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Black history in Britain wall chart - prehistory to present day

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Black history in Britain wall chart - prehistory to present day

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Handmade over a Million Years Ago! • Palaeolithic Handaxe • MyLearning

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Start by showing students an image of John Blanke with his fellow trumpeters and discuss what we can tell about him from this picture. This short film could be used to ensure students understand that there were free black people living here before the Transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans. Within a study of life in Tudor England, it could be used to show the presence and likely status of black people. It could also help students understand how we know about ordinary lives in the past, and the power of contemporary documents. It offers an interesting take on the story of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon as the Westminster Tournament Rolls were created to record celebrations at the birth of their son who later died in infancy. Key Stage 4 This short film could be used to introduce lessons on Africans in Tudor England. Students could discuss how historians and archaeologists discover the presence of migrants in that period from parish and court records, tax returns, human remains, etc. Before seeing the film, students could examine the documents about Blanke and Francis and discuss what they tell us, then see what Dr Kaufmann concludes. The conclusion that black people were accepted could prompt comparison with other migrant groups at the time. Students could look at other contemporary documents to consider what they suggest about attitudes to black people. The film mentions the reconquest of Spain from the Moors and attacks by English privateers on Spanish and Portuguese slave ships: how might these have been causes of migration?

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History KS3 / GCSE: The story of black migrants in Tudor England

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Start by showing students an image of John Blanke with his fellow trumpeters and discuss what we can tell about him from this picture. This short film could be used to ensure students understand that there were free black people living here before the Transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.

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Black people in Britain before the Slave trade

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Black people in Britain before the Slave trade

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The British Empire is remembered for its extensive, long-lasting and far-reaching imperial activities that ushered in an era of globalisation and connectivity. The British Empire began in its formative years in the sixteenth century and flourished and grew dramatically, lasting until the twentieth century.
Key Events:
1497 - John Cabot is sent by King Henry VII on an expedition to discover a route to Asia via the Atlantic. Cabot managed to reach the coast of Newfoundland and believed he had made it as far as Asia.
1502 - Henry VII commissioned another voyage, a joint venture between the English and Portuguese to North America.
1547 - Italian explorer Sebastian Cabot, employed by the English Crown, returned to England with information about the Spanish and Portuguese overseas explorations.
1552 - English naval officer Thomas Wyndham brought back sugar and molasses from Guinea.
1554 - Sir Hugh Willoughby, an English soldier and navigator, led a fleet of vessels in search of a northeast route to the Far East. Whilst he perished during the journey, the other vessel was successful in creating a trade agreement with Russia.
1556 - The Tudor conquest of Ireland led to land confiscation to be used for plantations.
1562 - The English naval commander John Hawkins began his involvement in the slave trade between West Africa and the New World. Hawkins, alongside Francis Drake, were given permission for privateering raids against Spanish ports in the Americas showing the determination to catch up with the success of the Spanish and Portuguese in this new "Age of Discovery".
Sir Frances Drake Captain John Smith landing at Jamestown, Virginia, 1607 Arrival of the Mayflower in the New World Charles II and Catherine de Braganza Siege of Gibraltar 1727 The Boston Tea Party, 1773 Battle of Trafalgar, 1805 Treaty of Nanking, 1842 Her Imperial Majesty Queen Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India Boer War re-enactment The British Empire at its territorial peak in 1921
1577 - Francis Drake began his circumnavigation of the world which he completed in 1580.
1578 - The Levant Trading Company was founded in London for trading with the Ottoman Empire.
1597 - The Act of Parliament was passed which allowed transportation of convicted criminals to the colonies.
1600 - Formation of the East India Company.
1604 - Attempts made to establish a colony in Guiana.
Jessica Brain is a freelance writer specialising in history. Based in Kent and a lover of all things historical.
1607 - Captain John Smith and the Virginia Company managed to establish the first permanent settlement in the Americas at Jamestown.
1615 - Defeat of the Portuguese at Bombay in a dispute with the English over trading rights.
1617 - Sir Walter Raleigh begins his voyage to find 'El Dorado'. Meanwhile a smallpox epidemic sweeps through New England, decimating the Native American population.

1620 - The Mayflower set sail from the port of Plymouth and began the journey with around one hundred passengers, mainly Puritans seeking a new life away from persecution across the Atlantic.
1624 - Settlements successfully established at St. Kitts.
1627 - Settlements established in Barbados.
1628 - Settlements established on Nevis.
1633 - English trading post established in Bengal.
1639 - The English settle at Madras.
1655 - The island of Jamaica was taken from the Spanish and annexed.
1660 - The founding of the Royal African Company. The Navigation Acts were passed in order to protect trading networks and products from rival powers such as the Dutch.

1661 - Charles II received a Dowry present from the Portuguese after his marriage to Catherine de Braganza, in the form of Tangier and Bombay.
1664 - The English gained control of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, renaming the settlement New York.
1666 - The Bahamas were successfully colonised.
1668 - English East India Company takes over Bombay.
1690 - Job Charnock formally founded Calcutta on behalf of the East India Company. (This has been disputed and is not universally recognised).
1708 - British East India Company and a rival company were merged into the United Company of Merchants of England, trading to the East Indies.
1713 - The Treaty of Utrecht successfully concludes the War of the Spanish Succession. This treaty allows Britain to make considerable territorial gains in the Americas and Mediterranean, including Newfoundland, St Kitts, Hudson's Bay as well as Gibraltar and Minorca. The treaty also included Britain's right to import slaves into Spanish colonies.
1719 - Ireland declared inseparable from Britain by the British Government.

1727 - War broke out between Spain and Britain, resulting in the siege of Gibraltar by the Spanish. In the same year the Quakers raised the subject of the abolition of slavery in the colonies.
1731 - English factory workers prevented from emigrating to America.
1746 - Madras captured by the French.
1750 - The British and French entered discussions on boundaries in North America.
1756 - Minorca lost to the Spanish.
1759 - Major-General James Wolfe sails up the Saint Lawrence River and captures Quebec City from the French. His victory resulted in the unification of Canada and the American colonies under the British crown. Wolfe, "The Hero of Quebec", was fatally wounded by three musket shots.
1763 - Rising tensions between the European powers vying for monopoly in certain areas, settlements and trading ports result in the Treaty of Paris which redistributed imperial lands. The areas of Lower Canada, land up to the Mississippi, Florida, India and Senegal were ceded to Britain. The British returned Cuba and Manila to the Spanish as part of the treaty.
1765 - The Stamp Act and Quartering Act was not well-received in the American colonies.
1769 - The Great Famine of Bengal killed over 10 million people. In the same year Captain James Cook arrived in Tahiti before making his way to New Zealand.
1770 - Captain James Cook claimed New South Wales for Britain.

