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‘Windrush pioneers have changed the face of Britain through the generations’
Windrush signifies a key moment in British history and a symbol of the people who emigrated from the West Indies and latterly the Commonwealth.
The arrival of the passengers, filing off the boat smartly dressed in their Sunday best in suits and ties, dresses, frocks and hats is an important landmark and generates great pride.
The pioneers had come to help rebuild a country damaged by the second world war. As they came to Britain, it is hard to imagine their feelings seeing signs that read: ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’, barred from jobs and banned from pubs.
is needed now More than ever
Today despite long-term racism in policing and education as well as income and health inequality gaps their impact can still be celebrated.
Through equality laws, the NHS, culture, business, sport, food and much, the Windrush pioneers have changed the face of Britain through the generations. Here I highlight the early days of the brave pioneers.
Bristol Beacon recently hosted a series of events to celebrate the Windrush generation – photo: Karen Johnson
Originally the Windrush generation only intended to stay in Britain for a few years and, although some returned to the Caribbean, the majority settled.
The pioneers found the streets were not paved with gold, but instead received a cool coldness.
Their first sights of Britain were not of the landed gentry they had been taught but instead saw that Hitler’s Luftwaffe had decimated Britain’s skyline leaving behind bomb-ravaged buildings.
While successive governments encouraged migration, no one had informed the locals of the pioneer’s arrival and what they could bring to Britain.
Employment was to be found in national institutions such as transport or the NHS which was also formed in 1948.
They found themselves placed on the lowest rung of the employment ladder, regardless of ability.
The signs that were placed in windows ‘No Blacks! No Irish! No Dogs!’ were an everyday reminder of the hostility.
The painful memories we children witnessed lurked just beneath the surface.
The first settlers from the empire Windrush established the Black cultural capital of the UK in Brixton. Other areas in England attracted large Caribbean populations and were subsequently stigmatised as ‘inner-city ghettos’ or ‘no-go areas.’
They slept many to a room, where they could find space.
With deprivation exacerbated by uninsulated and poorly heated properties, the pioneers endured illness.
If you wanted a freshly-cooked meal you would have to queue for a place on the stove with your pot parked on the stairs and your money ready for the meter.
In some cases, kitchens were removed with the bathroom doubling up as a kitchen to make an extra room and exploit the pioneers.
Paraffin or one-bar electric heaters would struggle against the cold. The smell from the fumes of those paraffin heaters would seep into clothes.
The early settlers remember that smell, especially when travelling on public transport. There were no central plans, extra housing or planning provisions.
Local authority housing lists were based on the length of residency in the country, which they clearly did not meet.
Money earned however small, was set aside to send home or for future housing projects, such as pardnering. This was a form of a mutual cooperative savings plan to pool money together.
This meant for modest outlays, relatively large amounts of cash were saved for deposits on homes which is how my parents bought their first home and how a significant proportion of the Windrush generation became home-owners.
This is an opion peice by Roger Griffith MBE, a lecturer at UWE Bristol, diversity consultant and author of My American Odyssey From the Windrush to the White House
Main photo: Roger Griffith
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