Windrush Cymru – Our Voices, Our Stories, Our History, an exhibition delivered by Race Council Cymru in partnership with various local organizations, is on tour around five national museums throughout Wales until March 2022 – including The National Waterfront in Swansea currently – and features accounts of 46 Windrushers and their descendants who made Wales their home.

On 21 June 1948, the Empire Windrush docked in Essex with over 1,000 passengers aboard, most from West Indian countries such as Jamaica. The Caribbean migrants were among the first wave of post-war workers who would rebuild Britain and fill vital jobs. For the next 40 years, over half a million would follow them, becoming known as the Windrush Generation. This exhibition collects oral histories (with photos) to document not only the good times of family and contributions they made but also the struggles they faced against racism, finding homes and employment. 

“I’m hoping that everybody will come and hear the stories of sacrifice, pain, suffering [and] of joy, travelling, achievement, power and passion,” Professor Uzo Iwobi, OBE, founder of RCC and initiator of the Windrush Cymru project said. “I know we can never be forgotten or written outside of the history of Wales. We matter.”

National Waterfront Museum, Swansea, until Sun 2 Jan

Admission: free. Info: here

words RHONDA LEE REALI