1773 - The Boston Tea Party, a reaction to Britain's ability to levy taxes. Rising signs of discontent in America with British rule; only a matter of time before opposition turns to violence and revolt.
1775 - The American war of Independence breaks out and lasts until 1783.
1783 - Conclusion of the international conflict of the American War of Independence, impacted by French involvement, with the Treaty of Versailles. Britain is forced to recognise the independence of 13 colonies. Florida ceded back to the Spanish; Senegal ceded back to France. As part of the agreement however Britain retained imperial control in the West Indies and Canada.
1787 - The British politician William Wilberforce, a member of the Clapham Sect, began his campaign to end slavery in British colonies. This led to a free colony being established in Sierra Leone.
1788 - The first ships carrying convicted criminals from England arrived at Botany Bay, Australia. This marked the beginning of several hundred people being transported, usually for petty crimes, across the world.
1801 - Irish Act of Union unites Britain and Ireland.

1805 - Victory for Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar allows the Royal Navy to have control of the seas.
1806 - Cape of Good Hope occupied by the British.
1807 - Prohibition of shipment of slaves in British ships or to British colonies.
1812 - The War of 1812 and the burning of the White House, a Union Flag was subsequently raised over Washington.
1813 - English East India Company lost its trading monopoly with India.
1816 - The Congress of Vienna was yet another attempt to establish peaceful terms between European powers. Britain returned Dutch and French colonies.
1819 - Singapore founded by Sir Stamford Raffles.
1821 - Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Gold Coast form British West Africa.
1833 - The abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire.
1839 - The Opium Wars between China and Britain, resulting from the trade of opium leading to widespread addictions. As a result the trade was forbidden in China and any opium found was destroyed. The British viewed this as an attack on free trade and destruction of British property; thus war ensued.
1841 - Britain occupied the island of Hong Kong.

1842 - Treaty of Nanking concluded the First Opium War and ceded Hong Kong to the British.
1843 - Maori revolt against British rule in New Zealand.
1853 - Construction of railways in India.
1856 - The Second Opium War.
1858 - East India Company dissolved.
1870 - British troops were withdrawn from Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

1876 - Queen Victoria took the title Empress of India.
1878 - Occupation of Cyprus. The British send an ultimatum to the Zulu King Cetshwayo demanding that he disbands his army within 30 days, thus starting the Anglo-Zulu War.
1879 - Zulus victorious at the Battle of Isandlwana, leaving 1,329 British dead included 52 officers and 806 non-commissioned officers and men. In March at the Battle of Kambula a British force fought off 22,000 Zulu warriors. In June at the Battle of Ulundi the Zulu army are all but destroyed marking the end of the Anglo-Zulu War, it also marked an end to the Napoleonic dynasty.
1800 - The First Boer War between the British and the South African Republic.
1889 - At the instigation of Cecil Rhodes, the British South Africa Co (BSAC) was awarded a royal charter to expand the British Empire and to exploit colonial resouces; Rhodesia established.
1894 - Uganda became a protectorate.
1895 - The Jameson Raid, an unsuccessful raid by the British against the Transvaal Republic.

1899 - Outbreak of the Second Boer War, fought between the British Empire and the two Boer States known as the Republic of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. An accumulation of tension over a century's old rivalry between the two powers, escalated by the profits gained from the Witwatersrand gold mines, led to the Boer Ultimatum.
1917 - The Balfour Declaration announced support for a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.

1931 - The Statute of Westminster gave Dominions constitutional autonomy.
1947 - Declaration of Indian Independence and the partitioning of India and Pakistan.
1948 - British withdrawal from Palestine.
1952 - Mau Mau Rebellion broke out in opposition to white British colonial rule in Kenya.
1956 - Sudan gained independence, closely followed the next year by Ghana. One by one British colonies throughout the African mainland declared independence in the next decade, concluding in 1966. The one exception was Namibia which was late to achieve independence in 1990. In the following decades numerous other countries across the globe proceeded to gain their independence from Britain, with some leaving colonial rule on specific dates whilst others achieved independence through a longer process initiated by dominion status. The breaking up of the British Empire dominated the twentieth century landscape and ushered in a new era of global relations.
1972 - Asians expelled from Uganda.
1982 - Falklands War.
1997 - Hong Kong handed back to Chinese.
Present Day - Britain and the Commonwealth Nations.

The British Empire was a crucial component in shaping lives, peoples, travel, economy, technology, politics and culture for hundreds of years. For better or worse, the impact of the British Empire has earned its place in the history books.

Published: 8th February 2019

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Timeline of the British Empire - Historic UK

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A short history of the rise and fall of the British Empire...

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Black people in Britain during Atlantic slave trade era

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Black people in Britain during Atlantic slave trade era

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This short film enables students to focus on how the enslavement of Africans and the British Empire affected the lives of some Black people living in Britain. The paintings in Ham House could be compared with other paintings showing Black servants: Slavery was legal in the colonies but not in England:
Were Black servants treated in the same way as white servants, or were they treated as slaves?
Your class could try to find out about the 18th century Black presence in their own locality, using the help of their local museum or archive. Key Stage 4 Students could compare paintings showing African and Indian servants and discuss the relationships with their employers. These could be compared with other representations of urban life showing Black people living ordinary lives as a part of wider society. At the end of the film David Olusoga stresses that Black people could live independent lives. Slavery did not exist legally in Britain but most were treated as slaves or, as recent research suggests, did most Black people live alongside white people with similar freedoms, depending on their status?
The section on Wedderburn could lead students to research other working class activists such as William Davidson and William Cuffay, or abolitionists such as Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano.

