The Loss of White Prestige

Abstract

Colonial Office policy on ‘colour discrimination’ was never explicitly codified in any detail. Before the war, if asked, most colonial officials would probably have denied being in favour of ‘colour discrimination’ while condoning it in practice. At the same time, however, they would hold views on many administrative issues that assumed different racial capacities and therefore, of necessity, required different policies for different ‘races’. This chapter outlines how colonial policy on race discrimination began to change during the Second World War.