GCSE · History · AQA · Spec 8145

Windrush and Caribbean migrants

Britain needed workers, and Caribbean people had every right to come — so why were so many turned away?

History · Why they came

Why did Caribbean people come to Britain?

Pick a reason, then choose the column it belongs in. Is it pushing people away from the Caribbean, pulling them towards Britain, or tying them to Britain?

Still to sort

Push: hard times at home (0)

Conditions in the Caribbean that made staying difficult.

Where the line is: A push is about the Caribbean. If the reason describes Britain, it isn't a push.

Pull: what Britain offered (0)

Britain's need for workers, and what working there paid.

Where the line is: A pull is something to gain by going: work or a better wage. A tie isn't an offer, it's a connection.

Ties: the link to Britain (0)

The loyalty, shared history and legal right that connected Caribbean people to Britain.

Where the line is: A tie doesn't pay anything or solve a problem at home. It explains why Britain, rather than anywhere else, felt like a place they belonged and could go.

8 of 8 still to sort.

People rarely move for one reason. Sort each reason into the kind of reason it is.

Watch out: The 1948 Nationality Act is the one people get wrong. It didn't offer anything to want, like a job or a wage. It gave Caribbean people the right to come, which is why it sits with the ties, not the pulls.

History · Britain after the war

How big was Britain's need?

You sorted 'Britain needed workers' as a pull. But how many extra workers did Britain need after the Second World War? Make your guess.

Your estimate

1.5 million workers

You sorted 'Britain needed workers' as a pull. But how many extra workers did Britain need after the Second World War? Make your guess. Estimate between 0 million workers and 3 million workers.

0 million workers3 million workers

History · Who they were

Who were the Windrush generation?

The name 'Windrush generation' comes up whenever people talk about Caribbean migration to Britain. But the name itself can mislead you.

Which is closest to what you think right now?

The people who travelled to Britain on one ship, the Empire Windrush.Foreigners who needed special permission to work in Britain.Caribbean migrants who settled in Britain from 1948 to 1970, with the right to live and work there.

How sure are you?

I'm sureI think soI'm guessing

The people who travelled to Britain on one ship, the Empire Windrush.

This is a common misconception

The name does come from the ship Empire Windrush, but the Windrush generation means far more than one boatload. It's the Caribbean migrants who settled in Britain from 1948 to 1970, which is more than twenty years of arrivals.

Foreigners who needed special permission to work in Britain.

This is a common misconception

Easy to assume, but it's the wrong way round. The 1948 Nationality Act gave Commonwealth citizens, including people from Britain's Caribbean colonies, the same right to live and work in Britain as British citizens. They didn't need permission; they already had the right.

Caribbean migrants who settled in Britain from 1948 to 1970, with the right to live and work there.

This matches the evidence

Spot on. They're named after the ship Empire Windrush, but the name covers everyone from the Caribbean who settled here between 1948 and 1970, and under the 1948 Nationality Act they had the same right to live and work in Britain as British citizens.

Named after one ship, but made up of more than twenty years of Caribbean migrants, every one of them entitled to live and work in Britain.

What the Windrush generation met

Recruited to work, entitled to stay, and still shut out. Read across every area of life and notice how far the discrimination reached.

Predict, then check

Banks and building societies wouldn't lend to them, and few landlords would rent to them. So how did Caribbean migrants get homes?

Shut out by banks and landlords, what did many Caribbean migrants do to buy houses?

History · Your turn

How did the Windrush generation change Britain?

Explain how the Windrush generation contributed to and changed life in Britain. [6 marks]

Your answer

0 words · your answer stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

The mark scheme

Names the work they did, such as engineers, train drivers, nurses or musicians. (1 mark)
Explains the influence of Caribbean food: restaurants and cafes selling roti, jerk chicken or rice and peas, with Caribbean street food becoming popular across Britain. (1 mark)
Explains how Caribbean music such as ska and reggae spread through clubs and shebeens and reached a wide audience. (1 mark)
Explains the Notting Hill Carnival, first devised in the 1960s, showing Caribbean food, costumes, music and dance to new audiences. (1 mark)
Explains that the Carnival built pride in the community's history, identity and culture. (1 mark)
Explains the growth of Black activism in the 1960s, demanding higher-quality housing, equal opportunities and fair pay. (1 mark)

Model answer

The Windrush generation kept Britain working: they were engineers, train drivers, nurses and musicians. They also changed what Britain ate. Caribbean restaurants and cafes sold roti, jerk chicken and rice and peas, and Caribbean street food became popular across the country. Their music travelled too, because ska and reggae spread through clubs and shebeens until they reached a wide audience. In the 1960s the Notting Hill Carnival was first devised, bringing Caribbean food, costumes, music and dance to new audiences and building pride in the community's history, identity and culture. And the 1960s saw Black activism grow, with demands for higher-quality housing, equal opportunities and fair pay, so the Windrush generation pushed for change as well as shaping Britain's culture.