They could also find out what is known of the 18th century Black presence in their local area, a good starting point being their local museum or archive.

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History KS3 / GCSE: Black people in Britain during the Atlantic slave trade era

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This short film enables students to focus on how the enslavement of Africans and the British Empire affected the lives of some Black people living in Britain. The paintings in Ham House could be compared with other paintings showing Black servants: Slavery was legal in the colonies but not in England: Were Black servants treated in the same way as white servants, or were they treated as slaves?

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25 March 1807, Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade

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25 March 1807, Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade

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King George III signed into law the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, banning trading in enslaved people in the British Empire.

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The campaign to end slavery coincided with the uprisings of the French Revolution and the retaliation of enslaved communities in the British colonies.

Revolution in Saint Domingue

On 23 August 1791 a massive revolt by enslaved Africans erupted on the island of Saint Domingue, now known as Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The uprising would play a crucial role in making Saint Domingue the first Caribbean island to declare its independence and only the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere.

The island had become one of the wealthiest producing colonies and therefore attracted the interest of the French, the Spanish and the English, three of the world's strongest powers at the time. There were a number of factors that led to the rebellion, one of which was the French Revolution in 1789, which called for 'liberté, égalité, fraternité' (liberty, equality and fraternity).

Toussaint L'Ouverture

For 13 years, the country was in a state of civil war with the enslaved fighting for their freedom under the leadership of their fellow Africans.

One of the most successful commanders was Toussaint L'Ouverture, formerly enslaved domestically. Under the military leadership of Toussaint, the freedom fighters were able to gain the upper hand and defeat the French, Spanish and British forces that attempted to regain control.

Toussaint died in 1803 but the wheels of change were in motion. The rebel forces continued to fight for their freedom and on 1 January 1804 Haiti was declared an independent republic.

The Haitian Revolution, as it became known, was the only successful slave rebellion in world history. It became a pinnacle of resistance for enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and the Americas and was a turning point in the fight to abolish transatlantic slavery.

Three years later, on 25 March 1807, King George III signed into law the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, banning trading in enslaved people in the British Empire.

Medal commemorating the 'Emancipation in the West Indies' (ZBA2812)

Today, 23 August is known as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This marks the proclamation of the first black state, Haiti - symbol of the struggle - and the triumph of the principles of liberty, equality, dignity and the rights of the individual.

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The campaign to end slavery began in the late 18th century. Alongside the work of famous campaigners and formerly enslaved people living in London, one of the key events in the abolition movement was a rebellion on the island of Haiti

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Fanny Eaton Animation for KS2/KS3 History Lesson

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This year marks the anniversary of the docking of the merchant ship Empire Windrush at Tilbury in 1948. With a passenger list of British Subjects, most notably including 493 Jamaicans, Windrush has, in the intervening 65 years, become a powerfully symbolic image of the beginning of an ethnically plural Britain. Indeed, this symbolism was recently employed to dramatic effect by Danny Boyle in his opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics.

While Windrush remains a powerful image for us today, the historical emphasis on post-war Commonwealth migration to Britain has tended to obscure the significance of smaller-scale migration before the Second World War. Although it is generally acknowledged that ports such as Cardiff, Liverpool, South Shields and, of course, London have had longstanding, but socially isolated, immigrant populations since the 19 th century, there remains very little research on inland migration and settlement. Inland cities are generally assumed to have not witnessed any significant settlement before at least 1942 when the needs of the war and post war economy began to act as powerful recruitment agents for Empire and Commonwealth workers.

However my research over the last three years has begun to reveal that South Asian migration to Sheffield began with settlers arriving and building new lives here as early as the end of the First World War. By analysing recently digitised sources of evidence for births, marriages and deaths, together with recording the family memories of pioneers' descendants, my research will, hopefully, be able to make a significant addition to the history of migration to Britain before Windrush.

So far, I have discovered official records and family stories of migration for at least fifty Indian settlers in Sheffield in the interwar period, most of these originating in the Pashtun (also known as Pathan) areas of the northern Punjab and the North West Frontier Province of what was British India. Official documents record the many marriages of settlers with native, Sheffield-born women and the subsequent births of their children. Given the probability that, naturally, only a proportion of the migrants will have formed lasting relationships and married their partners, it will also be highly likely that there will have been many more Asian workers who stayed in the city for lesser periods, returning to India without being recorded by officialdom.

In the era before mass international travel, working their passage as lascar seamen, stoking the boilers of British merchant ships was the only option for poor migrants, and the vast majority of the settlers continued to shovel coal and coke in the steel mills, foundries and even the collieries of the city. They lived, with their families, in all parts of the city from the Don Valley steel-working areas of Attercliffe, Darnall and Brightside to Highfields, Broomhall and also on the, then, newly built Manor Estate.

I'm now trying to establish whether these pioneering pre- Windrush South Asian migrants and settlers formed a social network enabling further South Asian workers to successfully settle in Sheffield after the Second World War. If I can establish that clear social links through family and social networks were maintained with newly arriving settlers from pre-war to post-war then it would establish that the early pioneers were crucial in encouraging successful post-war migration. Indeed, my research has already concluded that there are a substantial number of British-Pakistanis in Sheffield whose families originate in the same districts as the early pioneers.

Of particular interest to me are the contacts that I have established with some of the descendants of these pioneer families, some of whom have been able to provide some unique insights into the experience of people of colour in Sheffield: the industrial heart of imperial Britain, during the 1920s and 1930s. Their stories add much needed light and shade to the general histories of migration to Britain. These histories have tended to focus on the hot-spots of racism and resistance rather than those areas where migrants were accepted and achieved a degree of integration with the native population - as appears to be the case in Sheffield.

This analysis has, since the early 1980s, made conflict a central issue for the study of migration to Britain, placing much emphasis on the phenomena of racist attacks, race riots and other more-or-less violent anti-immigrant protests. For migration historian Panikos Panayi, there has been 'an iron girder of racism and xenophobia' in Britain for the last 200 years and, without doubt, this is a characterisation of British society that many would recognise. However, my research strongly suggests that successful settlement of people of colour did occur within working-class communities without social upheaval and communal strife. It thus remained un-newsworthy and unreported by the media of the time and unnoticed by historians since. The historical record shows that settlement was taking place quietly and without being loudly censured by the press, officialdom or opportunist politicians (unlike in the post-war years) and suggests a more optimistic conclusion that the toleration of ordinary, working people toward the newcomers was indeed present here.

