During the 1950s and 1960s people from Jamaica and Trinidad settled in Britain.

Courtney's parents came from Jamaica to London in the early 1960s. This was just before Courtney was born.

Click here to watch I Was Born in London...
video courtesy of The South Bank Show

After the Second War London was in bad shape. Bombs had destroyed parts of the city. Help was needed to rebuild it, and to develop London's transport system.

People in Jamaica and Trinidad spoke English and knew about Britain and its culture. The British Government invited them to settle and work in Britain.

Windrush passenger list image courtesy of The National Archives

In 1948, the SS Windrush left Jamaica for England with just 492 people. The ship arrived at Tilbury Docks in London.

The houses found for the new arrivals were often old and in bad repair. Many families had to live in just one room. Music was very important, as it reminded the new Londoners of their far-away home.

Before this there is evidence of black people being here in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and many came to fight in the first and second world war (a famous Jamaican nurse Mary Secole came here after serving in the Crimean War)

Find out about the Windrush passengers on the BBC website

The Windrush is celebrated in an excellent BBC website. Here, pupils can:

• research information about the Windrush and its passengers


• listen to first-hand accounts from some of the 492 original passengers

A number of musicians settled in Britain either permanently or for a short time.
These included Alton Ellis and Desmond Dekker. Records became available in Britain catering for Jamaican musical demands. These included the Bluebeat label, followed by Island and Trojan.

Soon, Caribbean musical styles like Calypso, Ska, Rock Steady and Reggae began to attract a wider audience as young people were attracted by the freshness and originality of the music. Crucially, Caribbean musical styles became an important influence on popular music and jazz.

In 1998, Courtney Pine directed the music and performed at the televised Windrush Gala Concert held to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush from the Caribbean.

• Listen to Jamaican artists popular in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s.
  
  Begin with Desmond Dekker's The Israelites and Millie Small's My Boy Lollipop


• Imagine you have sailed from the Caribbean on the Windrush


• Make up lyrics for a song comparing life in Britain with the Caribbean