3C - Race and Immigration, 1945-1979

Question 1

How did WW2 help minority groups?

Answer 1

Gov recognised that migrant workers and soldiers had been crucial to war effort

Question 2

How were minority groups deployed in the war?

Answer 2

• 1200 men from Caribbean were employed in factories in Lancashire and Merseyside.
• 6000-10,000 Caribbean men joined the RAF
• 500,000 black African men served in GB forced
• 1945 Indian Army had 2 million men

Question 3

How did the war expose ongoing racism?

Answer 3

Gov propaganda encouraged white men from Aus and NZ to help with the war effort but discouraged men from the Caribbean.

Question 4

What is an example of racism during the war?

Answer 4

E.G mid 1940, gov rejected offer from a Caribbean shipping company to pay for 2000 Jamaican workers to travel to GB to carry out war work.

Question 5

Even though gov discrimination disappeared as the war progressed, how did minorities still face discrimination?

Answer 5

Caribbean workers refused work in factories due to cultural differences. Promotions for black and Asian soldiers were rare, frowned upon for black men to marry white women.

Question 6

How did the arrival of the US military 1942 make racism worse?

Answer 6

Racially segregated army, different accommodation etc They tried to enforce it in GB, some GB businesses used US desire for segregation as an excuse for the colour bar.

Question 7

How were there new opportunities for minority groups after the war?

Answer 7

Education and training offered to all ex servicemen from the war, labour shortage, provided migrants an opportunity from across the Empire to earn money.

Question 8

What was the British Nationality Act, 1948?

Answer 8

New legal right for all people in GB colonies to enter UK.

Question 9

What did the British Nationality Act 1948 lead to?

Answer 9

Waves of immigration, increased proportion of ethnic minorities. SS Empire Windrush arrival in 1948 brought 492 Jamaicans. Celebrated as the beginnings of mass migration.

Question 10

What impact did a growing economy have on migrants n in the 1950s?

Answer 10

Opportunities to make money - in entertainment business - growth of Ska and Reggae, El Rio - caribbean restaurant established in late 1950s by Frank Crichlow

Question 11

Where did the majority of migrant workers find work in the 1950s?

Answer 11

In general, migrants found work in post offices, railways and in NHS. NHS recruited 3000 nurses from the Caribbean between 1948-1954.

Question 12

How did the gov feel about immigration in the 1950s?

Answer 12

PM CA and PM WC tried discouraging immigration by putting pressure on govs in Caribbean, Africa and Asia to restrict availability of passports

Question 13

What concerns of whites did letters to MPs expose after the 1948 BNA?

Answer 13

Objected to black and Asian people…
Buying houses
Claiming benefits
Getting jobs
Committing crime
Behaving in ways that reflected cultural differences

Question 14

What were 1950s complaints to MPs based on the assumption of?

Answer 14

Only white people could be citizens so only white people had the rights to national benefits. No concern expressed about migration from NZ, Aus or white colonies.

Question 15

What happened when immigrants in the 1950s wrote to MPs complaining about discrimination?

Answer 15

White racism discussed by the cabinet but no action taken. Lord Salisbury argued that action against discrimination would make GB more attractive to immigrants so they didn’t want to combat racism.

Question 16

Why was there white violence after the BNA?

Answer 16

• Black and Asians dating white women or marrying white women
• Anger at loss of colonies
• Social and economic problems
• Perceived higher crime but police just more keen to prosecute

Question 17

What were the 1958 Notting Hill riots?

Answer 17

Mobs of 300-700 white men armed with iron bars, knives and leather belts to beat black residents. Shouted ‘Keep Britain White’. Police did little to stop it.

Question 18

How did the gov try to win votes regarding race in 1950s/60s?

Answer 18

By proposing immigration restrictions
Minority of politicians played the race card - tried to appeal to racism to win votes
Some advocated multiculturalism
Black rights groups led fights against racism in GB

Question 19

What was the Commonwealth Immigration Act, 1962?

Answer 19

People from former colonies could only gain entry if:
- Had a job waiting for them
- Had skills that GB economy needed
Allowed families to be reunited so spouses or children had entry rights.

Question 20

Why was the CWIA imposed in 1962?

Answer 20

Designed to end immigration on large scale due to concerns over racial tensions, reports that black and Asians were causing crime, rising welfare costs and overcrowding

Question 21

What was the Commonwealth Immigration Act, 1968?