For me, these research findings raise important challenges to the assumptions we make today about the attitudes to 'race' and difference among ordinary people in the past. Many of the histories of migration emphasise domestic British racism, heavily implicating the working-class in its widespread application, with them being, apparently, in the thrall of British imperialism.

If, as historians, we take only this viewpoint we risk rejecting evidence that provides important nuance and detail to the study of how imperial ideologies of racism, racial difference and social hierarchy were assimilated domestically by ordinary people. Moreover, if it can be proved that this pattern of quiet toleration, settlement and integration was repeated in other British cities between the wars it may call into question many of our current assumptions about migration history in Britain. What does seem apparent from my research is that the 'iron girder of racism and xenophobia' described by Panayi does not appear to have been forged in Sheffield.
Having recently graduated his BA in History at the University of Sheffield, David Holland is continuing this research as part of an MA. The blog is based on David's research for his dissertation 'Pioneering South Asian settlement in "pre-Windrush" Sheffield', for which he won the Crewe Prize 2013 for the best dissertation in British history.
Image: Indian elephant at Kelham Island Works during World War I

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Sheffield's pioneering pre-war, South Asian settlers

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This year marks the anniversary of the docking of the merchant ship Empire Windrush at Tilbury in 1948. With a passenger list of British Subjects, most notably including 493 Jamaicans, Windrush has, in the intervening 65 years, become a powerfully symbolic image of the beginning of an ethnically plural Britain.

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True Talk Africa: STORIES UNTOLD - African WW2 Soldiers

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True Talk Africa: STORIES UNTOLD - African WW2 Soldiers

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Aimed at children aged 9-12, the book focuses on the role African soldiers played in the Second World War.

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While there are a lot of resources for children about the Second World War, very few of these focus on the experiences of people living in countries outside of Europe and North America. This book seeks to address this gap by focusing on one particular group - African soldiers and the role they played in the War.

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Britain Since 1945 lesson Bristol Bus Boycott

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This short video provides an introduction to Windrush, the history behind the decision to invite British Citizens from the wider empire to come to Britain, and the people who made the journey.

The Windrush Generation

The 22nd June 2018 marked the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush at Tilbury Dock, Essex. Aboard this ageing merchant ship were some 500 passengers, making the 8,000 mile voyage from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands, full of hope about a new life that awaited them in the 'Mother Country'.

Trinidadian calypso singer Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts), emerging on the deck upon arrival, was prompted by Pathé News to perform a few lines of his newly composed song, 'London is the Place For Me':

London is the place for me
London this lovely city
You can go to France or America,
India, Asia or Australia
But you must come back to London city
Well believe me I am speaking
broadmindedly
I am glad to know my Mother Country
I have been travelling to countries
years ago
But this is the place I wanted to know
London that is the place for me.

These new arrivals were the first wave in Britain's post-war drive to recruit labour from the Commonwealth to cover employment shortages in state-run services like the NHS and London Transport.

Many of those making this journey were ex-servicemen, who had served in Britain during World War Two.

By the second half of the 1940s, the cost of international travel had reduced considerably and a generation of men and women had emerged who had travelled vast distances during wartime, acquiring a better understanding of the Commonwealth and the opportunities it might offer.

The arrival of Windrush marked the beginning of the mass migration movement in the UK, resulting in an estimated 172,000 Caribbean born people living in Britain by 1961. To many, they are known as the Windrush Generation.

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This short video provides an introduction to Windrush, the history behind the decision to invite British Citizens from the wider empire to come to Britain, and the people who made the journey. The 22nd June 2018 marked the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush at Tilbury Dock, Essex.

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The Story of Samuel Williams - Passing the Baton: The Legacy of the Windrush Pioneers

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Beverley Bennett   Passing the Baton Interview

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Passing the Baton: Windrush Legacy video

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Passing the Baton: Windrush Legacy video

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Passing The Baton - The Legacy of the Windrush Pioneers is a documentary film produced by Nyara School of Arts and directed by Paris North.

The documentary celebrates the lives and legacies of Sheffield's Windrush and Caribbean elders. It explores the stories of Sheffield's Windrush elders and their influence on second and third-generation Caribbeans and the ways in which they've shaped Sheffield's cultural and historical landscape. Commissioned by Sheffield City Council, the film highlights the decline of the cultural spaces that have been at the heart of Sheffield's Caribbean community since the '50s and looks at what we can now do to bring about a revival for current and future generations.

Director - Paris North
Edited by Paris North and Thomas Byrom
Producer - Danae Wellington (Nyara School of Arts)
Illustration by Tomekah George
Commissioned by Sheffield City Council
Supported by The Independent Caribbean Kollective and The Black Arts Collective.

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Passing The Baton: The Legacy of the Windrush Pioneers

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https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f5507a237cea057c5f57741/t/5f58dc1f9ba3a972bb5a8688/1599659042037/Olive%2BMorris%2B-%2BActivity%2BKS3.pdf

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KS2 / KS3 Black British History Animation of Olive Morris

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Our Migration Story: The Making of Britain presents the often untold stories of the generations of migrants who came to and shaped the UK.

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Sheffield has a 300 year history of migration 

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Sheffield has a 300 year history of migration 

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A fascinating set of reference documents has been put together by the city archives, part of Sheffield Libraries service, for anyone wanting to research the history of several groups.

Some of Sheffield's African and Caribbean communities have lived in the UK since the 18th century.

The 1725 church register for Harthill All Hallows records the baptism of Thomas Pompey of Guinea, Africa.

In the 1840s Pablo Fanque, the first black circus owner in Britain, visited Sheffield many times with his show.

His second wife, performer Elizabeth Corker, was from Sheffield.

Pablo's name later became famous because he was mentioned in The Beatles song For the Benefit of Mr Kite on the Sergeant Pepper album.

It was based on one of his circus posters which caught the eye of John Lennon in a secondhand store.

The 1950s and 60s saw large-scale immigration, encouraged to cover the shortfall in labour following the Second World War.

