With illegal blues parties in basements and impassioned activism across the city, Windrush was more than just a London story – as this new string of events proves
When considering Britain’s Windrush legacy, most people may think of London. The majority of the Jamaican immigrants who came to the UK in the 50s settled there – my own grandparents plumped for Stevenage, just north of the city. And yet, in the 2011 census, it was estimated that up to 5,000 of Britain’s then 160,000 Jamaican-born population – and plenty more West Indians besides – live in Leeds, the northern city I moved to as an adult. In celebration of Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of independence, the Leeds community have chosen to mark their own contribution to the city’s culture with the Out of Many festival, a Lottery-funded string of arts and cultural events named after Jamaica’s motto.
Five days before the launch of its opening exhibition, Rebellion to Romance, curator Susan Pitter shows me around the floorspace at Leeds central library. A second-generation Jamaican, Pitter has been active in the community since her teens, presenting Caribbean current affairs on local radio before being introduced to Arthur France, founder of the Leeds West Indian Carnival.
