✈️ In the forces
The RAF told its officers that there was no colour bar in the service, and Caribbean airmen flew in bomber crews. Even so, fair treatment depended a great deal on the individual officer.
The Impact of Depression and War, 1928-45 » The Colour Bar and the Case of Learie Constantine
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B8, Key topic 2
- Why people from the Empire volunteered and worked in Britain in the Second World War
- What the "colour bar" was and how it affected them
- What happened to Learie Constantine at the Imperial Hotel, and why the case was significant
- How to answer an "Explain two ways ... was similar" question
Britain fought the Second World War with help from its Empire. Hundreds of thousands of people from India, Africa and the Caribbean served in the forces or worked in British factories and forests. Yet many of them met racial prejudice in Britain itself. This lesson looks at that experience and at one court case that made the country think about it.
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Unlock This CourseVolunteers and workers from the Empire
When war began in 1939, Britain needed every pair of hands. The old rule that had kept Black men out of the British forces was lifted, and the government accepted volunteers whatever their colour. About 6,000 men and women from the Caribbean served in the Royal Air Force alone, as pilots, navigators, gunners and ground crew. Many more joined from India and Africa. The Indian Army grew into the largest volunteer army in history, with over two million men.
Others came to Britain to work. Skilled timber workers from British Honduras cut timber in the forests of Scotland, and Caribbean men and women took jobs in factories. The Ministry of Labour gave Learie Constantine a job as a welfare officer in Liverpool, looking after West Indian and West African technicians working in factories.
Key terms:
- Colour bar: the unofficial rules and habits that kept Black people out of jobs, hotels, pubs and other places because of their skin colour.
- Discrimination: treating people unfairly because of their race, sex, religion or similar reasons.
- Damages: money a court orders someone to pay because they have wronged another person.
🏭 In the workplace
Colonial workers filled jobs in munitions, timber and engineering that Britain badly needed. Even so, some were refused housing, and some pubs and dance halls would not serve them.
The colour bar
There was no law that said hotels or pubs could turn away Black customers. The colour bar worked through the choices of owners and managers. A Black man in uniform might be welcomed at a base and then refused a room or a drink in the town. Many British people had little contact with Black people, and the Empire had taught many to see them as inferior.
From 1942 the arrival of American troops made things more complicated. The United States forces were segregated, and some white Americans expected the British to treat Black people as they did at home. Many British people disagreed, and Black American soldiers were made welcome in many homes. But some hotels and pubs gave in to the demands of some customers and refused Black guests.
Britain was telling the world that it fought for freedom, and it relied on the Empire for troops and workers. But there was still no law to stop the colour bar.
Learie Constantine and the Imperial Hotel
Learie Constantine was born in Trinidad. He became one of the greatest cricketers in the world and was a popular professional in Nelson, Lancashire. During the war he worked for the Ministry of Labour. In July 1943 he came to London to play cricket at Lord's, and his family booked four nights at the Imperial Hotel in Russell Square.
The family stayed one night. Then the hotel told them they must leave. Constantine was famous and respected, a British subject helping the war effort, and he was furious. He decided to take the hotel to court.
The case was heard in the High Court in 1944, before Mr Justice Birkett. The judge ruled that the hotel had broken the old rule that an innkeeper must take in any traveller who is fit to be received and able to pay. Constantine won. But the court treated it as a failure to provide a room, not as racism, so he was awarded just five guineas in damages.
Why was the case significant?
Publicity: it was widely reported, so many people read about the colour bar for the first time.
Law: it showed that Black people could use the courts to challenge discrimination.
Parliament: it led to questions in Parliament about making the colour bar illegal, though no law followed at that time.
Limits: the damages were tiny and the law still did not ban racial discrimination in general. That did not begin until the Race Relations Act of 1965. Constantine later became Sir Learie Constantine and, in 1969, Britain's first Black life peer.
What changed and what stayed the same
Changed: Black volunteers and workers were accepted in the forces and in war industry in larger numbers than before, and the Constantine case made the colour bar a public issue. Stayed the same: there was still no law against racial discrimination, and the colour bar continued after the war.
Common mistakes
- Saying the Constantine case made the colour bar illegal. It did not; the first Race Relations Act came in 1965.
- Saying he was awarded a huge sum. It was five guineas.
- Writing that the whole of Britain was hostile. Many people welcomed volunteers and workers from the Empire.
- Mixing up the hotel case (a court case about one family) with a law passed by Parliament.
Exam-style question
This is a Paper 2 Section B (a) question. Give TWO ways and say something about BOTH sides of the comparison in each. One way on its own can score no more than half marks (3 out of 6).
Explain two ways in which the experiences of people from the Empire who served Britain in the Second World War were similar to those who served in the First World War. [6 marks]
Model answer
One way they were similar is that people from the Empire volunteered to serve Britain in both wars. In the First World War men from the Caribbean joined the British West Indies Regiment, formed in 1915. In the Second World War about 6,000 Caribbean men and women volunteered for the RAF, and many more served in the Indian Army. In both wars Britain relied on the Empire for manpower.
A second way is that they met prejudice despite their service. At the end of the First World War, in 1919, there were race riots in Liverpool and Cardiff, in which Black men were attacked. In the Second World War the colour bar meant that Black servicemen and workers could be refused rooms and drinks, as when Learie Constantine's family were made to leave the Imperial Hotel after one night in 1943 even though he was working for the Ministry of Labour. In both wars loyal service did not stop discrimination.
What lifts it to the top level: each way names a fact from both wars and states the similarity clearly.
Exam tip
For a "similar" question, name the similarity first, then give one detail from each period. If you only describe one war, you cannot score the comparison marks.