Windrush Stories

In June 1948 the Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex carrying hundreds of people from the Caribbean. 70 years on, Windrush Stories invites us to consider a longer, more complicated and ongoing relationship between Britain and the Caribbean.

Featured articles

Back to My Own Country: An essay by Andrea Levy

In this reflective essay, Andrea Levy delves deep into notions of racism and pinpoints events which compelled her to use writing as a tool to explore and understand her Caribbean heritage.
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Calypso and the birth of British black music

Fashioned out of a collective Commonwealth-comes-to-Britain experience, London calypso was always more that just a Saturday night feelgood soundtrack. Lloyd Bradley explores how the genre embraced social commentary, biting satire and a stock-in-trade bawdiness.
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Windrush Stories creative writing activities (primary students)

Creative writing ideas and activities that draw on the histories, people and objects featured on Windrush Stories.
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Perspectives on the Windrush generation scandal: A response from David Lammy MP

Framed by reflections on the relationship between Britain and the Caribbean, David Lammy MP speaks about the Windrush generation scandal and the actions he has taken as a campaigner in defence of those who have been affected.
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Close readings of John Agard's ‘Checking Out Me History’, ‘Flag’ and ‘Half Caste’

John Agard's poetry has political complexities. Daljit Nagra delivers close readings of three of Agard's poems, analysing how each engages with questions of identity, nationhood and the brutal legacies of empire and enslavement.
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Hidden histories: Indenture to Windrush

Maria del Pilar Kaladeen's great-great-grandmother was one of thousands of migrants who left their homeland in India to work as indentured labourers on the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. Here, she explores the ‘hidden history’ of indenture and the lives of Caribbean people of Indian heritage who migrated to Britain in the Windrush era.
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'Why are people always banging on about racism?': Reflections on Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land

Colin Prescod, lead external advisor to Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land, discusses the exhibition’s narrative and the need to acknowledge racism and Black resistance at the centre of this history. Many of the objects within the exhibition can now be viewed on Windrush Stories.
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An introduction to Andrea Levy's Small Island

Andrea Levy's Small Island is a story of post-war Caribbean migration, narrated from four different perspectives. Hannah Lowe explores how the novel is intrinsically linked with Levy's own Caribbean ancestry, as well as how it has become more widely associated with the Windrush experience.
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Caribbean anti-colonial activists in Britain before World War Two

At the turn of the 20th century, colonialism meant that colonial subjects did not have the right to determine their own future. Hakim Adi introduces us to Pan-Africanism and some of the key figures and organisations who campaigned against colonialism and racism before the outbreak of World War Two.
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Floella Benjamin on coming to England

Floella Benjamin arrived in Britain in 1960 from Trinidad, and considers herself part of the Windrush generation. Here she describes her first impressions of a new country, as well as her struggles against racism and prejudice, reflecting on how her early experiences ‘gave me the tools and fortitude to become the person I am today’.
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The Lonely Londoners: a new way of reading and writing the city

The Lonely Londoners is an iconic chronicle of post-war Caribbean migration to Britain. Susheila Nasta explores how Samuel Selvon created a new means of describing the city by giving voice to the early migrant experience and capturing the romance and disenchantment of London for its new citizens.
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How Caribbean migrants helped to rebuild Britain

After World War Two, Britain was a country short of workers and needed to rebuild its weakened economy. Linda McDowell traces the history and experiences of the thousands of men and women who came to Britain from the Caribbean to work in sectors including manufacturing, public transport and the NHS.
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Themes

Photograph of John Hazel, Harold Wilmot and John Richards at Tilbury Docks, June 1948

The arrivants

From the late 1940s to the early 1960s thousands of men, women and children left the Caribbean, by sea and by air, for Britain. They were encouraged by the 1948 British Nationality Act that granted citizenship and right of abode in the UK to all members of the British Empire. Why did people come? What did they leave behind? What did they find when they arrived, and how did they shape Britain?

Crop of map showing Caribbean region from A General Chart of the West India Islands, 1796

Waves of history

Following Columbus’ ‘discovery’ of the Americas in the late 15th century European imperial powers transformed the Caribbean. Explore the history of the region, the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, and how Caribbean society has been deeply shaped by rebellion, resistance and ideas of freedom.

Crop of a page from handwritten drafts for Windrush Songs by James Berry

Authors, artists and activists

From Samuel Selvon’s Lonely Londoners to Andrea Levy’s Small Island; from calypso to the birth of Black British music; and the pioneering work of activists, journalists and teachers. Explore how the experiences of migration and settling in the UK, alongside the political landscapes of the Caribbean and Britain, have led to new artistic expressions, cultural movements and waves of activism.

The Windrush generation scandal

Learn more about the Windrush generation scandal and the experiences of Caribbean-born British citizens who have been affected by the 2014 Immigration Act.