What does the source tell me?

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What does the source tell me?
Children in London getting ready for evacuation
1939. (Imperial War Museum)
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What does the source tell me?
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What does the source tell me?
During 1943 an international cricket match was to
be played at Lords and I as asked to take part. I
booked rooms at the Imperial Hotel for my wife
and daughter and myself, and having had unhappy
experiences in the past, at the time of booking I
enquired Have you any objection to coloured
people? the answer was No. I arrived at the
hotel with my superior officer from the Ministry
of Labour and the manager of the cricket tour
The hotel manageress said to my superior officer
We will not have niggers in the hotel because of
the Americans. If they stay tonight their luggage
will be put out tomorrow.
Learie Constantine, Colour Bar 1954
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In a village near Newcastle called Silverdale I
found a family who were very friendly to me and
to the other East Africans In was used to bossy
settlers at home. I had known mostly arrogant and
rude army officers who had no sympathy for
African advancement. The Evans family were
different. They toiled in the coal-pits during
the day, and at home they did not have a single
servant. Mrs Evans did everything at home, just
like my mother. As workers, they were very close
to Africans. They were friendly and
understanding, and I found them willing and
sympathetic listeners. They wanted to know about
East Africa, and especially about Kenya. They
were surprised and indignant to hear how their
own government was oppressing Africans. This was
news to them. At that time the majority of
English people believed that their government in
the African colonies was a benevolent one which
worked very hard to uplift the African. They
felt ashamed to hear that the main task of
their government was to exploit Africa and to
do everything possible to keep Africans poor and
backward.
Bildad Kaggia (Kenya), Roots of Freedom 1975
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A soup wagon donated by British Guiana (now
Guyana) being used by bomb victims in London.
(Imperial War Museum)
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Up in Cumberland the camp was near a small town
by the sea. There were only a few Jamaicans
there. One hot afternoon four of us were lazing
around on the beach when two children came by, a
boy about eleven and a girl a few years younger.
They stared at us very hard but didnt say
anything Our teacher told us that black men
live in trees and they dont wear shoes and they
dont wear clothes and they dont have
houses. You can tell your teacher now that you
met some black men who do wear shoes and
clothes. My friends were furious now. Why should
we educate these stupid kids just because their
teacher was ignorant? Are the teachers really
so ignorant or do they tell the children lies? We
were angry with the teachers but I couldn't be
angry with the children.
Eric Ferron, Man Youve Mixed, London 1995.
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We are quite prepared to accept any suitable
European women from the Colonies for enrolment
into the ATS and would hope that you would
arrange with the Treasury for their fares to be
paid I must emphasise that this applies to
European women only and that we cannot agree to
accept coloured women for service in this country.
Letter from the Foreign Office to the Colonial
Office 1943.
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Part of the story of the British Commonwealth in
the Second World War took place in a climate of
stark racial prejudice. In one quarter at least,
black men were not even permitted to lie as
corpses alongside the white corpses of their
fellow men, let alone to receive equal levels of
pay or promotion while still alive.
Somerville, Our War 1998.
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He wandered the cities with very little money in
his pockets. He did not know which places had a
colour bar and which had not, and he was a bold
African indeed who entered a NAAFI meant for
British troops. In some cases he was welcomed,
but in others he would be cold-shouldered. I have
the impression that this segregation was never
part of a deliberate plan in NAAFIs but depended
on the whim of local commanders or even of the
men running them. It must be added here that the
individual British soldier was invariably kind to
the African and refused to recognise any sort of
colour bar. In the army itself, however, there
was strict segregation since the British sergeant
was senior always to the African sergeant.
H Barber, Africans in Khaki 1948
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In 1944 we returned to India from the Kalewa
battlefront. I took back with me many lasting
memories. Among the shells and bullets there had
been no pride, no air of superiority from our
European comrades-in-arms. We drank the same tea,
used the same water and lavatories, and shared
the same jokes. There were no racial insults. The
white heat of battle had blistered all that away
and left only our common humanity and our common
fate, either death or survival.
Waruhiu Itote, MauMau General 1967
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