*Some years ago, I featured OUR ROOTS documenting the WINDRUSH Story Project on EURweb albeit in black and white.
Years later, many are talking about WINDRUSH in the United Kingdom and beyond. I first documented it in the UK’s Voice newspaper. Later it was documented again on EURWEB in colour. What is WINDRUSH about?… you may ask.
Firstly, Windrush was the name given to the German ship which on June 22nd, 1948, was the ship known as HMT Empire Windrush when it docked at Tilbury, Essex in England and helped changed the face of British history forever. The ship carried one of the first waves of Caribbeans who were looking to make a fresh start in Britain. This was at the British government’s invitation. The group of Windrush arrivals numbered 492 — men, women, and one child, a 13-year-old boy. Since then, the Windrush Generation has made a remarkable impact on British culture, and communities are richer for their heritage and traditions. British politicians of the day then questioned why Caribbean people were allowed to come to Britain. There was hostility to their coming.
In light of this, this year, it has been necessary to highlight the story and commemorate 75 years of Windrush. since the arrival of Caribbean people to the UK through workshop activities, storytelling and video presentations, and documentaries. It is a Black history story that must be told.
There also was the Windrush scandal that surfaced in 2017 after it emerged that hundreds of Commonwealth citizens, many of whom were from the ‘Windrush’ generation, had been wrongly detained, deported, and denied legal rights. It was a political time bomb.
There is the ‘Windrush’ generation who are those who arrived in the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973. So as a spinoff from OUR ROOTS, the WINDRUSH Story documents entirely the history of people from the Caribbean who have helped shape Britain today.
Called The Windrush story project, I aim to educate young black Britons and the enthused about Windrush through my Windrush active cartoon workshop sessions and presentation events. I believe that all should learn and know more as this has now been documented on YOUTUBE courtesy of Southwark Libraries and Heritage’s YOUTUBE channel – (253) The Windrush Story Project – YouTube
TAYO Fatunla whose work has been featured on MSN.com via EURweb.com is an award-winning British-Nigerian Comic Artist, Editorial Cartoonist, Writer, and Illustrator and is an artist of the African diaspora. He is a graduate of the prestigious Kubert School, in New Jersey, US., and recipient of the 2018 ECBACC Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award for his illustrated OUR ROOTS creation and series – Famous people in Black History – He participated at UNESCO’s Cartooning In Africa forum held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and the Cartooning Global Forum in Paris, France and has held a virtual OUR ROOTS cartoon workshop for SMITHSONIAN- National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C. His Fela Kuti image is prominently featured in Burna Boy’s mega-Afrobeat hit song “Ye”. – https://www.instagram.com/tfatunla123
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB: TAYO Fatunla’s SOUTH AFRICA Diary – Vilakazi Street Where Two Nobel Peace Prize Winners Advanced Their
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