WeisSaul

Well Barack Obama is actually bi-racial (white American mother, Black Kenyan father), so that tends to decrease the race barrier. Perhaps a similar scenario could happen in France or Britain.

Linschoten

No, that one's nonsense, she just seems to have had a dark complexion. The Black Prince wasn't black either!

Azita

100 Great Black Britons - Queen Phillipa



BTW. dont all black people have a dark complexion then?

Mosquito

In general, unlike in the USA, people in Europe dont elect leaders only because they are not white and say that everything must be changed....

Linschoten

Yes, but not everyone who has a dark complexion is of African descent, which seems to be the suggestion here; that notion is based purely on a contemporary descrition of her. She was descended from the Counts of Hainault, who had formed a continuous line in the Low Countries since (I think) the 8th or 9th Century; I think it is exceedingly unlikely that they had any African blood. One might as well claim that Sappho was of African descent because she refers to herself as being 'black'!

Azita

Am i missing the point here, the thread states "chance of a Black leader in Europe ?"

Of course, not all black skinned people are African.
Sorry am i just bieng dim?

Azita

Linschoten

You were suggesting that Queen Philippa was black: she was not, she was a white woman who had a dark complexion! The question presupposes that the leader would be at least partly of non-European descent, rather than simply dark-complexioned.

Azita

well having never met her, i would not be able to say for sure.

But i think it is in fact the ARTICLE that suggest she was "black".

Bishop Stapeldon, "she is brown of skin all over"

But please be as pedantic as you need, im sure it helps

Naomasa298

Do you take everything you read on the internet as gospel? Are there no ARTICLES on the internet that may have been written by people who have an agenda to pursue?

Is the word Black, as used in the title of this thread with a capital, commonly used to describe people who are "brown of skin all over" or just of dark complexion, or is it commonly used to describe people of African descent?

This man is brown of skin all over. Is he Black?

Linschoten

There is no need to be uncivil. The link that you posted was of '100 Great Black Britons', meaning Britons of African descent. It is not 'pedantic' to point out in the context of the present discussion that Queen Philippa was not of African descent!