Citation

Rush A. History Compass 2007; 5(2): 463-484.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00403.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Just after the Second World War, a group of migrants from the Caribbean arrived in Britain on a former troopship, the Empire Windrush, heralding a significant post-war migration of Commonwealth colonials to Britain. The arrival of West Indians in Britain after 1945 launched a complex and diverse historiography that not only took notice of the centuries-long presence of people of colour in Britain, but has been vital to reshaping the way that historians understand the field of British history. This article traces the myriad paths of the historiography devoted to West Indians who lived in Britain in the twentieth century, looking at the work of scholars as they have explored West Indians in the context of the black diaspora, immigration, British national identity and culture, the British Empire and domestic decolonisation.