This blog will study the impact and changes of Black British culture from arrival of SSWindrush to modern day Britain. The blog focuses particularly on the 1970s and 1980 will the revival of key political figures opposing immigrations. As well as examining the change in the trend of attitudes towards immigration this blog will study the reflection of attitudes and how this was shown in the media from sitcoms to the reactions to black immigrations entering positions never been seen in society.
Each release in this blog series will study the impact and changes that occurred with the arrival of Black British Culture, chronologically studying the impact starting from the arrival of SSWindrush to how the impact of British culture still exists today! The blog will have a key focus on the attitudes held by key political figures such as Enoch Powell and analyse and reflect the depiction of the views by the public towards the Black immigrants. A particular edit will be dedicated in this blog series on the TV shows such as Till Death Us Do Part and Love Thy Neighbour.
The first major wave of West Indies migration occurred in the mid-twentieth century. Contributing to the economy one in four men and 46% of women were non-manual workers.[1]Two-thirds of Britain’s white population didn’t approve black people. [2]
The impact of the waves of Western immigration to British society was a dramatic increase in racial violence in the 1960s. Racist attacks were by 1958 a lot more common.[3] The same reaction towards black occurred in areas outside London such as Middlesbrough.[4]
In the 1970s it was feared by politicians that they would lose seats and votes, and rarely dealt with any racial issues.[5] Any issues that was brought up and challenged had no teeth as very few white people were prepared to debate about the issues and ignored the racial violence that occurred.[6] The main reason for why racism was not dealt with by the politicians was because it was believed that they would lose many votes and seats as it was believed that a majority of their supporters were fascists.[7] The biggest factor contributing to the way the way black people experienced racism was legislative. Laws passed the government during the 1970s continued to worsen the issues, causing the migrants to be treated like “second-class citizens.”[8]
[1] Peter Fryer, Staying Power : The History of Black People in Britain (London: Plutopress, 2018), 374.
[2] Peter Fryer, Staying Power : The History of Black People in Britain (London: Plutopress, 2018), 374.
[3] Peter Fryer, Staying Power : The History of Black People in Britain (London: Plutopress, 2018), 378.
[4] Peter Fryer, Staying Power : The History of Black People in Britain (London: Plutopress, 2018), 380.
[5] Peter Fryer, Staying Power : The History of Black People in Britain (London: Plutopress, 2018), 381.
[6] Peter Fryer, Staying Power : The History of Black People in Britain (London: Plutopress, 2018), 381.
[7] Peter Fryer, Staying Power : The History of Black People in Britain (London: Plutopress, 2018), 381.
[8] Peter Fryer, Staying Power : The History of Black People in Britain (London: Plutopress, 2018), 381.
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