Lesson 1 Research

What Was Happening Between 1948 and 1962 In Britain

• Half a million black people come to England from the West indies.
• When they come over the brought music, they brought colour, they brought dope and they brought life.
• The story starts 50 years ago with the historic voyage of 500 west Indians of the empire Windrush.
• June 21st 1948 Windrush arrived in Essex.
• The West Indians joined World War 2 and Hitler described black people as Jews and black people thought well if that's what he wants to think of us then were going to join this war and fight back.
• West Indians became especially popular as musicians and entertainers.
• Once the war had finished people began to say that they the west Indians should go home now and some went home but some stayed.
• Economic conditons in the carribean were harsh and a hurricane in the 1940's ruined all of the crops making the economic struggle that little bit more difficult.
• When they arrive off the boat they didn't know what was going to happen or where they were going to go.
• After half a million cacualties due to the war, Britain was short of labour workers and this is where black people stepped in and were sent to different parts of Britain in order to do jobs to help out Britain during the War.
• The men settle into the work quickly but the people of Britain were amused by them.
• England was a completely different country to what they had read about.
• Some people thought Britain was grey and dismall and some people thought there were diamond pathments .
• The Music tastes of the immigrants wernt of the British liking.
• Black popuation is here to stay.
• New arrivals felt a growing sense of isolation.
• Black people felt like they were becoming intruders within the country and black people didnt have white friends who they could turn to.
• Romance with white and black people started to happen within Britain.
• A white woman left her home as her parents did not agree with their daughter dating a black man.
• Over 20 thousand West Indians came to England each year.
• Black people were squashed into small houses that were unsafe that white people wouldn't stay in.
• Black people tried to buy their own homes but either couldn't afford it or were not allowed.
• West Indians were getting money through prostitution and they were using this money to buy houses.
• Black people became so worried that they would carry weapons to keep safe.
• White people began to get violent towards black people as time went on.
• White women with black men were called "Nigga Lovers". People also described those years as an "Unforgiving time".
• Riots between black and white people started to occur and the police struggled to break it up.
• Men from all over Britain were coming to Nottinghill to riot.
• Mosely stated "Dont let our country be taken over".
• The police were biased and took sides with the British even though the black were getting attacked. However the Black people fought back!
• 1st September was an important date as it was the last riot.
• 9 white youths were arrested for there part in the riots and were sentence to jail for up to 4 years.
• In may 1959 a West Indian man named Kelsa Cochrane was stabbed to death by 3 teddy boys however no one was arrested for his murder.
• Finally after the years had gone by white people started to realise the violence had to stop and they payed there respects to Cochrane at his funeral.
• White people started to blame Mosely who they once admired for the downfall of the white and black relationship.
• In 1959 the general election is when everyone turned their backs on Mosely. He only got 2000 votes and retired from politics.
• The Blues Party took over where you can go to feel safe and cool.
• New music in the 60s was created and was called SKA . Jamaican music began to seep through and took over the friday night club scene.
• Mixing between races was confined to the dance floor. It soon became fashionable to be seen with black people out of the streets.
• The good sex was what also attracted white women to black men.
• Educated middle class white people would want to be seen with black people.
• Black men also became a fascination to rich white wives.
• Christine Keeler was a call girl who had a string on West Indian lovers
• Black families were trying to live the British way of life.

How Was The Social Landscape Changing

We could see towards the very end of that timeline of events that the social landscape was changing as Britain went fro being open about black people entering their country, to then hating and be violent towards the idea to then accepting it and liking it for what it is. We can see throught this that there has been a change in the social landscape as towards the end near the 1960's black people were beginning to find their feet again in the country as the violence stopped and black people were starting to be the new 'trend' that was set back in those time as like it says above it was cool to been seen with black people and they brought new things to the country that gave it a different edge that it never had before.

The Windthrush Years (1948-1998)

What I Have Learnt:

Part 1

• Half a million black people come to England from the West indies.
• When they come over the brought music, they brought colour, they brought dope and they brought life.
• The story starts 50 years ago with the historic voyage of 500 west Indians of the empire Windrush.
• June 21st 1948 Windrush arrived in Essex.
• The West Indians joined World War 2 and Hitler described black people as Jews and black people thought well if that's what he wants to think of us then were going to join this war and fight back.

