Part 1: The development of Church, state and society in medieval Britain 1066–1509 and in Britain 1509–1745

LESSON 26

THE 1919 RACE RIOTS

PART 3 CHALLENGES FOR BRITAIN, EUROPE AND THE WIDER WORLD: 1901 TO THE PRESENT DAY

CONNECTION TO THE CURRICULUM

Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world: 1901 to the present day Aim: To find out about race relations in post-war Britain. Historical event: The 1919 Race Riots Source: Extract of a letter written by Cardiff’s Chief Constable to the Under Secretary of State on 13th June 1919 (HO 45/11017/3776969) Caution: This source contains language that is inappropriate and unacceptable today.

TEACHER’S NOTES

What is this source?

This is an extract of a letter written by Cardiff’s Chief Constable to the Under Secretary of State on 13th June 1919. It is held within a Home Office file entitled ‘ALIENS: Repatriation of Coloured Seamen etc.’ The word ‘aliens’ refers to people not classed as citizens or nationals of the UK. Today using‘alien’ to describe immigrants is seen as dehumanising and derogatory.

What can we infer from this source?

This document is the fifth page of a longer document – indicated by the number ‘5’ in brackets at the top. It has been typewritten, which helps to date it, and it is typed on headed paper from the Cardiff City Police. These details tell us that the writer is from the police force and this is a formal document being sent to another person or organisation.

Once you start to read the contents of this document, it quickly becomes clear that the writer is describing serious events that have involved both ‘coloured’ and ‘white’ men. The ‘coloured’ men are described as having been in possession of firearms, whilst the ‘Britishers’ have caused ‘wilful damage’, although it’s not clear if they also had guns or weapons. A number of people have been hurt, two fatally – ‘one white and one coloured man’ – and the writer also implies that there has been much damage to property too.

The writer goes on to talk specifically about Butetown where he is concentrating‘all my force’, suggesting that he must be senior within the Cardiff City Police. He writes about the ‘white population’ as being the ‘aggressors’, implying that they initiated this conflict. However, the writer then says that he thinks there are a number of reasons to explain why this feeling exists. The writer refers to the feelings of both groups. He describes the ‘white people’ disliking the interracial relationships that are taking place, and the fact that many of the‘coloured men’ have earned good wages during the war.

In contrast, the writer lists the ‘coloured men’s’ resentment at losing their jobs to White crews onboard ships. This appears to be in direct reference to the repatriation scheme launched by the government in February 1919 in British seaports, to return Arab and Black colonial workers to their country of origin.

Why does The National Archives have this source?

This document is held within a Home Office file.

What is the context of this source?

After the end of the First World War, millions of people were faced with unemployment and a shortage of housing. In port towns across the country, many White people, angry at the lack of jobs, blamed ethnic and minority communities whose numbers had grown during the war. Yet there were already established Black and ethnic minority communities settled in Cardiff before the war, as evident in the 1911 census.

On 11th June in Cardiff, conflict ensued between White men and local Butetown communities of Yemeni, Somali and AfroCaribbean backgrounds. Riots lasted for three days before dying down. Other violent riots occurred in places including Glasgow, Hull, London, Newport, Barry and Liverpool.

LESSON IDEAS

ENQUIRY QUESTION

What does this document reveal about race relations in Britain in 1919?

Getting started

Use this document as part of your work to introduce students to post-First World War Britain and race relations at this time.

Ask the students to look at the appearance of the document for thirty seconds. Ask the following questions:

• What type of document do you think it is?

Why? • Where do you think it has come from? • Is it the full document?

Ask them to explain their answers.

PART 3 CHALLENGES FOR BRITAIN, EUROPE AND THE WIDER WORLD: 1901 TO THE PRESENT DAY Exploring further

Give the students time to read the document properly and think about the following questions:

• What type of document do you think it is now? • What information can you glean about the author? • What events have taken place? • How does the author explain the reasons for these events?

Bring the students’ answers together in a class discussion about what this document reveals about Britain and race relations after the First World War.

Provide students with further details and context about the 1919 Race Riots using the teacher’s notes. Show them this video from The Black Curriculum as a summary of the information: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=AQ2HmVsQCIo. Can the students plan and storyboard their own short video about the riots based on what they now know about these events?

Follow-up tasks

• Introduce students to documents relating to events that occurred in other places as part of the 1919 unrest. Were all these events driven by ethnicity? The National Archives website has an excellent resource containing documents that can be used for this activity. See: www.

nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/ resources/1919-race-riots.

• Introduce students to the work of historian Jacqueline Jenkinson, the author of Black 1919, which looks at the motivations and make-up of the rioters and how the police responded to events.