“They served this country well. In Jamaica they couldn’t find work. Discouraged but full of hope, they sailed for Britain, citizens of the British Empire coming to the Mother Country with good intent”.
Introduction
I have always been fascinated by the inspirational story of the brave men and women who left the sun and sand of the Caribbean shores and made what of must have been a daunting trip across treacherous waters to reach the UK, wanting a better life and hopeful of finding a promised land. The most famous of these voyages occurred in 1948 when the HMT Empire Windrush set off from Jamaica to London with 1027 passengers and two stowaways aboard, 800 of which were confirmed as coming from a Caribbean country. Impeccably dressed in their best Sunday wear, the men dressed in their zoot suits and the women in colourful dresses, they would arrive at Tilbury Docks and be greeted with inclement weather that would chill them to the bones, warmed only by the prospect and promise of work. These men and women offered a multitude of talents. An army of people would go on to fill jobs such as in factories, public transport and the newly created NHS. A generation who brought their glorious music and cuisine with them. A culture that captured the essence of the immigrant experience, one that battled ignorance, discrimination and racism but never lost a spring in their step, hard-working and determined to live life to the full.
Through the Window
The now plush townhouses that grace the streets of our country, especially in West London, Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill Gate and Westbourne Park, affordable only to the rich, were once the initial homes of the Windrush generation. These houses looked very different then, weathered and battered by the ravages of war, where multiple families would share a room, dank, cold and prone to mice and rats. Huddled around a heater in the middle of the room, the men and women would return from a long working day to make the best of what they had. Still proud to be members of the British Empire, granted citizenship by the 1948 British Nationality Act but always felt that several pieces were missing from their puzzle. They were the rebuilders who helped Britain emerge from the dark days of the post-war years, one that was full of crumbling buildings, bomb sites and people who wanted that missing zing to return.
Heroes to Zeros
“Progress doesn’t always take us forward”.
Floella Benjamin
The testimonials of those that came here, describe a society that were feared, hated and felt threatened by something as simple as a different colour of skin yet a cancer that still remains in our society, festering under the surface to this day. An injustice that is still deeply rooted in the police force and fire brigade with a recent report finding the Metropolitan Police systemically racist and we seem to be no further on from lessons learned from the appalling murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. This stain on our society is chillingly shown in an account by Floella Benjamin who came to Britain as a ten-year-old from Trinidad in 1960.
“I remember at least a dozen police officers stood poised by the ‘For Sale’ sign at the gate of the house my mother, accompanied by her six children were viewing. The neighbours had rung 999 saying black people were stealing the fixtures and fittings from the empty house in white middle class Beckenham. Thankfully the first policeman on the scene was sympathetic, he was married to a black woman and explained this kind of thing happened all the time. He waved his eager colleagues away, saying it was a false alarm”.
Floella Benjamin
Streets Paved With Gold
The Windrush generation who continued coming to the UK in large numbers until the 1970s had initially responded to the blanket adverts in their newspapers of the call to help rebuild Britain but when they arrived, this certainly wasn’t the country that they had dreamt of. It was grey, cold and had a metrological phenomenon that few in the Caribbean had ever seen snow. A blanket of white fascination that seemed to temporarily obliterate the greyness and depression. Yet these heroes of their time became hardened over time, learning to smile at adversity, even when years later, many were deported back to their birth countries for not having the correct paperwork. A complete miscarriage of justice that broke the promise of welcoming them with open arms to Britain.
Courage and Hope
As the Creole music played on a scratchy 78 record, dominoes were played accompanied by a tot of rum and the children played on the street, the Windrush generation would evolve into some of the most gifted actor, artists, musicians and politicians that this country has ever seen. They were pioneers of their time, fearless and determined, resolute on making a better life in this alien country that they had come to. They wanted life to get better but in many ways, we are still striving towards a goal of a multicultural society in this land they called the ‘Motherland’. Many didn’t even have access to a garden and not sharing a bathroom was a luxury. That is probably why now many of the older generations, lovingly tend their allotments and gardens. A luxury and a joy to have. The arrival of this ship in 1948 at Tilbury Docks was a focal point, we all know that African and Caribbean people had been in this country for centuries but this was a seismic moment, a turning point that produced an explosion of employment and cultural activity that Britain hadn’t witnessed before.
Yet they would have to witness the ignorance of many, turned away from accommodation with the vile signs in the windows saying, ‘No blacks, no Irish and no dogs’. A generation who constantly had to battle the prejudices of what they called ‘the enemy’. This vile ignorance was fueled by the Attlee led Labour government of the time, its failure to educate people on why these people were here. A critical mistake that could have quite easily been avoided. The Windriush generation deserve to be applauded and celebrated for their efforts precisely because they had the courage to travel and take on the adversities that were thrown at them.
