown International Women’s Day: On Caribbean women and the protection of community, Leeds Caribbean and African Centre (2022)

Articles and Blogs:

“Is Violence the Answer?: Using violence as a response to oppression and surveillance can both divide and unite communities,” in History Today, Vol. 73, No.3 (2023), pp.16-18.

“The Art of Narration: Memory, Voices and Archival Deadening in the reconstruction of Black British history” in History Matters Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3 (2021), pp.19-27

“African Women and the British Health Service: Irene Ighodaro,” in History Matters Journal Vol. 1, No. 1 (2020)

“The core of the rebellion”: Harewood House and the Barbadian Rebellion of 1816, Harewood House Trust (20 April 2024)

The Gift of a Green Turtle, Harewood House Trust (11 April 2024)

Painting Our Own Portraits, Women’s History Network (1 August 2022)

Recovering Identity in Harewood’s West Indian Archive, Harewood House Trust (11 August 2022)

Power. Whiteness. Resistance: Challenging the Facts of the Archive, Harewood House Trust (24 August 2020)

Reflections on From Margins to Centre?: An undergraduate conference on marginalised histories, Royal Historical Society (9 July 2020)

Our histories should be accessible to all: the significance of highlighting Black British history, Young Historians Project (16 July 2019)

Media and Podcasts:

Graduate Research: Researching Black British Histories with Olivia Wyatt, Scottish Centre for Global History Podcast (2021)

1000 Years A Slave documentary, Channel 5 (2021)

The Leeds woman named as the most inspirational person in Yorkshire, Leeds Live (2021)

“Six surprising facts about the prison-escapist celebrity Jack Sheppard” on BBC Radio 4 for You’re Dead To Me (2020)

“A historic opportunity”: Black Lives Matter stirs hope for change in ancient city, NBC News (2020)

Interview about the Young Historians Project, BBC Radio York (2020)

Interview on the importance of Black British History for the Liz Green afternoon show, BBC Radio Leeds, York & Sheffield (2020)

Student life in lockdown and Black History Month, BBC Radio Leeds, York & Sheffield (2020)

York student hopes to promote Black history in schools, York Press (2020)

Phil Spencer’s Stately Homes: Harewood House, Channel 4 (2019)

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