People from Yemen, Somalia, South Asia and the Caribbean were invited here, principally to work in the steel and mining industries.

The Empire Windrush brought the first group of Caribbean immigrants to London in June 1948.

In 1956 people from the West Indies were first employed by Sheffield Transport Department as tram conductors.

Arthur Wharton, the world's first black professional footballer, from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) came to play for Sheffield United in 1888.

In a distressing mirror to the Black Lives Matter protests over policing, in 1952, as part of a Colonial Office survey, Sheffield's chief constable deputed two officers to "...observe, visit and report on" the black population.

A card index was compiled, listing the names, addresses, nationalities and places of employment of the city's 534 black inhabitants.

In 1986, Sheffield West Indian Association became SADACCA (Sheffield and District African Caribbean Community Association), based on the Wicker.

In recent years people from Eritrea, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, Liberia and Congo have come to Sheffield seeking asylum, according to the guide.

People of Chinese origin have similarly long city roots.

The burial register for St Paul's churchyard - now the Peace Gardens - for 1855 shows that A Chow, the son of magician Too Ki, was buried there on May 31, 1855. The vicar wrote the word 'Chinese' in the entry.A laundry owner named Yun Wong with a business on Abbeydale Road was listed in a trade directory for 1910.

The first Sheffield China Week took place in June 1945 and churches and community centres followed over the next three decades.

However, the first official Sheffield Chinese New Year celebrations only took place in 2004.

In recent years more students from south-east Asia have been attracted to study at the city's universities.

A visible amount of investment in the city's economy has followed them.

The earliest reference to a 'Chinese' restaurant is the Rickshaw in Broomhall Street, listed in a trade directory of 1957.

Traditionally, the highest concentrations of people from the region live in Highfield, Sharrow, Broomhill and Broomhall.

They have come from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan as well as other parts of Britain.

The earliest references to south Asians living in Sheffield are from the 1920s in the Darnall area.

They mainly originate from countries that are now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Burngreave Cemetery burial register for 1923 records the burial of Sultan Mohamed, aged 32.

In 1946 Sheffield's first official mosque was opened in a room on the ground floor of a house on Worksop Road in Attercliffe.

In 1963 the Ajanta at 22/24 Carver Street is said to be the first Indian restaurant listed in Kelly's directory of Sheffield.

The S Alkash dining rooms at 14 Netherthorpe and the Khyber Café at 61 Attercliffe Common followed shortly afterwards.

In 1981 the Bangladesh Citizens Neighbourhood Project (BCNP) was established and in the same year a Sikh temple at 73 Jameson Street was first listed in the Sheffield Yellow Pages.

Three years later the Pakistan Muslim Centre on Woodbourn Road was set up.

Specialist support services for women followed in 1985 and 1992.

Somalis have been settling in Britain for well over a century, mostly as seafarers and traders living close to ports.

Many Somalis came from east Africa to the city in the 1940s to 1960s, often to work in the steel industry, although there were a few arrivals in the 1930s.

More settled during the 1990s as they fled civil war raging in their country, which is now split into Somalia and Somaliland, joining established communities in Sheffield and other cities.

The main community centres are Broomhall, Burngreave, Darnall and Firth Park, according to the guide.

The story of Yemenis in Sheffield has parallels with the Somali one, as many travelled from the Arab country as seamen and traders.

In 1939 the British annexed the city and major trading port of Aden.

Although most Yemenis in Sheffield came to work after the war, many also went back when recession hit here in the 1980s.

New people arrived, fleeing a civil war in the 1990s, and some joined family already here.

The main community centres are Burngreave, Darnall and Firth Park.

Editor's message: Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues. The Star is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Sheffield news and information online. Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.

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Archives guides help to chart the long history of Sheffield's BAME communities

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A fascinating set of reference documents has been put together by the city archives, part of Sheffield Libraries service, for anyone wanting to research the history of several groups. Some of Sheffield's African and Caribbean communities have lived in the UK since the 18th century.

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Rage six: worldwide context of migration

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Rage six: worldwide context of migration

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Highlights from this series include:

The story of a Black migrant called John Blanke, a trumpeter in the court of Henry VIII.

The stories of poor children and teenagers migrating to Britain's newly created colonies in North America.

The Irish migration to Liverpool during the Industrial Revolution.

Jewish migration to Britain in the late 1800s and its impact on immigration law.

These short films are suitable for teaching history at KS3 and KS4/GCSE in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Fourth Level and National 4/5 in Scotland.

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David Olusoga investigates the lives and experiences of migrants to and from Britain throughout history.

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Teacher Notes

Before watching the film

You may want to discuss civil wars and how, after the end of World War Two, Britain, France and Italy decided to end colonial rule over Somaliland. Somalia found it difficult to unite the previously three separate colonies and, in 1991, Mohamed Siad Barre, the Somalian president, was ousted and a civil war began which has lasted for decades. Many people all over the world have escaped from the violence and chaos of civil wars and end up as refugees. Please note, conversations around civil war may lead to other discussions and questions from pupils about land, ownership and rule. This may be prompted by the film itself – for example, empire and colonisation – or from what pupils have seen in the news (for example, Brexit). Depending on your local community and pupils’ lived experiences, this might also include discussions and questions on gangs, territory and postcode violence.

Somalia is a formally recognised state, but since the civil war political groups in the northern area of Somalia – former British Somaliland – have declared the region independent and known as the Republic of Somaliland. Magid himself refers to Somaliland in the film and pupils who have family ties to Somalia may refer to it too.

Please note, this short film shows images of refugee camps and civil war in Somalia which may be upsetting for some pupils. As a counterbalance to this negative portrayal of life in Africa, and the negative stereotypes this reinforces, you may wish to plan lessons exploring other aspects of culture across African countries, such as architecture, food and lifestyles.

Support should be available for pupils after watching and if pupils in your class have lived experience of war, they/their families should be made aware of the content of the lesson in advance. Discussions on immigration should be treated with sensitivity, particularly if there are pupils in your class who are refugees or asylum seekers.

Questions to consider

Depending on the focus of your lesson, you may wish to pause this short film at certain points to check for understanding, asking questions such as:

What do you think it felt like living as a young child in an area where a civil war is taking place?

