Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation

- Blurb -

In the first flush of mass migration, the 1948 British Nationality Act held open the door for any member of the Commonwealth to relocate to Britain. Homecoming explores how and why West Indians succumbed to the fever to leave their islands and come `home' to Britain. Through first-hand interviews and testimonies, Homecoming reveals, in their own words, how the Windrush generation navigated this bewildering new cultural landscape. Their stories show how they were able to weave themselves into the very fabric of British society, while retaining and creating a distinct culture of their own, despite the sometimes open hostility of the host nation. Homecoming also demonstrates how dramatically attitudes hardened in this period, as the so-called `immigrant problem' became recast as a `colour problem', culminating in race riots and the Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1962, which effectively disbarred the entry of unskilled black workers. With many of the survivors of the Windrush generation now in their 70s and 80s, it is essential that their accounts of this hugely significant and fascinating moment of British history are recorded and savoured.