Small Island Context Flashcards
Brown Babies?
Dubbed by the media and seen as the brown baby problem. Estimated 1,000-2,000 mixed race children from Black GIs and white British women. Seen as illigitimate and stigma around them. Many given up for adoption or children’s homes. Racial abuse suffered by children and their mothers.
NHS?
=> 5 July 1948.
=> First health system in Western society providing free medical care to entire population.
=> Some Brits believed immigrants were taking advantage of this.
Aftermath of war? Blitz?
=> UK suffered excessive damage after the war, needed much rebuilding. London was one of the most bombed.
=> Blitz: 20,000 bombs, killing thousands, 70,000 buildings completely destroyed.
Immigration Act of 1948?
=> Granted citizens of the Empire and Commonwealth the right to stay and enter the UK.
=> Britain needed labour in sectors such as transport and construction after the war.
How did colonial education present Britain?
=> Emphasised Britain’s role as a benevolent ruler.
=> Britain’s superiority, focus on British civilisation.
=> Instil loyalty and promote British values.
1953 Government Report of the Working Party on Coloured Peope?
=> Prejudicially stated that Caribbeans’ suffered from “irresponsibility, quarrelsomeness, and a lack of discipline.”
Women’s job in a marriage as marriage prescriptions said?
=> To foster happy marriages, and steer it away from divorce.
Women and work due to the war?
=> Not encouraged to work.
=> Proved capabilities in the war, but afterwards were expected to return to domesticity.
=> By 1951, the number of working women had returned to pre-war level and a bar on married women working continued.
The Empire Windrush? Famous Passengers?
=> One of the first Caribbean ships to arrive, carrying 1027 passengers with dreams of a brighter future.
=> Lord Kitchener, the ‘King of Calypso’: “London is the place for me.”
Travelling solo for women?
Was less common in the 1940s due to reasons such as societal norms, cultural expectations, and safety considerations.
Skilled migrants? Their fate in Britain?
=> There was the arrival of many skilled migrants, including lawyers, teachers and mechanics, but few made it into the professional world of work.
Sense of duty?
=> Young Jamaican men felt a sense of duty to fight for the Mother Country.
Sense of unity during the war?
=> Collective sense of duty during the war, and temporary equality seemed to be experienced in the armed forces. Both white and black men were promoted.
