Reearch Task

Black Britian Timeline

1948: Britain’s first group of post-war Caribbean immigrants come to London on the SS Empire Windrush. Many of the 492 passengers settle in Brixton now a prominent black district.

1950s to 1960s: Mass migration of workers from all over the English-speaking Caribbean, particularly Jamaica They is “invited” to fill labour requirements in hospitals, transport and railways and contribute to rebuilding the post-war urban economy.

1962: Commonwealth Immigrants Act and a succession of laws in 1968, 1971, and 1981 severely restrict Black entry to Britain, and brings this period to an end. Emergent Black and Asian struggle against race prejudice and intolerance.

1975: David Pitt brings a new popular voice to the House of Lords as one of the first black Peers.

1987: Black population, workers, and community activists aid election of four Black Members of Parliament.

1991-98: Black Londoners numbered half a million people in the 1991 census, of which an increasing proportion was London- or British-born. Despite modest socio-economic gains, discrimination remained a problem, even where skill deficiencies were being overcome. Black Parliamentarians increase to six in 1992 and nine in 1997 elections.

How was the social landscape changing?

The Commonwealth Act of 1948 meant all citizens of the ex-Empire could come to the UK. 1948 saw the SS Empire Windrush bring over thousands of Jamaicans and Caribbean service men and women. The West Indians and Asians took many of the jobs that British would not do. The previous pressure on food supplies had disappeared by 1954. Both British capitalists and sections of the British State were encouraging emigration to the UK from the Caribbean and Jamaica during the 1950s and 1960s. In the 60s Government ministers and private employers both started to recruit directly from the West Indies. A concern had risen due to the number of ‘coloured’ people in the 50s, but race had not become an issue until the Watershed year (1958). The Notting Hill and Nottingham riots added race to the social and political agenda, making race a big issue. During the riots groups of white men-otherwise known as the Teddy boys-both assaulted and harassed black people because of the colour of their skin.

Terms that are important!:

Racialisation- Processes of the discursive production of racial identities. It signifies the extension of racial meanings to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group. -allwords.com

Emigration- To leave ones place of residence or country to live elsewhere. –Merriam-webster.com

Migration- To move from one county, place, or locality to another. –merriam-webster.com

Immigrant – A person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence. –merriam-webster.com

Sapphire: How it puts across collective identity?

It puts a different view on how the black people in britian where shown to live in the 1960s. The stereotypes that you may come across in many films in the same era. There was a general representation of balck people being low incomeed workers and have the jobs that people did not want. In contrast to this, in Sapphire the main black charater was a doctor which creates a whole new representation to the era. The criminal identity given to the blck population was also changed ion this film as the main killer of the film was in fact a white man. This is a vetry different way in which black are represented.

Task 6: Radio 1Xtra Programme "What is Black British Culture?"

Radio 1Xtra Programme "What is Black British Culture?"

This programme by Radio 1Xtra shows an interpretation on most peoples views on Black British.This included peopl having views that they where either black or british. Some said even though they now live in Britain they are still Carribain or African. However most of them said that as there parents are from the Carribian they are now Black British. I deliberate Black Britain is what people from the West Indies and the Caribbean credited to Britain. This includes food, style sense, language and accents. In the 1940's people from the West Indies thought they were coming to the mother land. There were a lot of them in one house, but they had nowhere else to stay so they put up with it. People of colour were not even allowed in certain venues so they had to find other ways of socialising. This is where the Black British Culture began.

