Windrush Day
Last Monday, the 22nd of June for those of you who may not know or have only recently discovered (myself included) is a day that has come to be known as Windrush Day. It is a day that is used to remember the migrants that arrived in Britain from the Caribbean in 1948.
The day stands to celebrate and remind us of the many contributions that they made and that the generations they left behind continue to make. On this day, it is also important to recognise the many hardships and difficulties that they endured after their arrival in Britain and show our solidarity and support in any way we can. This short clip I found on YouTube, The Windrush Generation, is an excellent way to get familiar with the term and what it stands for. To celebrate this day, The Geraldine Connor Foundation (GCF) which is an established charity that works to bring people together through various forms of art and culture.
This year they organised an event over Zoom that I was lucky enough to attend. The event began with the presentation of a poem called “Generations Dreaming” by Dorothea Smart. The poem was a beautiful way to begin the evenings celebrations as it begins by explaining the hopes with which the migrants came to Britain, looking to build a life where their future was ‘unknown’. The poem looks at the ‘Journey Man’ and the ‘Journey Woman’ and the struggles and hardships they came to face upon their arrival. As Smart herself says poetry helps one formulate their thoughts. This was an excellent way to begin as I was able to begin to picture the journey, despite having no knowledge of it prior to this day.
Next, Colin Grant the author of the book “Homecoming: voices of the Windrush generation” gave us a short presentation on his book and explained how the migrants who travelled from the Caribbean often hesitated in sharing and telling their experiences. His book was aimed at bringing to light their everyday struggles, that including behaving in particular ways to ensure that they did conform to the stereotypes and misconceptions believed about them. He talked about the struggle that they had to come to terms with as the newer generations realised that they were not going to be able to go back and that this was their home. He then went on to explain the importance of storytelling. Something that stuck with me was when he said, “if you don’t tell your story someone else will”.
The next part of the event looked at a series of other poems and spoken word presentations. Emily Marshall, a lecturer at the Leeds Beckett University, explained the different forms of oral storytelling and how they have been passed down from generation to generation. She then went on to tell us a bit about the semi- autobiographical novel written by her grandfather “Black-shack alley” that was later adapted into an award-winning film. The novel tells the story of a young black man as he lives in the French Colony of Martinique. You can take a look at this clip, Sugarcane Alley: Wisdom of the Ancestors that was shared with us.
To end the event we viewed a compilation of creative recordings by from people in and around Leeds and you can watch that here.
This event was a wonderful way of learning of an important historic event that I had no knowledge of prior to this day and I hope that by reading this blog you learnt something too.