Synopses & Reviews
Long before the arrival of the 'Empire Windrush' after the Second World War, Liverpool was widely known for its polyglot population, its boisterous 'sailortown' and cosmopolitan profile of transients, sojourners and settlers. Regarding Britain as the mother country, 'coloured' colonials arrived in Liverpool for what they thought to be internal migration into a common British world. What they encountered, however, was very different. Their legal status as British subjects notwithstanding, 'coloured' colonials in Liverpool were the first to discover: 'There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack'.
Despite the absence of significant new immigration, despite the high levels of mixed dating, marriages and parentage, and despite pioneer initiatives in race and community relations, black Liverpudlians encountered racial discrimination, were left marginalized and disadvantaged and, in the aftermath of the Toxteth riots of 1981, the once proud 'cosmopolitan' Liverpool stood condemned for its 'uniquely horrific' racism.
Before the Windrush is a fascinating study that enriches our understanding of how the empire 'came home'. By drawing attention to Liverpool's mixed population in the first half of the twentieth century and its approach to race relations, this book seeks to provide historical context and perspective to debates about Britain's experience of empire in the twentieth century.
Review
"With this - his best - book, Professor Belchem tells a story from the Mersey that not only speaks to the British present, it roars. [...] So roll over Nigel Farage: longer then anywhere else in Britain, Liverpool has heard it all before and knows where it leads."--Ed Vulliamy, The Observer
About the Author
John Belchem is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Liverpool.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: The most disturbing case of racial disadvantage in the United Kingdom
1. Edwardian cosmopolitanism
2. Riot, miscegenation and inter-war depression
3. War-time hospitality and the colour bar
4. Repatriation, reconstruction and post-war race relations
5. Race relations in the 1950s
6. 1960s: race and youth
7. The failure of community relations
8. It took a riot
Sources consulted
Index