The only place for them to have gathering would be house parties. The Majority of people that came to Britain were Jamaican so they bought the dialect Patois with them. This is because before the WW2 Britain still owned the biggest empire the world has ever seen, owning such countries like Caribbean but as the empire faded the close links between them didn’t which lead to the West Indian people immigrating to the UK. A lot of the black people in the 90s bought a certain fashion to the United Kingdom. This included things like baseball caps, trainers, low jeans and also large accessories like glasses. Many of these fashions are used in today’s fashion world and interpreted by youth culture. The ‘garms’ is when black people in Britain started to make their own mark and identities again by what they wear, by fashion. Celebrities like lil Wayne have been shown fashioning this look many times. People however, say that many things shown in music videos are not influencing youths today in the right way and some things said don’t need to be. People will be influenced by anything! - Music, things shown in videos (drug dealers, guns). Hip-hop, dance, garage and grime music have been accused of having a negative influence on youths however it has been successful where other races have embraced it and not just in the UK The clip also features a comment on David Beckham acting black and influences his appearance to interpret the black culture. This included how he wore his hair. Even though black people have bought so much to the white community recent government statistics show that more white defendants were found guilty then black offenders in 81% of crown court cases yet more black people were sent to prison. There has also been statistics showing that more black boys are under achieving in school then white boys. This is trying to be stopped as there are now groups in certain communities helping people with their education. Many things have now changed in the United Kingdom. Black people have bought to use new accents, food and music which are currently still alive now. This was helped by the birth of the 2nd generation of black people (black people born in the UK) which is when the two generations started to mix. The British dress sense has changed, the UK have new slang "you get me" which is a saying from Jamaica that can now be heard many times a day by youths. The Black British culture is being kept alive as kids can now wear what they want, they have no boundaries like their parents and grandparents would of hand. Youths don’t have to worry whether they are black or British anymore, it’s not neither, or. Black people haven’t lost their identity just yet, and hopefully it will be carried on in the next generation.

Task 5: Windrush

Notes:

• Trevor McDonald was once considered as 'the black news reader' now times have changed and he is consider to be be just the news reader.
• Britian 1948 was exclusively white until over half a million people from the West Indies emigrated to Britain. 
• Black people at this time felt like intruders
• Black Britain has come so far since the late 50s and they have influenced how we live in today's society.
• the black british has now become just british
• Most West Indians where brought up respecting the royal family and our culture even if they did not live in Britain 
• White british people traveled to Jamaica to round up troops for the second world war.
• The West Indian fought to be a part ofBritain 
• West Indian not only fought but they also became musicians and singers
• After the war most of the West Indians went back to their home countries
•   Sugar fields where main source of income and emigration laws changed so it was not easy to get into the USA
• 24 May 1948 - Empire Windrush set sail
• First journey was full of young men looking for work 
• Docking in Essex 
• No one from the home land knew what they where going to do once they where inBritain 
•  Let the new arrivals in an air rad shelter in east london.
• The place the black people where told where the jobs were, including; London, Manchesters 7 the WestMidlands 
•  So the white british people where amazed at the black people doing normal day-to-day work.
• 1/4 Million West Indians arrived in the UK
• West Indians Britain was going to be a beautiful Jayne Are/Shakespeare world, when the reality was much different.
• White people started to resent the black emigrants due to there habits and ways of living; for example loud music.
• White people where baffled my black people
•  The black community where felling isolated
• Black people created their own celebrities and singers within their communities. 
• Black men where represented as sex pests
• Mixed couples where frowned upon
• some White people did not like there black community using there homes and flats.
• The black people where subjected to appalling living conditions
• The Rat Men (white rent collectors) treated the black tenants poorly
• White people also did not like the fact that black people where buying and living in house next door to them.
• The white people presumed that the black population where turning to prostitution to get money even though it was far from the truth.
• Riots between whites and black due to the conflict between the communities
• The white riot of Notting Hill.

Task 4: 1958 Notting Hill Race Riots

Within the clip, black people are being represented as a disruption towards white people and their country through the use of violence and rioting. Racism is being represented as a key subject throughout the as They refer to black people as something ‘New and ugly’ and suggest the term ‘mass interbreeding’ basically saying that black and white people having a child together will affect the London’s west end in the long term. It talks about removing ‘the problem’ and speaks about them as if they are a disease and not human.

Task 2: Black Britain

Task 3: Definitions

IDENTITY:

‘In psychology and sociology, identity is a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations (such as national identity and cultural identity). The concept is given a great deal of attention in social psychology and is important in place identity.’ WIKI – This in theory means that identity is a way in which a person is show to look, act and feel and also how they fit into society. This applies to large groups and communities.

COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

‘The concept of a collective identity refers to a set of individuals' sense of belonging to the group or collective. For the individual, the identity derived from the collective shapes a part of his or her personal identity. It is possible, at times, that this sense of belonging to a particular group will be so strong that it will trump other aspects of the person's personal identity. To put it another way, Collective Identity is the idea that through participating in social activities, individuals can gain a sense of belonging and in essence an "identity" that transcends the individual. Therein are the rewards and risks of Social Networking. One can derive great satisfaction and sometimes great risks from participating. Within a typical collective, agreement is often valued over debate, though even more often fierce battles may erupt.’ http://collectiveidentity.net/node/10 - In comparison with normal identity, collective is the type of identity that informs our decisions of how we fit in to groups of people. This term in my opinion is normally linked with stereotypes; whether it is Irish people always drink Guinness, to black people represented as gangsters.  

MEDIATION:

‘Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties with concrete effects. Typically, a third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate a settlement. Disputants may mediate disputes in a variety of domains, such as commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community and family matters.’ WIKI – Above is the dictionary definition of the term Mediation. In Media, Every time you use a media text, we are not seeing reality, but someone’s version of it. This may seem like an clear point, but it is something that is easily forgotten when we get caught up in enjoying a text. The media place us at one remove from reality: they take something that is real, a person or an event and they change its form to produce whatever text we end up with. This is called mediation. You should be looking for this with any media text.

 REPRESENTATION:

‘A social representation is a stock of values, ideas, metaphors, beliefs, and practices that are shared among the members of groups and communities. Social Representations Theory is a body of theory within Social Psychology and Sociological social psychology. It has parallels in sociological theorizing such as Social Constructionism and Symbolic Interactionism, and is similar in some ways to mass consensus and Discursive Psychology.’ WIKI – In terms of media, this means that a lot like collective identity, representation is how we perceive groups, cultures and communities and also how we are shown them via all the different medias. For example representation of black Britain is Black/Caribbean people shown to live in crime ridden areas, also being shown as criminals. Films like Adulthood demonstrate this.

HEGEMONY:

‘Hegemony is an indirect form of government of imperial dominance in which the hegemon (leader state) rules geopolitically subordinate states by the implied means of power, the threat of force, rather than by direct military force.’ WIKI – In terms of a media context, hegemony is in theory ‘returning to the status quo’ and the order of how people ‘should’ fit in to society. For example in the film ‘Pressure’ the lead black character cannot get a job at an accounting company, showing the boss to be a dominant white man. The result is he doesn’t get the job showing that the status quo is restored as the white people have all the well-paid jobs and the black people have the lower income jobs like shop keeping.

COLONIALISM:

‘Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Colonialism is a set of unequal relationships between the metropole and the colony and between the colonists and the indigenous population.’ WIKI - ?

POST-COLONIALISM:

‘Post Colonialism is a term which refers to a broader understanding of the modern representations of race and ethnicity and the history of these representations.’ http://www.adamranson.plus.com/postcolonialism.htm - in terms of media the, post-colonialism is the aftermath of the pasts evens which have led to today social developments. For example, black people have developed in our society since they first came to Britain in the 1958; the culture has changed dramatically from lower classed citizens to a strong part of society today.

 

SYNCRETISM:

‘The attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion. Grammar . the merging, as by historical change in a language, of two or more categories in a specified environment into one, as, in nonstandard English, the use of was with both singular and plural subjects, while in standard English was is used with singular subjects (except for you in the second person singular) and were with plural subjects.’ http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sycretism - This essentially means when two things come together and share the same beliefs and thoughts to try and make something right. In terms of the media this word can be used for when two different people come together against certain arguments whether it is due to social, political or economic values. For example in Flame in the streets, the two main characters are fight a battle together even though they are from different walks of life.

YOUTH SUBCULTURE

‘A minority youth culture whose distinctiveness depended largely on the social class and ethnic background of its members; often characterized by its adoption of a particular music genre.’ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/youth+subculture - This basically means when people join specific groups to enable their self to fit in and be a part of it.  They will change their ways and beliefs to act similar to the others. An example of this could be a emo, chav, indie, grunger etc. Within the media Sub cultures could be used to represent a time in history or age. They could be used to portray the comparison between sub cultures and different people and how some act different than others.