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![]() Friday, June 19, 1998 Published at 17:11 GMT 18:11 UK ![]() ![]() UK ![]() Windrush: Ticket to a new Britain ![]() London's Notting Hill Carnival: A British festival where everyone is welcome ![]() When the Empire Windrush sailed into Tilbury on June 22 1948 it brought with it a great change - for both its 500 Jamaican passengers and for Britain.
Half a century on and many of them are still here. These were the first West Indian immigrants to Britain. Afro-Caribbeans still only make up an estimated 1% of the population, but they have become integral to British society. And have transformed the meaning of Britishness in the process. The rough ride But 50 years of integration have seen much hostility. At first, the immigrants received a generally cordial if cautious welcome. But this was post-war, bombed-out London.
Tensions came to a head in the race riots of 1958 in London's Notting Hill. Bands of agression-hungry Teddy Boys picked up on the undercurrent of public irritation. They waged a war of pseudo-patriotism on the West Indian community for almost two years. It only ended with the widespread shock at the death of a young Jamaican.
It was not until the mid-1970s that things really started to improve. Aided by the Race Relations Act and equal opportunities bodies, Caribbeans began to participate in the institutions to which they had access - trade unions, councils and professional and staff associations - and to establish themselves as part of the British population. The living legacy Someone who has lived this history is 85 year-old Oswald 'Columbus' Dennison. As one of the Windrush passengers, he has survived and thrived in Britain on a mentality of live and let live.
And the biggest blow to the people of the Windrush was that Britain, the 'Mother' country, did not want its Caribbean children. Oswald describes what it meant to Jamaicans to be British through his experiences in Panama. "When we heard "Dong dong, this is London Calling" on BBC Radio, I felt superior to every Panamanian because I was British - that was the kind of feeling we grew up with. Imagine then what it felt like to be shunned." There was plenty of work in Britain's growing industrialised economy. Many skilled immigrants, however, were disenchanted at their low status in Britain and returned to Jamaica. But many others stayed and forged a life for themselves. "Airbrushing history" Given this background, one might ask why Windrush is being celebrated up and down the country.
He says: "I wanted it to be an object of pride for the black community but what I have maintained all the way through is that this is a British history."
Voyage into the future
Like their parents they feel they have had to deal with being treated like foreigners. The difference is that they were born in Britain. They have known no other home. What Trevor hopes this anniversary will do is let these young people understand that there is more to the world than the experience they have had. ![]() |
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