Swahili Dairies Camera trainee mr Shaban with the ethiopian ambassador in london WELCOME TO LONDON
Photo: Ayoub mzee
Photo: Ayoub mzeeLast time i visited my friends from East Africa and this was a view from his seating room . Is it worth it? Is this london , the land of opportunity? or we are better off staying at home. What do you think?
Early in the 16th century Africans arrived in London when Catherine of Aragon traveled to London and brought a group of her African attendants with her. Around the same time African named trumpeters, who served Henry VII and Henry VIII came to London. When trade lines began to open between London and West Africa, Africans slowly began to become part of the London population. The first record of an African in London was in 1593. His name was Cornelius. London’s residents started to become fearful of the increased black population. At this time Elizabeth I declared that all black "Negroes and black mores" were to be arrested and expelled from her kingdom.
Photo: Ayoub mzeeDuring the mid nineteenth hundreds the first groups of Britain’s post war Caribbean immigrants settled in London. There were about four hundred and ninety two immigrants that were passengers on the SS Empire Windbrush. These passengers settled in the area of Brixton which is now a prominently black district in Britain. From the 1950s into the 1960s there was a mass migration of worker from all over the English-speaking Caribbean, particularly Jamaica that settled in Britain. These immigrants were invited to fill labour requirements in London’s hospitals, transportation venues and railway development. They were a major contributing factor to the rebuilding of the post-war urban London economy.
In 1962 the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed in Britain along with a succession of other laws in 1968, 1971, and 1981 that severely restricted the entry of Black immigrants into Britain. This brought the period of Black growth in Britain to an end. During this time period emergent blacks and Asians struggled in Britain against racism and prejudice. In 1975 a new voice was resurrected for the black London population; his name was David Pitt and he brought a new popular tone to the House of Lords. He spoke against racism and for equality in regards to all residents of Britain. With this new voice also came the chance for the black population, workers and community activists the opportunity to elect four Black members into Parliament.
By the end of the 1900s the number of black Londoners numbered half a million. This number was taken from the 1991 census. An increasingly number of these black Londoners were London or British born. Even with this growing population and the first blacks elected to Parliament there was still discrimination and a socio-economic imbalance in London among the Blacks. In 1992 the number of blacks in Parliament increased to six and in 1997 they increase their numbers to nine. There are still many problems that Black Londoners face, the new global and high tech information revolution is changing the urban economy and driving unemployment rates among blacks up in respect to other unemployment rates among non-blacks. This fact threatens to erode the progress made thus far.
Help us celebrate
Black History Month
Black History Month is held every October in Britain to help raise awareness of Black history and its contribution to British society.
Join us on:Monday 22 October 2007 in Governors’ Hall, St Thomas’ Hospital at 12noon to 2pm
Listen to enlightening presentations by speakers from
Guy’s and St Thomas’, the Department of Health and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Be inspired by a poetry reading
Watch a dazzling performance from a leading Zimbabwean dance troupe
Visit our photographic exhibition and a range of information stalls in Central Hall where light refreshments will be available
In 1962 the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed in Britain along with a succession of other laws in 1968, 1971, and 1981 that severely restricted the entry of Black immigrants into Britain. This brought the period of Black growth in Britain to an end. During this time period emergent blacks and Asians struggled in Britain against racism and prejudice. In 1975 a new voice was resurrected for the black London population; his name was David Pitt and he brought a new popular tone to the House of Lords. He spoke against racism and for equality in regards to all residents of Britain. With this new voice also came the chance for the black population, workers and community activists the opportunity to elect four Black members into Parliament.
By the end of the 1900s the number of black Londoners numbered half a million. This number was taken from the 1991 census. An increasingly number of these black Londoners were London or British born. Even with this growing population and the first blacks elected to Parliament there was still discrimination and a socio-economic imbalance in London among the Blacks. In 1992 the number of blacks in Parliament increased to six and in 1997 they increase their numbers to nine. There are still many problems that Black Londoners face, the new global and high tech information revolution is changing the urban economy and driving unemployment rates among blacks up in respect to other unemployment rates among non-blacks. This fact threatens to erode the progress made thus far.
Help us celebrateBlack History Month
Black History Month is held every October in Britain to help raise awareness of Black history and its contribution to British society.
Join us on:Monday 22 October 2007 in Governors’ Hall, St Thomas’ Hospital at 12noon to 2pm
Listen to enlightening presentations by speakers from
Guy’s and St Thomas’, the Department of Health and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Be inspired by a poetry reading
Watch a dazzling performance from a leading Zimbabwean dance troupe
Visit our photographic exhibition and a range of information stalls in Central Hall where light refreshments will be available
For more information contact Jenny Jean-Jacques,
Chair, Equality & Diversity Staff Network on
email: jennifer.jean-jacques@gstt.nhs.uk or call: 020 7188 9804
RUGBY V CHURCH
