Racism in the 1960s:The Notting Hill riots

When the Second World War ended in 1945, it was quickly recognised that the reconstruction of the British economy required a large influx of immigrant labour. The Royal Commission on Population reported in 1949 that immigrants of 'good stock' would be welcomed 'without reserve', and potential newcomers from the Caribbean and elsewhere soon became aware of the pressing needs of the labour market in the UK.

Even in the 1970s the Irish remained the largest immigrant community in Britain. In the years immediately after the war, new arrivals came from all over Europe.

Immigration from the West Indies was encouraged by the British Nationality Act of 1948, which gave all Commonwealth citizens free entry into Britain.

From the Indian subcontinent, the majority of immigrants arrived in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s. Although often lumped together as one group by white Britons, these newcomers in fact came from a variety of backgrounds. They included Hindus from the Gujarat region of western India, Sikhs from the eastern Punjab region, and Muslims both from the west part of Pakistan and from East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh in 1972.

Many immigrants experienced predjudice and discrimination when they settled in Britain.

1958: Race riots in Notting Hill

Enoch Powell’s’Rivers of Blood’ speech

The Latimer Road area in North Kensington was a focus for new arrivals from the West Indies when Roger Mayne took this photo in the street. A thriving West Indian community developed here and in the Notting Hill area.

Immigrants settled in Britain where there was a shortage of labour especially for low-paid jobs:

- After recruitment campaigns for the NHS or the London Transport

- To work in textile factories.Many migrants had to live in the

inner-city areas of London (Brixton, South London), Birmingham (Handsworth) or Bradford for instance.

1957: the government is preoccupied with ‘white-flight’ and residential segregation: white people leave districts where migrants settle.

1959: Oswald Mosley (British Union of Fascists) campaigns for the general elections. He got 8% of the votes).

1964: A conservative candidate in Birmingham used « if you want a nigger for a neighbour vote Labour » as a slogan. 1967: The National Front Party is created. It had a working-class membership of 20,000.1968: Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood Speech. Heath sacked Powell but the latter was supported by dock workers and other working-class people.

• In 1960, Bristol's Caribbean community numbered about 3,000. Most had arrived from the Caribbean after World War II. The 1948 British Nationality Act meant they had British passports with full rights of entry and settlement to the UK.

• Many had served Queen and country. Nearly all, like Bailey, had been schooled under the British education system. And at a time of virtually full employment, employers like London Transport and the National Health Service had actively sought their labour.

• But the reception they received from their fellow British subjects was frequently less than welcoming.

Some migrants- couldn’t find jobs that matched their qualifications,- Had to be accomodated in substandard

overcrowded tenements,- Suffered from outright racism,- Were isolated from their families who stayed in

their native countries,- Were likely to forget their hardships through

alcohol and night life.

Asian migrants faced extra problems as they understood little english, practised different religions and traditions (feasting, arranged marriages). They were more likely to set up their own businesses and bought cheap flats.

South Asian migrants to the UK after 1947 come from different countries and for different reasons - to escape civil war, to seek better economic opportunities and to join family members already settled here.

The ties between the British and the Punjab region of India go back a long way. From 1857 onwards many Punjabis served in the British army. Sikh soldiers who served in elite regiments, were often sent to other colonies of the British Empire, and saw active service in both world wars. There is a memorial in Sussex which honours the Sikh soldiers who died in WW1.

Britain’s labour shortages shaped the post-war migration patterns from the subcontinent. It was primarily men from middle-ranking peasant families, particularly those who had been previously employed in the colonial army or the police force and their relatives, who took up this opportunity.

Pakistani migrants who came to Britain after the war found employment in the textile industries of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Manchester and Bradford, cars and engineering factories in the West Midlands, and Birmingham, and growing light industrial estates in places like Luton and Slough. After the Mangla dam was building 1966 which submerged large parts of the Mirpur district, emigration from that area accelerated.

These migrants found work in the manufacturing, textile and the service sectors, including a significant number at Heathrow Airport in West London. After the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed in 1962 which restricted the free movement of workers from the Commonwealth, most workers from South Asia decided to settle in the UK and were eventually joined by their families.

The Teddy Boy (also known as Ted) were young men wearing clothes that were inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period ; They were associated with rock and roll. The name Teddy Boy was coined in a 1953 Daily Express headline . Some Teds formed gangs and gained notoriety following violent clashes with rival gangs which were often exaggerated by the popular press. The most notable were the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, in which Teddy Boys were present in large numbers and were implicated in attacks on the West Indian community.

The Notting Hill riotsAugust 1958

A district with many Carribean migrantsPoor housingViolents clashes between youths: stabbings, attacks with iron bars, petrol

bommbs, etc. and abuses. DemonstrationsAfter the riots around 4,000 Caribbeans returened to their native country. Public opinion was deeply divided. Migrant groups became better-organised. The Organisation for the

Protection of the Colored People was set up. A rent strike was organized to demand repairs in sub-standard dwellings. Immigration policy changed.

Controls on Immigration1959: election of Edward Heath (Cons.)1961: increase in immigration (24,000

migrants from the New Commonwealth in 1959; 63,000 in 1960; 112,000 in 1961).

1962: Commonwealth Immigration Act. Immigrants had to have a pre-arranged job or special skills to enter Britian. Three quarter of the public supported controls on immigration.

As a result, the immigrants already in Britain, stayed.

1965 + 1968: Race Relation Act: the colour bar in public spaces is banned. All racist restrictions are banned. Indictment to racial hatred is illegal.

1968: Commonwealth Immigrants Act. Migrants needed to have a parent or grandparent born in Britian.

1971: Immigration Act. Immigrants with a job only get a 12-months permit.

By 1970s there was scarcely any primary immigration from black and Asian commonwealth countries.

Enoch PowellIn that infamous speech Mr Powell gave

apocalyptic-style predictions of what would happen to pockets of Britain - such as Wolverhampton - if mass immigration continued.

From Riot to CarnivalIn 1959 the Notting Hill Carnival began, first indoors. It became a

public outdoor festival in 1966. The Media played a role in creating a multiracial, multicultural

Britain:To Sir with Love, 1967 (Negro teacher (Poitier) finds himself in

charge of a tough, subordinate class of youths in the East End of London....)

BBC Sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, 1972BBC Sitcom Till Death US Do Part, 1965-75 (centred on the East

End Garnett family, led by a reactionary white working-class man who holds racist and anti-socialist views and who is constantly ridiculed.)