Part 2

• 'West Indians not only lived together but they died together'
• West Indians became especially popular as musicians and entertainers.
• Once the war had finished people began to say that they the west Indians should go home now and some went home but some stayed.
• Economic conditons in the carribean were harsh and a hurricane in the 1940's ruined all of the crops making the economic struggle that little bit more difficult.

Part 3

• When they arrive off the boat they didn't know what was going to happen or where they were going to go.
• After half a million cacualties due to the war, Britain was short of labour workers and this is where black people stepped in and were sent to different parts of Britain in order to do jobs to help out Britain during the War.
• The men settle into the work quickly but the people of
• Britain were amused by them.

Part 4

• England was a completely different country to what they had read about.
• Some people thought Britain was grey and dismall and some people thought there were diamond pathments .
• The Music tastes of the immigrants wernt of the British liking.
• Black popuation is here to stay.
• New arrivals felt a growing sense of isolation.
• Black people felt like they were becoming intruders within the country and black people didnt have white friends who they could turn to.

Part 5

• Romance with white and black people started to happen within Britain. 
• A white woman left her home as her parents did not agree with their daughter dating a black man.
• Over 20 thousand West Indians came to England each year.
• Black people were squashed into small houses that were unsafe that white people wouldn't stay in.
• Black people tried to buy their own homes but either couldn't afford it or were not allowed.

Part 6

• West Indians were getting money through prostitution  and they were using this money to buy houses.
• Black people became so worried that they would carry weapons to keep safe.
• White people began to get violent towards black people as time went on.
• White women with black men were called "Nigga Lovers". People also described those years as an "Unforgiving time".

Part 7

• Riots between black and white people started to occur and the police struggled to break it up.
• Men from all over Britain were coming to Nottinghill to riot.
• Mosely stated "Dont let our country be taken over".
• The police were biased and took sides with the British even though the black were getting attacked. However the Black people fought back!
• 1st September was an important date as it was the last riot.
• 9 white youths were arrested for there part in the riots and were sentence to jail for up to 4 years.
• In may 1959 a West Indian man named Kelsa Cochrane was stabbed to death by 3 teddy boys however no one was arrested for his murder.
• Finally after the years had gone by white people started to realise the violence had to stop and they payed there respects to Cochrane at his funeral.

Part 8

• White people started to blame Mosely who they once admired for the downfall of the white and black relationship.
• In 1959 the general election is when everyone turned their backs on Mosely. He only got 2000 votes and retired from politics.
• The Blues Party took over where you can go to feel safe and cool.
• New music in the 60s was created and was called SKA
• Jamaican music began to seep through and took over the friday night club scenes.

Part 9

• Mixing between races was confined to the dance floor.
• It soon became fashionable to be seen with black people out of the streets. 
• The good sex was what also attracted white women to black men.
• Educated middle class white people would want to be seen with black people. 
• Black men also became a fascination to rich white wives.
• Christine Keeler was a call girl who had a string on West Indian lovers
• Black families were trying to live the British way of life.

Part 10

• Labour promised Britains first race legislation if they were elected to power.
• The Labour party won power in 1964, but it took Howard Wilson a year and a half before the first race legislation act was introduced.
• We now meet Malcom X.

Radio 1xtra 'What Is Black British Culture?'

In this video made by Radio 1Xtra I can gather from the video that the views of both the black race and white race were different, regardless of whether the were British or not. The opinions differ in the extract as some black people who live in Britain still say that they are Carribean or African and on the other hand some of them said that they are now black British even though they are descendants of African or Carribean families.

I think the term 'Black Britain' is what was brought over by the West Indies and the people of the Carribean as they brought this term to light when they reached Britain. Some of the other things that these races brought over was new food cuisines, a different fashion sense, new languages and new accents. In the 1940's people from the West Indies thought they were coming to the mother land, a place of dream where everything was happening, however thins didn't really turn out like that and this is where the Black British Culture began. The only place for them to have gathering would be house parties. The Majority of people that came to Britain were Jamaican so they bought the dialect Patois with them. This is because before the WW2 Britain still owned the biggest empire the world has ever seen, owning such countries like Carrabian.

Black Britain; Past, Present and Future

Representations Of A 1958 Radio Extract Based On The Notting Hill Race Riots

With regards to 'who' is being represented in this extract I think it is in fact the black race who are being represented in this extract and we can here this by the use of words that aer being said throughout the radio extract, such as; coloured and mulatto. What the extract also talks about is racial violence which talks about two races fighting each other which once again could refer to the black race which is being represented here in this is extract.

