I found this excellent book about Black Britain in my university library. It tells the history of this microcosm in images. Here are a few images I have scanned if anyone is interested!
1) This was a young Shirley Bassey, who is now Dame Shirley Bassey and still going strong at 71 . One of the voices of the century of my opinion. According to the book, this photo was taken in Cardiff, Wales in 1955. Bassey is of Nigerian & English origin.
2) This man was PC Gumbs, London’s first black policeman in 1968
Looking through this book has really made me think of how at times, we can take things for granted. I have been living on and off in England for over 10 years now and just looking at the harsh injustice African and West Indian immigrants had to put up with really makes my blood boil. The book features loads more pictures of black immigrants arriving in London, pictures of the Notting Hill riots that plagued London and photos of other famous faces like Paul Robeson in England and the inimitable Malcolm X in Oxford, which can be seen below.
[...] I posted 2 images of Black Britain from this fantastic book I found in my university library on the Afrospear blog but there are more. I don’t want to get in trouble by posting too many but I cannot resist. [...]
Please have a look at Black Britain: A Photographic History (Paperback) by Paul Gilroy (Author), Stuart Hall (Author)
Fantastic range of B/W photos depicting Black History in the UK.
Thanks for book references. I’m writing a screenplay set in London 1957 and one of my characters is a Trinidadian pianist who is falsely accused of child abuse. These images help to set the scene. I’ve also been listening to an excellent CD called London is the Place for Me – a compilation.
I was born in Birmingham, England 50years ago. I lived in Handsworth until I was 9 years old. We immigrated to the United States in 1968. My Dad and Mom came to England in 1955 and 1958 respectively. My Dad never cared for England the weather and the racism he dealt with when he first came over. I had a good life from what I remember in Handsworth. I never really wore English clothes My Aunts in the U.S used to send most of my clothes when I did not wear the school uniform. The West Indians have come along way from when my parents first arrived in the U.K 50 years ago, but we still have a very long way to go. I visited U.K about 5 years ago. I still keep in touch with my next door neighbor in Birmingham who still lives there almost 50 years now from Jamaica.