WINDRUSH: SIMPLY THE BEST

Seventy Years of Black British Film & Television Excellence

To commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the African and Caribbean presence in post-war Britain, STEPHEN BOURNE, author of the award-winning Black in the British Frame – The Black Experience in British Film & Television (2001), lists his personal “bests” from popular British film and television drama since 1948.

All images are courtesy of Stephen Bourne’s private collection.

BEST FILM: PRESSURE (1975) In Pressure theTrinidadian director Horace Ove movingly portrayed the reality of being a black youth in Britain in the 1970s.Horace OvetoldthejournalFilm(BFFS)inAugust1978: “I didn’t make thefilmsittinginmyroom:I wentoutwithSamuelSelvonandresearched it.I was aware of the political situation. I know what’s going down.So,when it was made,and people started saying,‘That’s not true,’I knew that either they didn’tknow what theyweretalkingabout,ortheydidn’t want toadmit to things.Pressurehashad a lotofpressure.It’satouchyfilm,about something that’s happening here.”

Honourable mentions: Ten Bob in Winter (LloydReckord,1963)Jemima and Johnny (LionelNgakane,1966)Burning an Illusion (MenelikShabazz,1981) The Passion of Remembrance (Sankofa,1986)Playing Away (HoraceOve,1986)Dreaming Rivers (Martina Attille,1988) Young Soul Rebels (Isaac Julien, 1991) Who Needs a Heart(JohnAkomfrah, 1991)We the Ragamuffin(JulianHenriques, 1992) Flight of the Swan (Ngozi Onwurah, 1992) Bullet Boy(SaulDibb,2004)Kidulthood trilogy: Kidulthood, Adulthood & Brotherhood, (MenhajHuda&Noel Clarke,2006-16)Gone Too Far!(DestinyEkaragha,2013)A United Kingdom(AmmaAsante,2016).

BEST FILM ACTOR: NORMAN BEATON (BLACK JOY, 1977 & PLAYING AWAY, 1986) InBlack and White in Colour – Black People in British Television Since 1936(BFI,1992),Norman Beatonsays:“Myownviewisthatwhat you’ve seen me inaretheonlyrolesthatare availableforblackmenin this country,and they don’t really reflect our views,our understanding of life,our intelligence,or where we are coming from.In that respect, I wouldsay that CarylPhillips’sscenariofor Playing Awaydidgetaroundthatparticular hurdle.Itlivedup tonearlyall the expectations that blackpeople ought to be living up to…what I find difficult to come to terms with is the absence of a heroic figure likePaulRobesoninall theworkI’vedone… Thereisnowriterwritingonthatscale,orin thosegrand,magnificent terms for film or televisionabout ablackfigurewhoweall admire or aspire to be like.”

Honourable mentions:EarlCameron(Pool of London,1951)JohnnySekka(Flame in the Streets, 1961)PaulDanquah(A Taste of Honey, 1961) Paul J.Medford(Black Joy, 1977)BrinsleyForde (Babylon, 1980)VictorRomeroEvans(Burning an Illusion, 1981) Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game, 1992) ChiwetelEjiofor(Dirty Pretty Things, 2002&Kinky Boots, 2005)AshleyWalters (Bullet Boy, 2004) Noel Clarke (Kidulthood trilogy,2006-16)JohnBoyega(Attack the Block, 2011)DavidOyelowo(A United Kingdom, 2016).

BEST FILM ACTRESS: CASSIE MCFARLANE (BURNING AN ILLUSION, 1981) Outsidethe‘mainstream’,inthecritically acclaimed Burning an Illusion,writer/director MenelikShabazzsuccessfullyarticulatedthe blackBritishexperience through the events in a young woman’s life.In February 1983 the film’s leading actress Cassie McFarlane toldStaunchmagazine:“Theresponsibilitythat the black writer has to the black actor or actress is the same one that he or she has to the community (the black audience).He or she has to be able to reflect the truth.With the film Burning an Illusion we all developed together.We spentalotoftimejust talking andreasoningabout the roles.I feel that the black actor/actress and the black writer have to develop together.”

Honourable mentions: Shope Shodeinde (The Sailor’s Return, 1978)AnniDomingo(The Passion of Remembrance, 1986) CathyTyson (Mona Lisa,1986)CorinneSkinner-Carter

(Dreaming Rivers,1988)MarianneJean-Baptiste (Secrets and Lies, 1996) Anjela Lauren Smith (Babymother, 1998) Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle, 2013).

