EDITIONS

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023 & WINDRUSH 75

Black History Month 2023 has much to celebrate. It is a landmark year with numerous milestones. There is much to commemorate and this issue explores some of the seminal moments.

We continue to celebrate 75 years since the arrival of the first significant wave of pioneers who arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush amidst a media flurry on 22nd June 1948. It is the voices of those 20th Century pioneers and their descendants that have brought to the fore many of the struggles and triumphs of Black Britons.

1963 Bristol Bus Boycott

60 Years Heroes

A core group of Jamaican campaigners Owen Henry, Roy Hackett, Audley Evans and Prince Brown founded the West Indian Development Council (WIDC) in the face of and to tackle the blatantly racist apartheid style polices of the Bristol bus services whereby no “coloureds” were allowed work as bus conductors or drivers.

The WIDC teamed up with Paul Stephenson, an eloquent Black Youth Officer, who strategically brought the bus company’s racist policy, which had been backed by the local Union, to public attention. Stephenson had the WIDC call for a boycott of Bristols buses on the premise that Guy Bailey, a student at the time, had applied for a post and on arrival at the interview was openly refused on account of his colour.

The boycott attracted national attention and a host of prominent figures entered the ‘fray.’ The Bristol Omnibus Company was forced to end its ‘colour bar’ policy in August 1963.

It is to be noted that whilst this was an era of colour bars in many civic and social areas, most people from the Caribbean had never been exposed to blatant racism until coming to England. The indignation alone would have prompted a response, although they were in a minority compared to the population at large. This historic victory shone a light on many racialist practices that had become endemic and prompted great changes across the nation culminating the The Race Relations Act of 1965.

Royal Review

• Seminal Moments/ Anniversaries

Inside This Issue:

Windrush 75 Network Evolves To Windrush 100

Following the huge success of the Windrush 75 Network

The Windrush 100 Network will continue to bring together individuals and organisations to celebrate and commemorate Windrush. It will seek to deepen the public conversation about the past, present and future of race in Britain – and help to deliver the centenary vision of a fair and equal Britain that the Windrush Generation would have been proud to see.

Keep up to date with Windrush 100 by signing up to the Windrush 75 Network, which will evolve into the Windrush 100 Network as the 75th anniversary year comes to a close. All individuals and organisations related to the Windrush Generation are invited to join and attend open Zoom meetings. Visit https://www.windrush75.org/

Did you know?

HMT Empire Windrush was formerly a Nazi troopship called the Monte Rosa. It was captured by the British as a prize of war in 1945. The British continued to use it as a troopship until 1954 when it sank in the Mediterranean Sea following a fire.

It has been a year of recognition for the Commonwealth diaspora, the Windrush Generation and their descendants. The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6th May 2023 cemented their place in the annals of British History. Watched by 20 million people in Britain and an estimated 400 million worldwide, there was no shortage of representatives from the Afro-Caribbean and Commonwealth communities. The following month in the lead-up to Windrush Day, King Charles III and Queen Camilla hosted another glittering event at Buckingham Palace bringing the Windrush Generation on the 75th Anniversary of their arrival and their descendants to the forefront. A series of paintings that had been personally commissioned by the King was unveiled to much acclaim. The paintings, which now form part of the Royal Collection (see pages 2 & 3) were also posted on billboards nation-wide.

• Notting Hill Focus

• Nottingham Race Riots Vanley Burke - A True

Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Migrants

The Caribbean migrants were not the only ones to come to Britain post WWI and WWII. People came to Britain in their thousands from all over the Commonwealth, not least Sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated that more than half a million people from these regions came between 1948 and 1973. Their contributions and influence to the edification and enlightenment of British Society in all spheres, particularly in urban areas has been unrivalled. Several major cities have become a melting pot of ethnicities and home to many of these people and their descendants.

1948 Arrival HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks

On 22nd June 1948 the ship carrying 1029 people (including 2 stowaways) docked at Tilbury. Almost 500 of them had come to Britain to begin a new life. Some intended to stay permanently, others for “5 years” then return “home.” The name Windrush became symbolic and synonymous with the migrants who arrived on various ships and by planes from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1973.