Black steel in Sheffield

How Windrush generation survived hostility and put down roots in the city.

AS ONE of the largest cities in the Yorkshire and Humber Region, and a former economic powerhouse, Sheffield has always been a magnet for migration.

Britain’s first professional Black footballer, Arthur Wharton, was born in Jamestown, Accra, on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1865 but came to Sheffield to study and then played for Sheffield United in 1894/5.

There has been a small but significant Black community in Sheffield since the late 19th Century. African seamen from countries such as Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and the Gambia came to the city on the ships that sailed to and from West Africa.

Over time, some of these seamen decided to settle in Sheffield, either permanently or temporarily, and formed a fledgling Black community in the city.

The post-war economic boom created a huge demand for labour and the call went out to commonwealth nations and people were recruited to work in industries such as steelmaking, engineering, and healthcare.

Workers from the Caribbean, particularly Jamaica, settled in parts of the city such as Attercliffe, Pitsmoor and Burngreave. Tight-knit communities were formed, and they quickly began to contribute to the city’s

By Maurice Mcleod

cultural and economic life. The First African-Caribbean market was held a couple of years back and Yvonne Wray, from the Action Committee, a charity that helps the African diaspora community, with a focus on education and identity, said:

“The Windrush years are a significant part of history — a time that changed the UK forever. Our parents and grandparents were invited here to build up this country after the war.

Black

in Sheffield faced racism and social exclusion

“We are hopeful that the people of Sheffield can continue to embrace change, building a stronger community.”

Like everywhere else in Britain that saw new Black communities moving into areas which had been home to poor whites, tensions began to rise and in the 1960s and 1970s, the Black community in Sheffield faced the familiar challenges of racism, discrimination, and social exclusion. Organisations like the Sheffield Caribbean Sports

Club were set up to help with social integration.

Since arriving the community faced discrimination and intimidation from the police and authorities and hostility from their white neighbours who resented the new presence in their city.

Sheffield experienced some of the disturbances in the wave of social unrest which sprung up in 1981, two years after Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, which were sparked by tensions between the police and the Black community.

The city also saw a massive decline in its traditional industries, like steel, during the 1980s and this was exacerbated by migration from parts of Africa, as well as Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The Caribbean community in Sheffield is very settled, council records show 90 per cent have been living in the city for more than 20 years. These roots have been nurtured by organisations like SADACCA, (Sheffield and District African Caribbean Community Association), which grew out of Sheffield’s West Indies Association.

Since gaining its own premises in the 1980s, it has been a hub for the city’s African and Caribbean community.

Today Sheffield’s Black communities are at least celebrated as part of the city’s cultural heritage.