The strongest answers don't just list what arrived. They say where it went: into Britain's workplaces, its streets and clubs, and its demands for fairer treatment.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

Britain asked for workers. Caribbean migrants came, and many found the door shut.

What you need to know

Britain after the war was exhausted and short of labour: it needed an extra 1.38 million workers to repair war damage, run the railways and staff the new NHS.
Caribbean people had reasons of three kinds: pushes from home, pulls from Britain, and ties such as loyalty to the 'Mother Country' and the 1948 Nationality Act.
The Windrush generation met discrimination at work, from landlords and banks, in clubs, from the police and from anti-immigrant groups in places such as Notting Hill.
They answered with self-help (pardner schemes, shebeens, supplementary schooling), with food, music and a Carnival that reached new audiences, and with activism in the 1960s.

The big picture

After the Second World War, a damaged, exhausted Britain needed an extra 1.38 million workers. Caribbean people answered: pushed by a lack of jobs and wartime shortages at home, pulled by work and higher wages, and tied to Britain by loyalty, war service and the 1948 Nationality Act. The Windrush generation, Caribbean migrants who settled from 1948 to 1970, had the right to live and work in Britain, yet met colour bars in work, housing, lending, clubs and policing. They responded with self-help, activism and a culture that reached new audiences across Britain.

Key points

1The Windrush generation: Caribbean migrants who settled in Britain from 1948 to 1970, named after the ship Empire Windrush.

2The 1948 Nationality Act gave Commonwealth citizens the same right to live and work in Britain as British citizens.

3There were no laws against discrimination, so no law stopped colour bars, landlords who wouldn't rent or banks that wouldn't lend.

4Anti-immigrant groups increased tension: Teddy Boys attacked Black people in Notting Hill, the White Defence League demanded Britain be kept white, and Mosley's Union Movement promoted racist violence.

5Caribbean street food became popular across Britain, ska and reggae reached a wide audience, and the Notting Hill Carnival showcased Caribbean culture to new audiences.

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Worked example

Problem

Caribbean migrants had the legal right to live and work in Britain. Explain why so many could still be refused homes, loans and promotion.

⚠ Watch out

Filing everything as either 'push' or 'pull'. Loyalty to the Mother Country, war service and the 1948 Act weren't hardships or job offers; they were the ties that connected Caribbean people to Britain.

🧠

Memory hook

NEEDED, REFUSED, RESOURCEFUL. Britain needed them; landlords, banks and clubs refused them; so they got resourceful, with pardner schemes, shebeens, supplementary schooling and a Carnival.

✓

Check yourself

Colonial schools taught British history, and many in the Caribbean called Britain the Mother Country. Why might arriving in 1950s London have come as such a shock?

Flashcards

(14)

Which years does 'the Windrush generation' cover?

Caribbean migrants who settled in Britain from 1948 to 1970.

Where does the name 'Windrush' come from?

The ship Empire Windrush. The Windrush generation is named after it; it isn't a list of the ship's passengers.

Who counted as a Commonwealth citizen under the 1948 Nationality Act?

People living in British colonies, or in former colonies that had joined the Commonwealth.

How many extra workers did Britain need after the Second World War?

An extra 1.38 million.

Name three jobs the Windrush generation did.

Any three of: engineers, train drivers, nurses, musicians.

Where did the colour bar shut Caribbean migrants out?

It made promotion at work difficult, and it barred them from many all-white clubs.

Why did many in Notting Hill's Black community distrust the police?

Stop and search was used disproportionately against them; there was police brutality and planted evidence; and the police failed to protect them from racist attacks.

Who were the Teddy Boys?

Largely working-class young white men who came into Notting Hill to attack Black people.

What was the White Defence League?

A neo-Nazi group, founded in 1957, that demanded Britain be kept white.

What was a pardner scheme?

Migrants pooled their savings into a communal fund so they could buy houses as co-owners.

What was a shebeen, and why were they organised?

A music and dance party, often in a basement, organised because migrants were unwelcome in many venues.

What was supplementary schooling for?

Helping children who were given less encouragement at school.

What did the Notting Hill Carnival do?

First devised in the 1960s, it showed Caribbean food, costumes, music and dance to new audiences and built pride in the community's history, identity and culture.

What did Black activists demand in the 1960s?

Higher-quality housing, equal opportunities and fair pay.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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Why did Caribbean people come to Britain?

How big was Britain's need?

Who were the Windrush generation?

How did the Windrush generation change Britain?

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