BEST TELEVISION DRAMA: STORM DAMAGE (BBC2, 2000) Storm Damagecamefromthechildhood memoriesof its writer,Lennie James.A hard-hitting drama,it starred Adrian Lester as a young teacher who finds himself on the receiving end of a threat by an armed youth. The teacher then seeks to make sense of the youth’s damaged life.Lennie James told Untoldmagazine(March-April2000):“Ifyou writesomethinglikethat,alotofenergygoes intomakingthe‘YesorNo’peopleunderstand whythingsinthescriptareimportant,because it’slikea foreign language.They don’t get nuances,why‘innit though’on its own is different to when it comesattheendofa sentence.Orwhy,ifsomeonekisses their teeth to their parents or their friends,it’s different. We always have to educate them.But it’s worth making that effort,because the film industry owes you nothing.The only thing you can hold onto and be sure of is yourself.”

Honourable mentions: Black Christmas (BBC2, 1977,Michael Abbensetts,writer) Play for Today: A Hole in Babylon (BBC1, 1979, Jim Hawkins & Horace Ove,writers) Elphida (Channel4, 1987,TundeIkoli,writer)Big George is Dead(Channel 4, 1987,MichaelAbbensetts, writer)The Final Passage (Channel4, 1996, CarylPhillips,writer) The Murder of Stephen Lawrence (ITV,1999,Paul Greengrass,writer) Elmina’s Kitchen (BBC Four,2005,Kwame Kwei-Armah,writer) Shoot the Messenger (BBC2, 2006,Sharon Foster,writer) Small Island (BBC1 2009) Damilola, Our Loved Boy (BBC1 2016,Levi David Addai,writer).

BEST TELEVISION ACTOR: JOHNNY SEKKA (Z CARS: A PLACE OF SAFETY, BBC1 1964) In Z Cars: A Place of Safety theWest African actor Johnny Sekka gave an outstanding performance as the tormentedSadikAdigun wholosescontrol,attacks a bailiff and barricades himself into a room with his family.Writer John Hopkins did not shy away from exposing the racist attitudes of the police in this emotionally charged episode of the popular but gritty drama series.Hopkins later described A Place of Safety as“the most completelyrealisedepisodeofZ CarsthatI wrote.”Sekka’s British career lasted until the end of the 1960sbut,whenoffersofwork driedup,hedecidedtomovetoAmericawhere hecontinuedhiscareeruntil his death in 2006 at the age of 72.In 1969 JohnnySekka toldThe Times:“SeanConnery,TerryStamp, MichaelCaine,TomCourtenay,JohnHurt…I started out with these people.Today they are stars – and alright,why not? I’m not jealous. But why the hell not me? I have the same talent and ability.ButhereamI.Thereisanger inme.Istartedout with tremendous hopes.”

Honourable mentions: Errol John (A Man from the Sun,BBC 1956) Lloyd Reckord (Armchair Theatre: Hot Summer Night,ATV 1959) Edric Connor(The Avengers: The Gilded Cage,ABC1963)EarlCameron(Drama ’64: A Fear of Strangers, ATV 1964) Alfred Fagon (Shakespeare Country,BBC2 1973) Norman Beaton(Black Christmas,BBC2 1977&Empire Road, BBC2 1978-79)T-BoneWilson (Play for Today: A Hole in Babylon,BBC1 1979)Larrington Walker(Play for Today: Waterloo Sunset, BBC1 1979)Thomas Baptiste (Play for Today: King, BBC1 1984) RudolphWalker (Black Silk, BBC1 1985) Hugh Quarshie (The Murder of Stephen Lawrence,ITV1999)AdrianLester (Storm Damage, BBC2 2000 & Undercover, BBC1 2016) EamonnWalker (Othello, LWT 2001) David Oyelowo (Shoot the Messenger, BBC2 2006 & Small Island, BBC1 2009),Idris Elba(Luther,BBC1 2010-2018) Babou Ceesay (Damilola, Our Loved Boy, BBC1 2016).

BEST TELEVISION ACTRESS: CARMEN MUNROE (BLACK CHRISTMAS, BBC2 1977) In Michael Abbensetts’s brilliant comedy

drama Black Christmas,Carmen Munroe gave a magnificent star turn as a feistyWest Indian wife and mother who is determined that her familywillenjoyChristmas.However, throughout the day,she finds her living-room turned into a battlefield as members of her family clash.When Carmen Munroe was interviewed by Brenda Emmanusonstageat theMuseumoftheMovingImagein1996) shesaid:“Ifyou’vegotsomethingyou feel you want to do,something you want to create, stay with it.You have to have a sense of self as opposed to being self-centred.You have to have goals.Sometimes you will be thrown off course.I’m an eternal optimist.I harness all that I’ve learned,and take it with me on the road,because things will change.”

