Black and Asian Struggles, 1960s -1980s
From the late 1940s onwards the existing Black and Asian population in Britain was increased by migration from the Caribbean (particularly Jamaica) and from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, resulting in substantial communities in London, Bradford, Leicester, Birmingham, Manchester and other towns.
There was a short but vicious outbreak of anti-black rioting in Nottingham and in the Notting Hill area of London in the summer of 1958. The following year a young black man named Kelso Cochrane was murdered in North Kensington. His killer was never found.
By the early 1960s, race and immigration into Britain had become major domestic political issues. They featured strongly, for instance, in the Smethwick constituency during the 1964 general election and in what become known as the "rivers of blood" speech made by leading Tory politician Enoch Powell on 20 April 1968.
Tory and Labour government responded with a series of Immigration Acts which, by the end of the 1960s, had effectively ended primary migration into Britain from the Caribbean and Indian sub-continent.
Black and Asian communities felt under attack. There was consistent evidence of discrimination and prejudice in housing, education, social services, while young people were getting increasingly angry at their treatment by the police. In August 1976 young black people fought the police at the Notting Hill Carnival, there was rioting in Brixton in April 1981 (followed some months later by disturbances in Liverpool, Manchester and elsewhere) and again in 1985 and also in Birmingham in September 1985.
There was a range of community responses:
The Campaign Against Racial Discrimination was founded in 1964 to lobby the Labour government for anti-discrimination laws. A key figure was David Pitt, one of the first Black Labour councillors.
The Indian Workers Association (Great Britain) was founded in 1958 from a number of existing organisations. It took up social and welfare issues, campaigned against discrimination and had good links with the British trade union movement. Key figures were Avtar Jouhl and Jagmohan Joshi.
In the 1970s a large number of mainly short-lived, but often very active organisations were formed which produced journals and newspapers, such as Race Today.
In the wake of the deaths of 13 young people in an arson attack in 1981 the New Cross Massacre Action Committee mobilised 20,000 people in protest.
Source for Black and Asian struggles in our collections
Pamphlets
Journals and Newspapers
Books
Race, Class and Education, edited by Len Barton and Stephen Walker (1983)
The Local Politics of Race by Gideon Ben-Tovim (1986)
Race, Prejudice and Education by Cyril Bibby (1959)
Racism and antiracism: inequalities, opportunities and policies, edited by Peter Braham, Ali Rattansi and Richard Skellington (1992)
Blood on the Streets: a report by Bethnal Green and Stepney Trades Council on Racial Attacks in East London (1978)
Policing by Multi-racial consent: the Handsworth experience by John Brown (1982)
The Heart of the Race: Black women's lives in Britain by Beverley Bryan, Stella Dadzie and Suzanne Scafe (1985)
Black Youth in Crisis, edited by Ernest Cashmore and Barry Troyna (1982)
Race Relations in Britain by Anthony Chater (1966)
Racial Discrimination in England: based on the PEP report by W. W. Daniel /with an introduction by Mark Abrams (1968)
Commonwealth Immigrants by R B Davison (1964)
Colour and the British Electorate, 1964: six case studies, edited by Nicholas Deakin (1965)
Colour, Citizenship and British Society: based on the Institute of Race Relations report, by Nicholas Deakin with Brian Cohen and Julia McNeal, with a foreword by E. J. B. Rose (1970)
Indian Workers' Associations in Britain by DeWitt John Jr. (1969)
Catching Them Young: Sex, Race and Class in Children's Fiction by Bob Dixon (1977)
Black and White on the Buses: the 1963 colour bar dispute in Bristol by Madge Dresser (1986)
Black settlers in Britain 1555-1958 by Nigel File and Chris Power (1981)
The Rise of Enoch Powell: an examination of Enoch Powell's attitude to immigration and race by Paul Foot (1969)
Staying Power by Peter Fryer (1984)
There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack: the cultural politics of race and nation by Paul Gilroy (1992)
Coloured Immigrants in Britain by J. A. G. Griffith, with a chapter on race relations in the United States by Herman H. Long (1960)
Black British, White British by Dilip Hiro (1973)
Police Power and Black People by Derek Humphry, with a commentary by Gus John (1972)
A History of Black and Asian Writing in Britain, 1700-2000 by C.L. Innes (2002)
Because They're Black by Gus John and Derek Humphry (1971)
A Savage Culture: racism - a black British view by Remi Kapo (1981)
Race, Riots and Policing: lore and disorder in a multi-racist society by Michael Keith (1993)
Uprising! The police, the people and the riots in Britain's cities by Martin Kettle and Lucy Hodges (1982)
Crime, Police, and Race Relations: a study in Birmingham, by John R. Lambert, with the assistance of Robert F. Jenkinson, foreword by Terence Morris (1970)
The Racial Politics of Militant in Liverpool: the black community's struggle for participation in local politics 1980-1986 by Liverpool Black Caucus (1986)
Murder in the Playground: the Burnage Report by Ian A Macdonald (1989)
The Extent of Racial Discrimination by Neil McIntosh, David J. Smith (1974)
Race Relations, by Philip Mason (1970)
Racism and Black Resistance in Britain by Robert Moore (1975)
Black Britain by Chris Mullard, with an account of recent events at the Institute of Race Relations by Alexander Kirby (1973)
Black England by Rudy Narayan (1977)
New Backgrounds: the immigrant child at home and at school, edited by Robin Oakley (1968)
Speaking out: Black girls in Britain by Audrey Osler (1989)
Immigrants in Industry by Sheila Patterson (1968)
Immigrants and Race Relations 1960-1967 by Sheila Patterson (1969)
The Closed Question: race relations in Britain today by Dick Pixley (1968)
The Making of the Black Working Class in Britain by Ron Ramdin (1987)
Race, Community and conflict: a study of Sparkbrook by John Rex and Robert Moore with the assistance of Alan Shuttleworth, Jennifer Williams (1967)
Race and Empire in British Politics by Paul B. Rich (1990)
Prospero's Return? historical essays on race, culture and British society by Paul B. Rich (1994)
Colour and Citizenship: a report on British Race relations by E. J. B. Rose in association with Nicholas Deakin (1969)
Britain's Black Population, published by the Runnymede Trust and the Radical Statistics Race Group (1980)
Black Tribunes: black political participation in Britain by Terri A. Sewell (1993)
The Changing Pattern of Black Politics in Britain by Kalbir Shukra (1998)
A Different Hunger; writings on black resistance by A Sivanandan (1982)
Communities Of Resistance: writings on black struggles for socialism by A Sivanandan (1990)
Race in Britain today by Richard Skellington with Paulette Morris, with an introductory essay by Paul Gordon (1992)
Racial Disadvantage in Employment by David J. Smith (1974)
Racial Minorities & Public Housing by David Smith and Anne Whalley (1975)
The Facts of Racial Disadvantage: a national survey by David J. Smith (1976)
Racial Disadvantage in Britain: the PEP report by David J. Smith (1977)
Race and Racism in Contemporary Britain by John Solomos (1989)
Public awareness and the Media: a study of reporting on race by Barry Troyna (1981)
Race and Racialism, edited by Sami Zubaida, foreword by T. B. Bottomore (1970)
Pamphlets
The library has over one hundred pamphlets on race and discrimination
Journals and Newspapers
The Leveller
Race and Class
Race Today - (to read more about this journal click here)
Spare Rib