What was it like to arrive in
Britain?
L/O – To discover how peoples’ experiences of an event
can differ and how we can try to understand their
experiences
Starter – Brainstorm reasons why people come to
Britain. How many can you think of?
What was it like to arrive in Britain?
• We
In June
1948, 500out
West
call working
what people in the past thought and
Indians arrived in Britain on
felt ‘EMPATHY’.
That is what this lesson is all about.
board
the SS Empire
Windrush. It was 3 years
after
of WW2.
You
willthe
beend
using
extracts from interviews with people who
Britain was short of factory
came
to Britain
in the
1940s
workers,
but other
kinds
of and 1950s to help you find out
workers aswhat
well.they thought and how they felt.
Think about
how people might feel:
• They advertised
in the West
Indies (the Caribbean). Over
Jotnext
down
a few125,000
words (5-10) that best describe
the
ten years,
WestitIndians
what
mightcame
havetofelt like to have arrived in Britain
Britain. What was it like for
frompeople
the West
Indies
these
to arrive
andon the Empire Windrush in
live in a new country?
1948.
What was it like to arrive in Britain?
• You are going to study sources A-I. For each source,
use some of the words in the source to make a list
of the words and phrases that describe what it felt
like to be a West Indian immigrant. Then jot down
any other words that you’d use to describe those
feelings.
Source A
Immigrants from
Jamaica arriving at
Newhaven, 22
September 1958.
Source B – Euton Christian – Town Councillor
Source C – Cecil Holness – Motor Mechanic
Source D – Berris Anderson & Pearline Wynter
Source E – Connie Mark - Nurse
Source F – Ivan Weekes – Local Councillor
Source G – Vince Reid – Teacher
Source H – Aldwyn Roberts – Singer
Source I – Tryphena Anderson – Nurse
What was it like to arrive in Britain?
As a class, now compile a complete list of words and
phrases that describe what it felt like to be a West
Indian immigrant in 1948:
Words
Phrases
Compare the class list with your words from the
sources.
Are they different? Why?
The Big Ideas
• Part of History is empathy –
using sources to work out
people’s feelings and
experiences.
• You will use empathy a lot in
History, but you do NOT just
imagine what life was like for
people. In History you use
sources to find out their
feelings and experiences.
The Big Ideas
• It’s harder to find out the
feelings of some people than of
others – because we don’t have
enough sources to tell us what
they were thinking.
1. What kinds of sources have
been used in this lesson to find
out about the experiences of
the people on the Empire
Windrush?
2. Are people’s memories, such as
those you’ve read in Source A-I,
likely to be trustworthy
evidence?
The Big IdeasRemember!
3. Here are five people.
There
is always
more than one answer
Whose feelings
do you
think it would
be easywas
to it like to…’
‘What
find out about and whose
William Gladstone,
Prime Minister when
would be difficult?
Queen Victoria was
to
queen.
Different people have different experiences.
You have already worked this out for
yourselves from the sources in this lesson.
Whenever you study and event in history, you
Thomas Woodcock, a
Robert Blincoe, a
Harald Hardrada –
Queen Elizabeth
need
to
remember
that
people
have
different
brewer who lived in
young factory
King of Norway
Wymondham, Norfolk,
worker who lived
1045-1066
experiences
and
attitudes.
when Elizabeth I was queen
around 1900
The Big Ideas
One of the first topics you’ll investigate in Year 7 is the Norman
Conquest. Your teacher may ask you a question like this:
What do you think of the students answer? What should she
think about or do to improve her answer?
Plenary
1. What was the SS Empire Windrush?
2. Why did West Indian’s come to Britain?
3. Did West Indian’s experience any bad things?
4. Did West Indian’s experience any good things?
5. What is empathy?
6. Why is it important in History?
Did we meet our learning objective?
L/O – To discover how peoples’ experiences of an event can
differ and how we can try to understand their experiences