What do you think it felt like for Magid coming to England as a refugee?

What do you think it felt like not being able to speak the same language as everyone else?

What do you think was different about living in Somalia and England?

What do you think it felt like being the youngest ever Lord Mayor of Sheffield?

Why do you think it is important to try and make a positive change in your community?

How do you think you could get involved in your community?

What positive change could you make for the world?

Activities to further explore learning

Life as a refugee Explore further what life as a refugee may have been like for Magid coming to England when he was five and escaping civil war. You may want to read Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah for another perspective on this subject. Pupils could then write a poem in role, based on who they are and how they feel in this new land. Please note, this activity should be approached with sensitivity with your cohort. Pupils may have had experience of being refugees.

Making a difference Explore with pupils about what an ‘activist’ is and how they could each strive to make a positive change in their school, community or society as a whole. Challenge pupils to think of a positive change they would like to make and ask them to write a letter to the person able to make that change (e.g. head teacher, local councillor or member of parliament.)

Community Pupils could explore their local community and what makes their community work. They could start with their school community and explore the different roles people have to make this community successful (e.g. parents, pupils, teachers, governors, etc.) They could then look further at their local wider community. Challenge pupils to think of how they could get involved as a group in their wider community.

School council Encourage pupils to look at their school council (or, if there is not one, whether one can be formed). Pupils can consider how effective their school council is and whether there could be any changes to make a positive difference to how this council operates. Ask a school council rep to share their experiences and work achieved throughout their elected period.

Key Vocabulary

Activist - Someone who does something to make a change, or stop a change in society.

Colony - An area of land that is occupied and in control by settlers from another country.

Community - A group of people living in a particular area.

Civil war - A war between organised groups from the same country.

Culture - A pattern of behaviour shared by a society, or group of people.

Discrimination - The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people.

Diversity - Differences in racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, geographic, and academic backgrounds.

Empire - Lands or regions that are controlled by one ruler or government, usually operating from overseas.

Equality - When people are treated the same, regardless of what they look like or where they come from.

Lord mayor - A ceremonial representative with no formal power, traditionally chosen by fellow members of a town, borough or city council.

Mayor – A leader directly elected by the people.

Prejudice - A preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

Racism - The belief that people of different races or ethnic groups have different value in society, and using this against them.

Refugee - A person who is seeking a safety after being forced to flee violence, persecution or war. An asylum seeker is somebody who has arrived in a country and asked for asylum. Seeking asylum in the UK is a legal process and part of the pathway in receiving refugee status.

Curriculum Notes
This short film is suitable for teaching KS2 / 2nd level pupils and links to various areas of the curriculum including to history (black history) and personal, social and relationships education (diversity and community). The focus on the power of the written word, specifically autobiographies and poetry, also provides a link with the English curriculum.
Cultural heritage
This short film raises questions about what makes up your cultural heritage and how this connects a community.
Inspiring change
This short film raise questions about what inspires change today. Links can be made to movements that are current (Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, etc.), and how these movements have been inspired and developed.

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You may want to discuss civil wars and how, after the end of World War Two, Britain, France and Italy decided to end colonial rule over Somaliland. Somalia found it difficult to unite the previously three separate colonies and, in 1991, Mohamed Siad Barre, the Somalian president, was ousted and a civil war began which has lasted for decades. Many people all over the world have escaped from the violence and chaos of civil wars and end up as refugees. Please note, conversations around civil war may lead to other discussions and questions from pupils about land, ownership and rule. This may be prompted by the film itself - for example, empire and colonisation - or from what pupils have seen in the news (for example, Brexit). Depending on your local community and pupils' lived experiences, this might also include discussions and questions on gangs, territory and postcode violence. Somalia is a formally recognised state, but since the civil war political groups in the northern area of Somalia - former British Somaliland - have declared the region independent and known as the Republic of Somaliland. Magid himself refers to Somaliland in the film and pupils who have family ties to Somalia may refer to it too. Please note, this short film shows images of refugee camps and civil war in Somalia which may be upsetting for some pupils. As a counterbalance to this negative portrayal of life in Africa, and the negative stereotypes this reinforces, you may wish to plan lessons exploring other aspects of culture across African countries, such as architecture, food and lifestyles. Support should be available for pupils after watching and if pupils in your class have lived experience of war, they/their families should be made aware of the content of the lesson in advance. Discussions on immigration should be treated with sensitivity, particularly if there are pupils in your class who are refugees or asylum seekers. Depending on the focus of your lesson, you may wish to pause this short film at certain points to check for understanding, asking questions such as:

What do you think it felt like living as a young child in an area where a civil war is taking place?

What do you think it felt like for Magid coming to England as a refugee?

What do you think it felt like not being able to speak the same language as everyone else?

What do you think was different about living in Somalia and England?

What do you think it felt like being the youngest ever Lord Mayor of Sheffield?

Why do you think it is important to try and make a positive change in your community?

How do you think you could get involved in your community?

What positive change could you make for the world?

Activities to further explore learning

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History KS2: Magid Magid - Becoming the youngest ever Lord Mayor of Sheffield

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In this short film 14-year-old Abdirahman meets Magid Magid, a Somali-British activist and politician who served as the youngest ever Lord Mayor of Sheffield from May 2018 - May 2019.

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Cheryl Bailey was the lead archivist for Dig Where you Stand and did a phenomenal job helping Desiree access the archives and find the material. It's now led on to work with a BME women's writer group that Cheryl curates items to stimulate original writing about black and brown voices hidden in the archive. Cheryl says it was transformative in the way she sees her work as an archivist.

Feel free to contact us about the use of archives in curriculum material.  We have a bank of curriculum material online: Education resources | Sheffield City Council - you can see the range of topics we’ve approached (although these are perhaps a little dated now, but it shows how the archives can be used).  Note also the links appear broken here; I’ve asked for these to be fixed asap so perhaps bookmark the page until the PowerPoints are back (or I can email content over).

In terms of stories relating to people of colour, we’ve been working on the ‘Dig Where You Stand’ project with writer Desirée Reynolds which has looked specifically for marginalised voices in the archives with a view to seeking some sort of reparative justice.  It is not a diversity project; it is a journey through Sheffield’s documentary history to find structured absences.

