People of African and Caribbean descent have inhabited the British Isles for centuries. Paul Gilroy, renowned for his work exploring the social and cultural dimensions of black Britishness, has assembled a living history of black people in the British Isles. Spanning two hundred years, this collection features images of black Britons at work, at war, and at play.

Paul Gilroy was a professor of sociology and African American studies at Yale University until 2005, when he left to become a professor of social theory at The London School of Economics and Political Science.