Celebrating and fighting for justice for the Windrush Generation

Published: 23 June 2020

National Windrush Day is an annual event held since 2018 on 22 June to mark the anniversary of the day the Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks in 1948, bringing with it several hundred passengers.

When the Windrush scandal unfolded two years ago, staff and students at St George’s started exploring the contribution of the Windrush generation so that they could create an exhibition to celebrate their input into health and medicine and embed this history into the curriculum. The exhibition is still on the first floor of the University site.

The exhibition incorporates portraits and installations by students and artists Kay-Anne Smith and Sola Olulode to highlight many African Caribbean people who, despite their significant contributions to healthcare, were unfortunately widely unknown. Among them were Lord David Pitt, the first black member of the House of Lords who had led the British Medical Association in 1985, and Elisabeth Yates who became a national advisor for Occupational Therapy. The exhibition also has wider aims to change the University environment and to make it more representative of both the patient and student community.

Feedback has been very positive, with a visitor to the exhibition saying:

“Beautiful. As a black girl at St George’s, I never feel represented or like my culture / history is appreciated. It’s amazing to see the effort put into this Black History Display.”

Portrait one (pictured above) is by student Sahana Gengatharan of Elizabeth Yates who became a national advisor for Occupational Therapy.

Reflecting on the exhibition, Margot Turner, Senior Lecturer in Diversity and Medical Education and students Valentina Abi Osman, Bankolu Alo, Jonathan Tugbobo and Adrian Crawford said, “Working on the exhibition of great heroes, who many had never heard of, made us realise that we needed to do more to effect change and properly embed these issues into our curriculum. Some of us were able to work to create a new case for a learning week and teaching session for all 2nd year medics to celebrate the contribution of migrants to the UK. This year, our aim is to create a page on our online learning platform, Canvas, and use materials collected to start an archive with the library, allowing for a permanent resource to be available at the University. We hope this is only the beginning of decolonizing the curriculum.

“Sadly, what hasn’t changed since the exhibition is the ongoing impact of the Windrush scandal in the government’s `hostile environment’, which has seen families of the Windrush generation who have set up home, had families, paid tax and given so much to our country be deported and imprisoned, lose their jobs and so much more.”

The annual Windrush Day was established in 2018 in the wake the Windrush scandal. It aims to celebrate the Caribbean community and their contributions to British society since a generation of workers came to the UK by invitation to help rebuild Britain after World War II. In the years that followed, many found themselves denied their rights or deported due to changes in the immigration law.

On Windrush Day 2020, the author of a report into the scandal has warned there is a “grave risk” of similar failures happening again if the government does not implement its recommendations. Read the BBC News article.

Portrait two (pictured right) is by Sola Olulode of Daphne Steele. Daphne Steele was the first black matron in the UK of local hospital, St James.