You can read Desirée’s work here: https://nowthenmagazine.com/people/desiree-reynolds  (“...I think about the silences. The structured absences.

I think about what it means for a writer like me to look at this. I know I may never find their real names but since these are the ones that I’ve found, then this is what I have. I need to say to these people, with names that aren’t theirs, ‘I see you’. Speak the unspeakable. We must see archives as a source of reparative justice. We were always here.”)

And Otis Mensah’s work (and interview about working in the archives) here:https://nowthenmagazine.com/articles/otis-mensah-blue-fire  (“...when you can actually experience your history tangibly, through the archives, but also through the imagination of artists taking back narrative with craft and creative license, it can be hugely transformative”).

We have lots of archive material you are welcome to research and use.  See our Study Guides which included references to Black and Brown people/communities that you can draw from (from the Anti-Apartheid Movement to the Yemeni community): Sheffield Archives and Local Studies research guides | Sheffield City Council

Feel free to get in touch if you need help/guidance with this.

Best wishes,

Cheryl

Cheryl Bailey | Senior Archivist

Sheffield City Archives, 52 Shoreham Street, Sheffield, S1 4SP

( 0114 203 9397

8 www.sheffield.gov.uk/archives

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The Diaspora Multimedia Hub first launched in April 2019 and is a creative collaboration between ISRAAC, Eryal TV and Sheffield Hallam University. Sheffield Hallam University is supporting the project by providing industry level skills training and facilities, including a broadcast studio, camera equipment and edit suites based at Vestry Hall. These are currently restricted due to Covid-19, but we hope to resume and make these accessible as soon as we can.

Our goal is to document the untold stories of the Somali community in Sheffield. With a long-term view to expand the project to include Sheffield’s many migrant communities. We feel it’s important to preserve people’s stories as a rich archival legacy for current and future generations of Sheffield to enjoy, celebrate and have access to.

The Diaspora Multimedia Hub is currently undergoing our first ever Online Summer Film School. We are taking our aspiring filmmakers through an intensive 8-week course where they will produce their own shorts. We have been commissioned by the internationally renowned Sheffield Doc/Fest to create a series of short films which explore how a community responds in a time of change.  https://sheffdocfest.com/articles/888-israac-diaspora-multimedia-hub

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This week at Showroom Cinema we are welcoming back Sheffield's Disapora Multimedia Hub (DMH), as it invites first-time filmmakers to tell the stories of the people in the Steel City.

Somali Steel; Stories of strength & resilience amongst the citizens of Sheffield is the latest instalment in the DMH's series of showcases, the first of which took place in 2021. Hosted by ISRAAC Somali Community Association and Sheffield Hallam University, the event will feature short films which explore Somali heritage and history and its place in our city.

These films have been made as a result of the Diaspora Multimedia Hub's Summer Film School, a collaborative initiative that supports Sheffield's diasporic communities to create, author, and tell their own stories through film - stories that are largely misrepresented or ignored. Consequently, the filmmakers capture our region at exciting new angles. Their work explores themes of belonging, migration, health, community, and healing.

Victoria Street, directed by Asma Kabadeh and Aaron Hopper is a spoken word film performed by Warda Yassin, Sheffield's poet laureate which explores community and growing up in Broomhall. Made in collaboration with Screen Yorkshire and Sheffield Hallam University, it was the winner of the Welcome to Yorkshire inaugural film awards 2021.

Poetry also features in Introspection, by Directed Najma, which deals with the topic of healing and explores her feeling of calm in nature. We follow the director on a walk as she reflects and reconnects with herself in a bid to make sense of what's going on around her context of climate change.

Meanwhile, Lloyd's Story, directed by Sami Baghadadi, is a documentary about Lloyd Samuels: strategic lead for Sheffield Youth, Neighbourhoods & Communities and BBC Sheffield Radio presenter. The lens is turned towards childhood trauma resulting from racial oppression, family tragedy, and gang exploitation, as it explores the hardships Lloyd has experienced in his life.

Offering more insight into the work that went into the films on display, this showcase will be accompanied by an introduction from selected filmmakers, who will be in attendance for the day.

The DMH will also bring an exhibition, which will be on display in our foyer. The exhibition is about Somali history in Sheffield which includes the first migration of Somali men who arrived here in the 1950s, having worked on merchant ships, and went on to work in the city's steel industry. The exhibition also highlights some key figures in the community, including Burngreave councillor Safiya Saeed.
The showcase will take place on October 23. Tickets are on sale now. This screening is £2, but we recommend booking tickets in advance. This article first featured in the Sheffield Telegraph on Thursday 17 November 2022.

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Celebrating Sheffield's Diaspora Through Film

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This week at Showroom Cinema we are welcoming back Sheffield's Disapora Multimedia Hub (DMH), as it invites first-time filmmakers to tell the stories of the people in the Steel City. Somali Steel; Stories of strength & resilience amongst the citizens of Sheffield is the latest instalment in the DMH's series of showcases, the first of which took place in 2021.

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Britain’s leading theatre makers & local artists bring an arts programme celebrating the contributions of migrants & Refugees who have come to Sheffield.

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Among the hundreds of families who live on the tightly-packed streets of Page Hall in Sheffield are the Horvaths.

Dad Ladislav - known as the 'Roma King' - and his sons are often seen walking around the streets of the inner-city suburb, just a stone's throw from Northern General Hospital.

But it is their prowess in the ring which has made them famous across the city.

Ladislav is a regional Thai Kick Boxing champion and his sons are quickly following in his footsteps, including eight-year-old David.

The Roma Slovakian family were followed by film crews for three years as part of a feature-length documentary, The Horvaths.

"When I first moved to England it felt very big and overwhelming, but now it feels like home," said Ladislav.

"Fighting began as a hobby, became a dream and is now a reality. My family came to support me at first, then they came to train with me.

"Now we all fight together."

The documentary, which airs this week, forms part of the Page Hall Festival - a two-day celebration of one of Sheffield 's most notorious suburbs.

It is an area which has often been the epicentre of violent fights and coronavirus breaches in the past few months, but the festival - which is being held entirely online to comply with Covid-19 guidelines - aims to celebrate the neighbourhood, which has become unceremoniously dubbed the 'Jeremy Kyle estate'.

