Windrush Day | |
---|---|
Observed by | United Kingdom |
Type | Secular |
Significance | History and contribution of Afro-Caribbean migrants in the UK |
Date | 22 June |
Next time | 22 June 2025 |
Frequency | Annual |
First time | 2018 |
Related to | Empire Windrush |
Windrush Day is a commemoration in the United Kingdom held on 22 June to honour the contributions of migrants to the post-war economy. Specifically, it celebrates Afro-Caribbeans who began arriving on the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948. [1] Later known as the "Windrush generation", these economic migrants were an important part of the UK's recovery from the privations of World War II [ citation needed ]. Windrush Day is not a bank holiday but has grown in popularity since a campaign by Patrick Vernon led to its introduction in 2018. [2]
On 22 June 1948, 492 Caribbean people arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, in the UK, on the Empire Windrush ship. [3] News reports at the time reported that the number of people was 492, but the ship's records show that the ship was carrying 1,027 passengers. [4] According to the passenger lists, 802 of those on board the ship gave their last country of residence as somewhere in the Caribbean. Despite a vast labour surplus in the United Kingdom in the aftermath of World War 2, Afro-Caribbean migrants independently travelled to the United Kingdom to find work. These jobs included the production of steel, coal, iron, and food, and also jobs in the service sector, such as running public transport and staffing the new National Health Service in the United Kingdom. [5]
There is no record of the post-war Labour government (in power at the time of the arrival of the Empire Windrush) encouraging African-Caribbean migrants to settle in the United Kingdom. Many early immigrants were denied access to private employment and accommodation because of the colour of their skin. Black people were also banned from many pubs, clubs, and even churches. [6] [7] [8]
Patrick Vernon was the first to call for the commemoration of "Windrush Day", to recognise the migrant contribution to UK society, on the day when the first big group of post-war migrants from the West Indies arrived in Britain. [1] [9] [10] Vernon first launched a petition to this effect in 2013, [11] [12] which was followed by a further campaign in 2018, at the height of the Windrush scandal. [13] [14] [15] Official backing was given when it was subsequently announced by the government that an annual Windrush Day would be celebrated on 22 June, supported by a grant of up to £500,000, to recognise and honour the contribution of the Windrush Generation and their descendants and to "keep their legacy alive for future generations, ensuring that we all celebrate the diversity of Britain's history." [16] [17]
The purpose of Windrush Day is to encourage "communities across the country to celebrate the contribution of the Windrush Generation and their descendants", [18] according to the United Kingdom government. "A Windrush Day will allow communities up and down the country to recognise and honour the enormous contribution of those who stepped ashore at Tilbury Docks 70 years ago", said communities minister Nick Bourne. [19] Government funding helps a variety of events and activities to take place, such as the day dance performances, exhibitions, and debate. [20] [21] [22]
On Windrush Day 2021, a plaque was erected in memory of British immigrant rights activist Paulette Wilson, a member of the "Windrush generation" [23] (which term usually refers to those who were born in the Caribbean and settled in the UK between 1948 and 1971). [3] The plaque was launched with campaigners including Patrick Vernon and Claire Darke MBE as well as her family at the Wolverhampton Heritage Centre. [24] The centre is a cornerstone of the area's local Caribbean community and was formerly the constituency office of Enoch Powell, where the infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech was written. [25]
Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin, is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away, Jamboree and Fast Forward. On 28 June 2010, Lady Benjamin was introduced to the House of Lords as a life peer nominated by the Liberal Democrats. In 2024, she was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship award for her services to television.
Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow was a British educator, community activist and politician, who was the Director for UK Development at Focus Consultancy Ltd. She was the first black woman to be a governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and was founder and Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Council.
British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens whose recent ancestors originate from the Caribbean, and further trace much of their ancestry to West and Central Africa or they are nationals of the Caribbean who reside in the UK. There are some self-identified Afro-Caribbean people who are multi-racial. The most common and traditional use of the term African-Caribbean community is in reference to groups of residents continuing aspects of Caribbean culture, customs and traditions in the UK.
HMT Empire Windrush was a passenger motor ship that was launched in Germany in 1930 as the MV Monte Rosa. She was built as an ocean liner for the German shipping company Hamburg Süd. They used the ship to carry German emigrants to South America, and as a cruise ship. During World War II, she was taken over by the German navy and used as a troopship. During the war, she survived two Allied attempts to sink her.
Jak Beula Dodd, commonly known as Jak Beula, is a British entrepreneur and cultural activist of Caribbean heritage, who is best known for inventing the board game Nubian Jak and designing the African and Caribbean War Memorial. He is also a musician, social-worker, and former model. Beula has received recognition for campaigning to commemorate black history in the UK. He is the founder and chief executive of the Nubian Jak Community Trust, which since 2006 has been memorializing the contributions of African-Caribbean people in Britain.
Sam Beaver King MBE was a Jamaican-British campaigner and community activist. He first came to England as an engineer in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War but returned to Jamaica in 1947. Failing to settle there, King took passage to London in 1948, sailing on the Empire Windrush. He later became the first black mayor of Southwark and a campaigner in support of West Indian immigrants to the country.
Nubian Jak Community Trust (NJCT) is a commemorative plaque and sculpture scheme founded by Jak Beula that highlights the historic contributions of Black and minority ethnic people in Britain. The first NJCT heritage plaque, honouring Bob Marley, was unveiled in 2006 after "two years of research and behind the scenes negotiating". The scheme has been run and managed by the not-for-profit organization Nubian Jak Trust Ltd since August 2016, with a remit to commemorate and celebrate the diverse history of modern Britain. Its objectives include the promotion of social equality and to encourage activities that promote cultural diversity in society.
