Previously unheard stories from the Windrush generation will be unveiled in a new online collection by the Museum of London.
Audio recordings detailing people's experience of arriving and settling in the capital have been shared to commemorate Windrush Day on June 22.
These lively and personal accounts will provide insight into the generation's remarkable contribution to London life, as well as the strength of character and resilience of a community in the face of adversity and discrimination that lingers to this day, the museum said.
The collection supplements a physical display on the subject which currently cannot be accessed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One nurse who recalled her experiences said: "I used to cry and I rang my mother in Trinidad and I told her this place is awful. It’s cold, it’s damp, it’s grey, It’s dirty and broken down. So much building sites everywhere. And about the people who were so rude and horrible. And I want to come home. And she said 'come home to do what?' She said 'listen. I did not send you, you did not go to London to like the city or to like the people. You went for a purpose."
Speaking about an encounter in hospital she added: "This man, who was in long term, kept calling us monkeys. How are your treehouses? You know, how are your treehouses? How do you get up there? And how do you get around? Donkeys, monkeys, you know? And one day he said something like that or he said you black something to me. And I said listen. I am sick of you calling me names. I said I am black. For 21 years I know I’m black. So tell me something I don't know. And he stood up and he said, what do you mean?
"I said exactly, tell me something I don't know because I am aware that I am black for 21 years. And that changed everything for me and for him. He started to ask, you know, more decent questions. Until I ended up taking photo albums onto the ward to show him."
Foteini Aravani, Digital Curator at the Museum of London, said it was fantastic to share oral histories celebrating the Windrush generation and the ones who followed after.
"These vivid and lively conversations bring to light the lived experience of different generations of Londoners with Afro-Caribbean heritage, celebrating the contribution of these communities to life in London and highlighting the hardships they, and their family before them, faced as part of their everyday life in Britain," she said.
Objects accompanying the collection are behind Covid-19 shut doors at the Museum of London and the Museum of London Docklands including The London Sugar and Slavery gallery which contextualises these narratives within a history of London’s involvement in the transatlantic trade.
Aleema Gray, Community History Curator at the Museum of London Docklands, said the display encourages collective reflection and London's role in the world at the time.
“A key part of this acknowledges histories of colonisation, imperialism and forced and voluntary migration," she said.
"Having arrived as part of Britain’s commonwealth citizens, the Windrush generation has changed the political and cultural makeup of London today.
"The gallery seeks to document these stories of identity in formation and recognises the way in which such stories continue to put forward important questions concerning citizenship and anti-racism.”
The voice clips were recorded as part of a Conversation Booth project in 2018 and were collated by Listening to London museum volunteers.
Visitors at home will also find a list of additional resources to learn more about Windrush and the challenges faced by the Afro-Caribbean community.
