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Union Blacks: Windrush flag

By  Colin Graham 2000

This flag documents a pivotal moment in British history. On 22 June 1948, the MV Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in Essex, carrying hundreds of pioneers, among them the late Sam King MBE, who travelled from the Caribbean to begin new lives in Britain. Some of their names form the foundation of this flag, drawn from public record documents and from Sam King’s book Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain.

The Windrush Flag stands as a powerful symbol of migration, resilience, and community for the Windrush generation and their descendants. It celebrates their pioneering journey and honours the profound contributions they have made to shaping modern British society.

The concept for the Windrush Flag was inspired by Sam King himself. After seeing the Union Blacks Flag, he encouraged me to create a companion flag using the names listed at the back of his book. The names inscribed on the Windrush Flag were sourced from Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain and further supplemented with records from the Public Records Office in Richmond.

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Peter Fryer

This art work challenges notions of form and content by creating a dictionary definition of its subject. Because the obvious routes of a pictorial representation have been avoided, it allows the viewer the opportunity to reflect on the subject in a new way.

C.L.R James

Paul Robeson

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