Answer 21

• Children of migrants living in GB who were over 17 couldn’t enter GB
• Children with only one parent in GB couldn’t enter
• Entry required a connection to GB - had to prove parent or grandparent was British

Question 22

What did the 1971 Immigration Act do?

Answer 22

Divided people into partial and non partial. Partials had no restrictions whereas NPs had no right of entry or residence and could be deported if lived in UK for less than 10 years

Question 23

What made up partial in 1971 Immigration Act?

Answer 23

People in the UK, or whose parents or grandparents were born in the UK. Applied to white GB and white people from AUS and NZ and Canada. Small number of people from the ‘new commonwealth’ who were in this category.

Question 24

What made up non partial in 1971 Immigration Act?

Answer 24

People born outside the UK and whose parents and non grandparents were born outside the UK

Question 25

What support did the immigration acts have?

Answer 25

1962 - 62%-76%
1968 - 72%
1971 - 59%

Question 26

How did the 1962 CWIA fail?

Answer 26

Large numbers of black and Asian migrants moved to GB before the Act came into force. Black and Asian population doubled 1960-1961. People stayed who would have left, family joined

Question 27

How many work vouchers were issued between 1963-79?

Answer 27

30,000-50,000 - historically high

Question 28

How did Labour begin to appeal to minority voters?

Answer 28

Opposed 1962 CWIA and Tory party slogan ‘If you want a nigger for a neighbour vote Labour’ during the 1964 GE in the Smethwick constituency created link between Labour and black Asian voters.

Question 29

What groups were formed to fight for minority rights in the 1960s and 1970s?

Answer 29

1968 British Black Panther Party Founded
1971 Brixton Black Women’s Group
1974 Darcus Howe founded Race Today Collective
1975 Asian Youth Movement in response to murder of Gurdip Singh Chagger

Question 30

How did the Black Panthers and RCT challenge racism?

Answer 30

• 1971 DH and Black Panthers forced the first official acknowledgement that there was ‘evidence of racial hatred in Metropolitan Police’
• 1974 DH and RCT helped organise Imperial Typewriters Strike. Forced white unions to support Asian workers.
• 1974-1976 DH and RCT organised biggest squat in GB history to ensure Bengali population had access to safe housing

Question 31

What were the race relations acts motivated by?

Answer 31

Pressure from black and Asian people to deal with racism in GB
Gov concerns with poor race relations would lead to widespread rioting
Political commitment to multiculturalism

Question 32

What did the 1965 Race Relations Act do?

Answer 32

Outlawed colour bar, outlawed incitement of racial hatred, established Race Relations Board to monitor enforcement

Question 33

What did the 1968 Race Relations Act do?

Answer 33

Outlawed discrimination in housing and employment. Established Community Relations Commission (CRC) to promote multiculturalism through education

Question 34

What did the 1976 Race Relations Act do?

Answer 34

Indirect discrimination outlawed - not directly based on ethnicity. Combined CRC with RRB to create Commission for Racial Equality

Question 35

What consequences did the RRA have on black radicals?

Answer 35

• Michael X - leader of Racial Adjustment Action Society convicted on inciting racial hatred in a speech in Reading 1976 - example of laws used against black radicals
• Roy Sawh - deputy chair of Universal Coloured People’s Association - most arrests under 1965 law

Question 36

What consequences did the RRA have on white racists?

Answer 36

Enoch Powell - Rivers of Blood speech, 1968 said whites were strangers in their own country, advocated keeping GB white. Led to widespread condemnation, sacked from Conservative Party.

Question 37

What did opinion polls show about agreement with Enoch Powell?

Answer 37

Showed 74% agreed with him. 3 days later 1000 dock workers marched in support for Powell - ‘Don’t knock Enoch’ Similar views to the National Front - founded 1967

Question 38

What happened at the 1976 Nottinghill carnival?

Answer 38

Created by immigrants from Trinidad, aggressive policing = violent clashes

Question 39

What did police attempt to do in 1977?

Answer 39

Police attempted to end celebrations of African Liberation Day held in Notting Hill

Question 40

What was the policy of dispersal in the 1970s?

Answer 40

Indian or Caribbean students weren’t allowed to make up more than 30% of a school population. Yorkshire and London students were bussed to schools to ensure they were dispersed.