On 22 June 1948 a ship called the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, in Essex. On board were more than 800 passengers from the Caribbean, many from Jamaica. They were British subjects, travelling to a country they had been taught to call the "mother country". This lesson asks why people like them came, what they gave to Britain, and how they were treated.
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Unlock This CourseBritain in 1948 was rebuilding after the war and was short of workers. At the same time, many people in the Caribbean and South Asia faced poverty and few jobs.
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The war had killed and injured many people, and the new National Health Service (begun in 1948) needed staff. Hospitals, transport, factories and textile mills all had jobs to fill. Employers such as London Transport and the NHS recruited workers in the Caribbean.
Many Caribbean islands had high unemployment and low pay. The British Nationality Act of 1948 confirmed that people from the Empire and Commonwealth were citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, with the right to enter and live in Britain. Some of the Windrush passengers had served in the forces in the war.
Caribbean immigrants came in growing numbers through the 1950s. Men worked on buses and the Underground, in factories and on building sites. Women worked as nurses and hospital staff. Many were skilled but could only find lower-paid jobs than their training deserved.
South Asian immigrants, from India and Pakistan, mostly arrived from the 1950s. Many went to the textile mills and foundries of the Midlands and the North of England. Later, many set up small shops and businesses of their own. Family members often followed the first to arrive, and they settled near one another for support.
African immigrants came in smaller numbers in this period. Many came from West Africa, and a number were students who hoped to train in Britain.
Together they helped to keep hospitals, transport and industry running at a time of shortage. This was a major contribution to rebuilding Britain.
The welcome was often cold. Prejudice showed itself in two main places.
Some white people welcomed their new neighbours, but others blamed them for housing shortages and for taking jobs, even though they were filling gaps that Britain had asked them to fill.
Tension turned to violence in the summer of 1958. In August, fighting broke out in the St Ann's area of Nottingham. Then, from the end of August, in Notting Hill, crowds of white young people, some of them Teddy boys, attacked Black residents and threw bricks and petrol bombs at their homes. Far-right groups, such as the White Defence League, handed out leaflets against Black people. Black residents defended themselves and their homes, and many felt the police did too little at first. Nine white teenagers were later sent to prison for their part in the attacks.
Why it matters: the riots shocked Britain and showed that racial prejudice was a serious problem. They also increased calls for the government to limit immigration. That story continues in the lesson on the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962.
Change and continuity: immigration changed Britain's population and workforce for good. But prejudice in housing and jobs did not go away. Britain in 1958 was more diverse than in 1914, yet Black and Asian people still lacked equal rights and protection.
This is a Paper 2, Section B type (a) question. You must compare, with facts about both sides. To help you: in 1919 there were race riots in Liverpool and Cardiff, where white crowds attacked Black residents after the First World War, when jobs were scarce.
Explain two ways in which racial tension in Britain in 1958 was similar to racial tension in 1919. [6 marks]
One way they were similar is that both led to violence by white crowds against Black residents. In 1919 white crowds attacked Black seamen and their homes in Liverpool and Cardiff, and in 1958 white crowds, including Teddy boys, attacked Black residents' homes in Notting Hill and Nottingham.
A second similarity is that both were linked to competition for scarce resources. In 1919 the tension came from a lack of jobs after the war, and in 1958 it came partly from housing shortages and fear of competition for work. In both cases Black people were blamed for problems they had not caused.
What lifts it to the top level: two separate similarities, each with a precise fact about both 1919 and 1958.
Give each paragraph a fact from both periods, joined by a word such as "similarly" or "whereas". Facts about only one period cannot reach the top level.