Above: Caribbean ex-servicemen returned to Britain after serving in WW2

Saturday 21 March 1pm-4.30pm

Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 Tube: Lambeth North.

Free entry: First come,first served
www.iwm.org.uk


1946 after black people had fought and died all over the world for Britain those still in England were told to go back where they had come from. On this day we will tell the untold stories of the post-war generation with films, audio clips and testimony from war veterans who were also veterans of the Civil Rights movement in Britain. As a black person in the post-war years you were:

* refused bank loans
* refused jobs
* restricted to live in bombed out areas
* blocked from buying homes
* harassed by police
* refused entry to churches
* refused service in pubs, hotels, restaurants
* forced to pay a higher mortgage than whites
* spat at on public transport
* attacked by the general public
* treated as if stupid in schools

War veterans such as Billy Strachan, Sam King and Connie Marks used their organising skills to fight such discrimination. We will focus on how such obstacles were overcome and if the lessons have been learned/remembered by the present generation