The African and Caribbean War Memorial in Brixton, London, is the United Kingdom's national memorial to African and Caribbean service personnel who fought in the First and Second World Wars. It originated with a project for a memorial to Caribbean Royal Air Force veterans of World War II who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the MV Empire Windrush; this was an extension of the commemorative plaque and sculpture scheme run by the Nubian Jak Community Trust to highlight the historic contributions of Black and minority ethnic people in Britain. The memorial was originally to have been placed at Tilbury Docks, as part of the commemoration for the centenary of the outbreak of World War I. However, as the project began to evolve into a larger tribute that included both World Wars and commemorated servicemen and women from both Africa and the Caribbean, it was agreed by the memorial recipient – the Port of Tilbury – and the project organisers that a new, more accessible location needed to found. The memorial was ultimately permanently installed and unveiled on 22 June 2017 in Windrush Square, Brixton.
Windrush Square is an open public space in the centre of Brixton, South London, occupying an area in front of the Brixton Tate Library. After changing its name to Tate Gardens, it was again retitled and given its current moniker in 1998. The square was renamed to recognise the important contribution of the African Caribbean community to the area, marking the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush. It was the Windrush that in 1948 brought to the United Kingdom from Jamaica the largest group thus far of post-war West Indian migrants, 236 of whom had no abode on arrival and were temporarily housed in the deep-level air raid shelter in Clapham Common. Some 1.7 mile away, at the western end of Coldharbour Lane in Brixton, was the nearest employment exchange to the shelter. Many of these migrants eventually found accommodation in the area.
Patrick Philip Vernon is a British social commentator and political activist of Jamaican heritage, who works in the voluntary and public sector. He is a former Labour councillor in the London Borough of Hackney. His career has been involved with developing and managing health and social care services, including mental health, public health, regeneration and employment projects. Also a film maker and amateur cultural historian, he runs his own social enterprise promoting the history of diverse communities, as founder of Every Generation and the "100 Great Black Britons" campaign. He is also an expert on African and Caribbean genealogy in the UK. He was appointed a Clore Fellow in 2007, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for "services to the Reduction of Health Inequalities for Ethnic Minorities", and in 2018 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton.
The Windrush scandal was a British political scandal that began in 2018 concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries, as members of the "Windrush generation".
Guy Arlington Kenneth Hewitt is a Barbadian British Anglican priest, racial justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion advocate, and specialist in social policy and development. He held the ambassadorial appointment of High Commissioner of Barbados in London from 2014 to 2018. He previously worked with the University of the West Indies, Caribbean Policy Development Centre, Commonwealth of Nations, Caribbean Community, and the City and Guilds of London Institute.
Claire Darke is a British politician who served as Mayor of Wolverhampton from 2019 to 2021, holding the distinction of being the longest continuously serving female mayor in the city's history. First elected the councillor for Park Ward in 2008 as a Liberal Democrat before switching to the Labour Party in 2011, she currently serves as an Independent, having resigned from the Labour Party in 2024.
Arthur Torrington CBE is a Guyanese-born community advocate and historian who is Director and co-founder of the London-based Windrush Foundation, a charity that since 1996 has been working to highlight the contributions to the UK of African and Caribbean peoples, "to keep alive the memories of the young men and women who were among the first wave of post-war settlers in Britain", and to promote good community relations. The organization commemorates in its name the Empire Windrush, the ship that on 22 June 1948 docked at Tilbury bringing the first significant group of Caribbean migrants to Britain, including Sam King, who with Torrington established the Windrush Foundation.
100 Great Black Britons is a poll that was first undertaken in 2003 to vote for and celebrate the greatest Black Britons of all time. It was created in a campaign initiated by Patrick Vernon in response to a BBC search for 100 Greatest Britons, together with a television series (2002), which featured no Black Britons in the published listing. The result of Vernon's campaign was that in February 2004 Mary Seacole was announced as having been voted the greatest Black Briton. Following the original poll, 100 Great Black Britons was re-launched in 2020 in an updated version based on public voting, together with a book of the same title.
Paulette Wilson was a British immigrant rights activist who fought her own deportation to Jamaica and brought media attention to the human rights violations of the Windrush scandal.
Museumand: The National Caribbean Heritage Museum is a group that celebrates the contribution of British African-Caribbean people to life in the United Kingdom. The group is a "museum without walls" based in Nottingham, and who work with communities there and elsewhere, including mounting exhibitions in museums, universities and other places. It was founded in 2015 by Catherine Ross as the SKN cultural museum, and Museumand is a subsidiary of the SKN Heritage Museum Community interest company.
Jacqueline "Jacqui" McKenzie is a British human rights lawyer specialising in migration, asylum and refugee law. Her legal career encompasses practice in the areas of civil liberties, crime and immigration with solicitors Birnberg Peirce and Partners, and since 2010 running her own immigration consultancy, McKenzie Beute and Pope (MBP), having previously spent more than a decade in senior local government roles with responsibility for equalities, community development, communications and urban development. She joined human rights law firm Leigh Day as a partner in 2021. She is the founder of the Organisation of Migration Advice and Research, which works pro bono with refugees and women who have been trafficked to the UK. McKenzie has won recognition for her work seeking justice for victims of the Windrush scandal that initially gained notoriety in 2018. She was named one of the top 10 most influential black Britons in the Powerlist 2022.
Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae) are three sculptures by Veronica Ryan that stand on Narrow Way, near St Augustine's Tower in Hackney, London. They were commissioned as a memorial to the Windrush generation of British African-Caribbean people who immigrated to the United Kingdom in the wake of World War II. They are the first permanent public sculptures by a black female artist in the United Kingdom.
Alford Dalrymple Gardner was a Jamaican-born "Windrush generation" emigrant and co-founder of the first Caribbean cricket club in Britain.