With regards to 'what' is being represented in this extract I think that the racial violence is being represented in this extract and not only this but also the subject of immigration pops up in the radio extract as well which is always a bad subject to talk about when referring to the black race as it does nothing but cause arguments. To me this radio extract is focusing all of its energy on only representing the black race inside the racial violence and I think it fails to represent the other race which is involved and which is not in fact mentioned at all within the radio extract.

I think the representation is communicated through the use of language and the words used. For example when referring to the black community and their part in the racial violence the radio extract refers to them as 'invading'. Now this is a term often used with war and entering a territory where they do not belong. This ca also be linked with the fact that the radio extract mentions immigration a topic often used in arguments between races and what I think is that the radio extract is communicating to it's audience that there is only one villain in the racial violence and that is the black community as it fails to mention why the riots started, it fails to mention who the other race is within the racial violence and finally it fails to mention that there are violence on both sides. So with regards to this in my eyes all this radio extract is doing is showing bad representations of the black race and be biased towards one community.

Definitions

Identity – The fact of being who or what a person or thing is. The characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/identity

Identity – I can draw from the meaning above that the word ‘identity’ means that it is what a person is, it is essentially their label in a way and defines who they are ass a person or as a thing.

Collective Identity – The concept of a collective identity refers to a set of individuals' sense of belonging to the group or collective. For the individual, the identity derived from the collective shapes a part of his or her personal identity. It is possible, at times, that this sense of belonging to a particular group will be so strong that it will trump other aspects of the person's personal identity. To put it another way, Collective Identity is the idea that through participating in social activities, individuals can gain a sense of belonging and in essence an "identity" that transcends the individual.

http://collectiveidentity.net/node/10

Collective Identity – By looking at the definition above I can understand from this meaning of the phrase ‘collective identity’ that

Mediation – An attempt to bring about a peaceful settlement or compromise between disputants through the objective intervention of a neutral party.

 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mediation

Mediation – When looking at this definition I think that really it means that a settlement or peace occurs between two groups or even more and it has come about due to a neutral group that has made it peaceful.

Representation – The action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented. The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/representation

Representation – There are two meanings of the word here the first to me means that someone is talking for someone else and is communicating for them. The second meaning is the communication of someone or something i.e. as it says the portrayal.

Hegemony – Hegemony is political or cultural dominance or authority over others. The hegemony of the popular kids over the other students means that they determine what is and is not cool.

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hegemony

Hegemony – This is basically saying that hegemony is where you have more power over other and this allows you to dictate what is right or wrong, what is funny and what is not, etc.

Colonialism – The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/colonialism

Colonialism – To me this is where a group (policy or practise) take over another control and have power of it and allow themselves to live with the people who are already there and to take advantage of the things that are within the country for an economic advantage.

Post – colonialism – existing or occurring since a colony gained independence post-colonial Nigeria.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Postcolonialism

Post – colonialism – This is like the opposite to colonialism and this is where a country gains its independence and its own stability.

Imperial ‘other’ – relating to an empire.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/imperial

Imperial ‘other’ – There not much more that can be said about this, however the ‘other’ part to this confuses me as an imperial belongs to an empire and is quite high up, however when you put ‘other’ in front of it, this could change the definition altogether.

Youth Subculture – A minority youth culture whose distinctiveness depended largely on the social class and ethnic background of its members; often characterized by its adoption of a particular music genre.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/youth+subculture

Youth Subculture – a small group of teenagers (around this age) who’s personalities and descriptions base purely on their social class and ethnic background.

Syncretism – The combination of different forms of belief or practice.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syncretism

Syncretism – The partnership of two or more different groups or people who believe in different things.

Post – Modernism – a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/postmodernism

Post – Modernism – The beginning part of this definition confuses me and it’s hard to make my own definition of it but the last part says a general distrust of theories which tells me that it’s a distrust in stereotypes and things such as this.

Urban Music - Music that mostly originated from black people but is now listened to by a wide audience. It includes a number of genres within it.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=urban%20music

Urban Music – this is basically music that originated from the black culture that was listened to by only that audience but that has now spread to a wider audience. There are also sub genres inside this main genre.

Black Britain