Honourable mentions: Cleo Sylvestre (Some Women, BBC1 1969) AngelaWynter (Elphida,Channel 4 1987) Dona Croll (Screen Two: Hallelujah Anyhow, BBC2 1991) Marianne Jean-Baptiste (The Murder of Stephen Lawrence,ITV 1999) Mona Hammond (Storm Damage,BBC2 2000) Ruth Negga (Shirley,BBC2 2001) Naomie Harris (White Teeth, Channel 4 2002 & Small Island,BBC12009) Cecilia Noble (Danny and the Human Zoo,BBC1 2015)Wunmi Mosaku (Damilola, Our Loved Boy,BBC1 2016) Sophie Okonedo (Undercover,BBC1 2016).

Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Teaching Black History in Academia

MargotFinn,PresidentofTheRoyalHistoricalSociety

RecentresearchinBlackhistory, histories ofmigrationandethnicity, andhistoriesof race,imperialism and decolonisation have transformed our knowledge and understanding of the past.

ThehighcalibreofUKcontributionstohistorical research in these areas was conspicuous at the Public History Prize award ceremony sponsoredbytheRoyalHistoricalSociety(RHS) inJanuary2018.ProjectsthatilluminateBlack andMinorityEthnic(BME)historieswonthree of the five categories.David Olusoga’s Black and British: A Forgotten History (BBC2) won theTV&Filmcategory;theRunnymedeTrust’s

Our Migration Story: The Making of Britain(won the Online Resources category;and Partition

Voices,presented on Radio 4 by Kavita Puri, won both the Radio & Podcast category and the overall Public History prize. Insharpcontrast to thisvibrant backdrop of increasing diversity in public history,the racialandethnicprofileofstudentsandstaff inUKuniversityHistorydepartmentsremains overwhelminglyWhite.Both the experience and attainment of BME students and staff in UK History persistently lag behind those ofWhite peers.The taught curriculum for secondaryschoolpupilsanduniversitystudents often fails to incorporate the new,diverse histories produced by UK and international academicandcommunity-basedresearchers.

These problems within university History havedistinctoriginsandpathways.Buttheyare alsointertwined.Individuallyandcumulatively, theydiminishthequalityofteaching,learning andresearchinHistoryintheUK.Addressing andrectifying thesesystemic problemsis essentialifschoolsanduniversitiesaretofulfil their mission of fostering excellence.More broadly,these changes are vital to enhance public understandings of the past in Britain.

TheRoyalHistoricalSocietyiscommitted toworkingforequality,diversityandinclusion in the practice and study of History.Its Race, Ethnicity&EqualityWorkingGrouphasbeen meeting regularly since 2017.The Society is launching a report entitled Race, Ethnicity & Equality in UK History: A Report & Resource for Change on the 18th of October 2018.

This report identifies major obstacles to racialandethnicdiversityandinclusioninUK universityHistory,tracingunderrepresentation from secondary-school level through undergraduate study,postgraduate training andpostdoctoralemployment.It documents substantial levels of bias and discrimination experience by historians in UK universities, andrecommendspragmaticstepstoenhance the representation and experience of BME studentsandstaff.Thelimitedattentionpaid toraceandethnicityinUKHistorycurriculums, it argues,isalsoakeybarrier to theinclusion and achievement of BME students and staff in History departments.Key findings of the report include: • Students who study history at university are overwhelminglyWhite,and this BME under-representation increases further at postgraduate (MA and PhD) level; • Historyacademicstaffareevenlessdiverse than History students:less than 5% of university historians are BME and many

History departments have no Black academics; • 32.6% of BME historians who responded to the RHS survey had witnessed

discrimination or abuse based on race or ethnicity in their university workplaces; • Efforts to diversify the History curriculum arewidespreadinUKuniversities,providing new opportunities for change:86.3% of respondentsreportedthattheirdepartment hadrecentlysoughttowidenthecurriculum beyond Britain and Europe.

TheRHSreportofferspracticalrecommendations forchangetouniversitystaff,aswellasguidance forsecondaryschool anduniversityteachers onaccessingadditionalinformation,resources andsupport.Agenerousdonationfromthe Past&PresentSocietywill funda2-year postdoctoralResearchFellow to work with theRHStoimproveBMEequalityandinclusion in History in schools and universities in 2019-2020.

Pioneeringeffortsbymanyindividualsand groups have inspired this RHS initiative.The BlackandAsianStudiesnetwork;theHistory Matters group and annual conference led by Professor Hakim Adi of the University of Chichester;the RunnymedeTrust’s diverse portfolioofprojectsonraceequality;and the interventionsoftheprofessionalswhobelong toMuseumDetox-tonamejustafew-have createdfertilegroundforfuturetransformation. If,together,wecanget thisright-diversifying boththecontentandthepersonnelofHistory in UK schools and universities - the study of thepastinandbeyondBritainwillbeenriched and strengthened.The impressive,dynamic portfolioofactivities,speakersandperformances showcased each October in Black History Monthprovidesanessentialreminderofwhy thismatterssomuchfor21st-centuryBritain.