Flamingo magazine, September 1961

Description

Edited by Dominican-born Edward Scobie, Flamingo magazine ran from 1961 to 1965. The magazine described itself as ‘the voice for the 350,000 West Indians and many thousands of Africans and Asians’ in Britain. Flamingo published a wide range of news, short stories, reviews, and history articles. Scobie also published Checkers ‘Britain’s Premier Black Magazine’ in 1948, and the monthly magazine Tropic in 1960.

Content shown here includes:

• ‘London is the Place for Me’ (pp. 25–28), a photo essay which tells the tale of 21-year-old Joan’s arrival to London. It touches upon both the excitement and the difficulties that Caribbean migrants experienced through tracing Joan’s daily life: from meeting a ‘boy at a West Indian dance’ to struggling to find a room to rent.
• ‘Dark Beauty’ (pp. 29–30): skin and make-up tips for women, followed by an advertisement for Flamingo’s monthly caption competition.
• ‘Wine Making In Your Home’ (p. 31).
• ‘Coloured Cabby’ (pp. 32–33): a feature on Errol Edwards, the only Jamaican taxi driver in Britain to have his own fleet of cabs.
• ‘Negro Athletes’ (pp. 34–37): an overview of leading black athletes from a range of nations.
• ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ (pp. 38–41): an account of Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement and other politically far-right organisations active in Britain.