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Partying towards equality |
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West Indians in Britain
Harehill area of in Leeds c1960
© Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archives |
Between 1955 and 1963, Britain experienced a rush of West Indian immigration – peaking in 1962 with 66,300 arrivals. Caribbean communities quickly developed in England’s larger industrial centres such as London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.
Arthur France made the journey from the Caribbean island of Nevis to Leeds to join his sister in 1957. His experience is typical of the prejudice that greeted the new arrivals, “The welcome was very cold, black people couldn’t find places to live”. Mr France believes that the Caribbean upbringing must take the credit for the close-knitted community’s ability to cope with the alienation. Arthur explains, “We came to something we didn’t expect, but because of our upbringing we managed to survive, move on and thrive”.
Perhaps what the Caribbean immigrants did not expect was the blatant racism that was rife and legal in Britain. By 1967, the black community in Leeds had faced over a decade of alienation and prejudice. In 1964 Arthur France was one of the major players behind the formation of the United Caribbean Association, fiercely campaigning for equal rights and an end to discrimination.
Harehill area of in Leeds c1960
© Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archives |
Arthur believed that the West Indians, scattered across the country, “needed something to bind us together as people of the Caribbean”. In 1967 the first truly Caribbean carnival in the country, under a black British committee, took place in Leeds. It celebrated its Snow, or carnival, queen, danced to the Gay Carnival Steel Band and entertained the city with its procession of fantastic troupes. Thirty-six years later, France is still chairman of the carnival committee while, “Europe goes crazy over Caribbean carnival”.
Take a look at some of the best carnival queens!
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