Nationality, Identity and Belonging:
An Oral History of the ‘Windrush Generation’ and their Relationship to the British State, 1948-2018
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies employed a post-doctoral research assistant, Dr Juanita Cox, to work on a six-month scoping project, funded by the University of London’s Convocation Trust: Nationality, Identity and Belonging: An Oral History of the ‘Windrush Generation’ and their Relationship to the British State, 1948-2018. This was in response to the major controversy which broke out in 2018 over the treatment of members and descendants of the ‘Windrush Generation’ who had migrated to the UK from the Caribbean in the two decades after the end of the Second World War.
Under the 1948 British Nationality Act, they shared with residents of the UK the status of ‘Citizens of the UK and Colonies’ (CUKCs). The 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act removed the right of free entry into the UK of CUKCs, and subsequent legislation restricted their right to remain if they had not taken steps to regularise their status. Under the Cameron and May governments, significant numbers of Caribbean immigrants and their children who lacked documentary evidence of their right to remain in the UK found themselves threatened with or actually subjected to detention and deportation, as Whitehall enforced a ‘hostile environment’ towards those suspected of being illegal immigrants.
One aim of the project was to identify and record into a database existing oral histories of the Caribbean community (UK) for public and academic reference and to highlight the importance of the Windrush Generation in Higher Education. This was to include sources of specific relevance to the project’s focus on immigration legislation. As many of the existing oral histories are not yet digitised, the website is an on-going work in progress.
You can hear some examples of the recordings conducted for this project below.
Oral History Recordings
Richard Interview
This is a partial copy of an oral history interview on nationality, identity and belonging that took place on 27 May 2020 with Richard Black (during the pandemic). The interview formed part of a wider scoping project conducted by research fellow, Dr Juanita Cox, and...
Alift Interview
Born in Georgetown, British Guiana in the 1930s. Moved to the UK in 1965 to train as a nurse on a British Guiana CUKC passport [‘Without limit of time’]. Returned to the newly independent Guyana following the death of her husband and was unable to get work. She...
Ruby Interview
A child of a ‘Windrush Generation’ Migrant Ruby Joseph was born in Grenada where she lived with her Grandmother. She arrived in the UK in early 1962 aged 3 or 4 to live with her mother and the rest of the family. She travelled abroad on a school trip without...
George Interview
Born in Georgetown, British Guiana in the 1930s. He settled in the UK on 24 June 1959. “We had this thing called Police Clearance to come to England. I have mine still. You had to go to police headquarters – although I was a police officer – with a picture and a...
Glenda Interview
Glenda was born in Dominica and left for the UK in 1961 aged 3 months. Her mother died in Jan 1997 while on a trip to Dominica. She wanted to travel there but was told by the Home Office she was not British. One of her Aunts suggested that she get a Dominica...
Anthony Interview
Anthony was born in Jamaica in the early 1960s and moved to the UK with his mother and siblings in 1967 to join his father (he arrived in the 1950s). In 1973 Anthony attended Jamaica College, he returned to the UK in 1976 (briefly) for a wedding and then returned...