Prime Minister Teressa May announced that June 22 would be remembered as Windrush Day to officially recognise and remember the sacrifice and loyalty of Windrush Generation refers to those who arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971.
The sacrifice, strength and consistent reliability of the Windrush Generation who travelled from the Caribbean to help rebuild post-war Britain are considered as a pivotal period within modern British history.
Before its sailing, the number of passengers was very low, so an advertisement was placed, asking for anyone who wanted to take advantage of cheap passage to work in England. The HMT Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks on June 22, 1948, transporting 680 passengers on board; workers answering the call of Britain to fill labour deficiencies in the UK.
These worked dispersed in many larger cities throughout the UK and faced difficult and challenging times to enhance the city’s industrial, social and cultural life. Coupled with racism, marginalisation and poor living conditions. Nonetheless, they took up manual jobs’ builders, cleaners, drivers and nurses, building families, places of worship and Britain.
The Ship, The Empire Windrush had quite a history before it famously became a passenger ship for the Windrush Generation. Originally, it was a German passenger liner and Second World War troop ship, but the British took possession of her as a prize of war after the conflict.
The Empire Windrush left Kingston, Jamaica, with 680 passengers and arrived at Tilbury Docks on June 22, 1948, just two years after World War II and the passengers came from various parties of The West Indies with an array of skills and knowledge.
There were people of colour living in Britain well before the Windrush period, but the Windrush became synonymous with the wave of migration that began in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This marked the point of fact that the ship happened to be picking up servicemen on leave in Jamaica in 1948, just after the British Nationality Act of that year had been passed. As a result, this gave full rights of UK citizenship to everyone born in the British colonies.
Windrush is the story of Migration and the struggle to make a change. Ellsworth Huntington writes, “History in its broadest aspect is a record of man’s migrations from one environment to another.”
Israel, when faced with forced migration, sings in their lamenting poem. How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? Psalms 137:4
Indeed, many of those of Windrush came to Britain singing a song in a strange land, but today, that strange land is now called home and so we celebrate and sing a song of celebration rather than lamentation.
We salute and thank you for your contribution made and pray that the next generation will build on the work sweat and tears of the Windrush Generation and those before them.