In the Grip of Change: the Caribbean and its British Diaspora
29 October 2024 – 28 March 2025
Monday to Friday 9am - 7pm and Saturday 9.45am - 5pm
Free entry
Britain’s Caribbean colonies had been exploited for centuries, but increasing demands for self-determination emerging from riots and strikes during the 1930s forced Britain to introduce political reform. Progress towards self-government unfolded in stages between the 1960s and 1980s. Today Britain retains six overseas territories in the Caribbean and is still linked to its former colonies through the Commonwealth. The process of decolonisation is ongoing.
This exhibition traces British Caribbean colonies’ paths to independence, highlighting the work of transnational activists. It also explores the Caribbean diaspora in Britain and how successive changes to immigration and nationality laws have culminated in the 'Windrush' scandal.
Visitors can trace the journey from colony to independence and diaspora through a vibrant range of materials from Senate House Library's Caribbean and Black history collections. Items on display include pamphlets, posters, newspapers, comics, calypsos, poetry and badges. Visitors will have the opportunity to listen to new oral history recordings created as part of the AHRC-funded project ‘The Windrush Scandal in a Transnational and Commonwealth Context’.
Exhibition Credits
Curation: Dr Juanita Cox, Argula Rublack
Conservation: Salvador Alcántara-Peláez, Christos Fotelis
Interpretation: Susan Dymond
Design: Northover&Brown
Mount-making: Rebecca Ash
Graphic production: Displayways
AV installation: ADi Audiovisual Ltd