Multi-Cultural Manchester
African-Caribbean
Many of the sources cited above for the history of the African communities in Manchester also apply to the African-Caribbean communities. A much broader overview of the subject can be found in Jo Stanley's article, 'Mangoes to Moss Side: Caribbean Migration to Manchester in the 1950s and 1960s' (Manchester Region History Review, vol. 16, 2002-03 - pdf file).
There is also the publication 'Rude Awakening: African / Caribbean settlers in Manchester: an account' (Roots Oral History Project, 1992). This is based on interviews from the 1970s. Unfortunately we do not have a copy of this book at present, but the Race Relations Resource Centre do.
The autobiography of Whit Stennett, Lord Mayor of Trafford in 2003-04, entitled 'A Bittersweet Journey' (352.160942 STE), is also useful in showing the experiences of an immigrant from Jamaica who arrived here in 1959. It deals with his early life in Jamaica, his work in Manchester for the GPO, and his cricketing experiences in England, amongst other topics.
Novels can also be a potential source, because the authors may draw on their experiences of their community. One example is Joe Pemberton's 'Forever And Ever Amen'. This tells the story of a young boy growing up in Moss Side at the end of the 1960's but with references back to St Kitts where his family had come from. Please see the educational resource 'Picture Book Moss Side' which links extracts from this book to photographic images of Moss Side at this time.
Reference to West Indians is also made in the Manchester Evening Chronicle 1958 series 'Strangers in our Midst'.
Contents of Multi-Cultural Manchester
- Introduction
- General Sources
- Photographs
- 'Strangers in Our Midst’ 1958
- Race Relations
- African
- African-Caribbean (this page)
- Armenians
- Belarusians
- Belgian Refugees
- Chinese
- Germans
- Greeks
- Hungarians
- Irish
- Italians
- Jewish
- Kosovan and other refugees in the 1990s/00s
- Polish
- Scottish
- South Asian
- Ukrainians
- Welsh
- Early Black Presence in Manchester
- Early Muslim communities in Manchester
- Manchester and Slavery
Further information
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Acts of Achievement
Lists the the contribution of the various black communities to British culture and history celebrated in the annual Black History Month.
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Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre
This centre has a wide range of resources on black and ethnic minority communities.
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Black History 4 Schools
A website for teachers that includes downloadable teaching materials, articles and weblinks on black and Asian British history.
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Black History Trail for Greater Manchester
The trail is designed as a historical tour of the area, and a guide to sites relevant to the history of the African and Caribbean communities in the area. Developed by the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre, Dominique Tessier, Maria Noble of Manchester Education Department and the Black Arts Alliance.
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CASBAH
This website caters for Caribbean studies, and the history of black and Asian people in the UK. You can search the database for entries relating to Manchester.
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George Padmore Institute
A library, archive, educational, research and information centre housing materials relating to the black community of Caribbean, African and Asian descent in Britain and continental Europe. Includes the complete body of evidence of the Macdonald Inquiry into racism and racial violence in Manchester schools (the Burnage Inquiry, 1987).
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Moving Here
A excellent website on two hundred years of migration to Britain.
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Moving Manchester
This website details how the experience of migration has informed the work of writers in Greater Manchester from 1960 to the present. A project by Lancaster University.
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Our Lives Online
This is an asylum-seeker project run by the Women's Electronic Village Hall in Manchester.