Page Hall Festival director Sam Holland said: "Given we are in a pandemic, there is a void of activity and people are locked down in their homes, but the festival is about bringing hope and positivity to give people renewed life and inspiration.
What's on widget - shows events near you
"Page Hall is one of the most deprived areas of the city, but it is an area worth celebrating.

"We have had a great response so far, particularly from local businesses have come onboard, and it is great to tell the stories of people who live there.

"It is very much for the people who live there and to give them a platform to showcase what the area is all about."
The Page Hall Festival runs online from Friday, March 26 to Saturday, March 27. There are a range of events, discussions and documentaries that you can get involved with from the comfort of your own home. For more information, visit the Page Hall Festival website here.

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'The Roma King' of Page Hall who has made Sheffield his home

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Among the hundreds of families who live on the tightly-packed streets of Page Hall in Sheffield are the Horvaths. Dad Ladislav - known as the 'Roma King' - and his sons are often seen walking around the streets of the inner-city suburb, just a stone's throw from Northern General Hospital.

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Gypsy & Traveller communities research guide

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Gypsies (also called Egyptians as it was originally thought they emanated from Egypt) have been present in England for over 400 years. They have often met with prejudice - in the 16th century for instance, they were expelled from the country or they faced the death penalty; the State claiming Gypsies had 'devilish and naughty practices and devices'.

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Dr Mark Payne, who is a lecturer in language and education at the University of Sheffield, has followed the community from the tiny villages in eastern Slovakia from which they originate to the British neighbourhoods they now call home.

He says he has found them to be a complicated culture which defies easy explanation, and that it is a mistake to view them as a homogeneous group, but that one thing that unites most of the approximately 6,000 Roma Slovaks who currently live in Sheffield is their desire to stay.

The history of the Roma people is as fascinating as it is complicated.

Originally migrating from India around 1,500 years ago, they arrived in the Balkans within the last millennium before dispersing across the continent of Europe.

Very often the victims of persecution, this reached its zenith when the Roma were killed in their hundreds of thousands by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

"They have always been outsiders on the fringes of society," said Mark.

"The Roma in Slovakia are often pushed to the edge of the towns and villages where they live and some of the living conditions are really bad with no water or sanitation.

"During the communist times, it sort of worked as everyone was in theory equal but when economic troubles came with capitalism the Roma became scapegoats."

Against this backdrop, when Slovakia joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, many Roma saw it as an opportunity to live a better life.

As well as Sheffield, Roma communities settled in places like Peterborough, Doncaster and Newport, probably because there were already small communities in those areas who had fled communism.

In addition to escaping persecution in Slovakia, they were also attracted to the promise of higher-paying jobs, a more generous benefits system and a better education for their children.

"To say that 100 per cent of the people who come here are here to work is nonsense but to say they are all here to claim benefits is also totally wrong," said Mark.

He said: "It is never going to be the most middle-class neighbourhood and some of the rubbish down there is inexcusable.

"But my sense is that things are getting better and that the Romas are certainly here to stay."

Editor's message: Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues. The Star is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions for unlimited access to Sheffield news and information online. Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.

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Roma community 'here to stay' in Sheffield after fleeing racism and discrimination in Slovakia, says academic

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An academic who has spent years researching the Roma culture both in Slovakia and Sheffield says racism and discrimation in their home country and the promise of a better life in the UK are the main drivers of the large-scale immigration that has taken place over the last two decades.

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Belonging worked with a range of Black and minority ethnic communities to explore individual, family and group responses to the notion of belonging in the 21st Century. Coal, Frankincense and Myrrh: Yemen and British Yemenis Museums Sheffield: Weston Park, September 2007-April 2008The Yemeni community is Britain's oldest established Muslim community, and Sheffield's current population of around 3500 is one of the largest in the country.

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he first mosque to open in the UK was not in Birmingham or Bradford, or even London. It was in Glyn Rhondda Street in Cardiff. And those who set it up were not Pakistani but Yemeni - or, to be more specific, they were sailors who came to Welsh and English ports on coal-burning ships from British-colonised Aden in the later part of the 19th century.

Marriages with local women were by no means uncommon among those Muslim pioneers in Cardiff and Newport, Liverpool and Hull. Wives, however, were largely missing for the postwar generation of Yemeni immigrants who came to work not in the ports but in the factories and foundries of industrial cities. Those men were isolated, for the most part, from the indigenous population after clocking off time. They lived in what Abdul al Shameeri, editor of the Yemeni Voice newspaper (circulation around 7,000), calls "sealed communities".

Most Yemeni wives stayed in their villages, bringing up children fathered before the men left for the UK or on their infrequent visits home. "Social convention and the Yemeni government - concerned that it would lose the flow of remittances home - discouraged the migration of women," says photographer Tim Smith, who recently visited the Yemen to trace migration patterns to and from the UK and to capture on film some of those who had made the journey in both directions.

It is not the first time that Smith has undertaken such a project. Last year, he travelled 500 miles along the Grand Trunk Road, from Delhi to the Afghan border, to capture the connections between India, Pakistan and Britain for an exhibition in Bradford, where he works as a freelance photographer.

His latest venture has resulted in a book of photographs under the title Coal, Frankincense and Myrrh. The frankincense and myrrh, with their biblical allusion, are easy enough to explain: camel trains carried both aromatic exports east and west from the Yemen. The coal connection came into being many centuries later. Aden's strategic value to the British empire made it what Smith calls "a vast bunkering station, piled high with British coal, refuelling passenger liners and cargo ships alike". Locally recruited men from poor villages worked below decks in conditions that the British assumed they would be well suited to.

At least it would stand them in good stead when they came to take the dirtiest, lowest-paid jobs in the foundries of south Yorkshire, Teesside or the Black Country. The introduction to Smith's book is illustrated with evocative black and white pictures he took in the 1980s, just before the end of the coal age and the spiralling decline of heavy industry that would persuade many Yemenis to return home for good. One is shown shovelling coal, another grappling with lifting gear in thick, filthy gloves. Most evocative of all, however, is a shot of a Sheffield foundry during a lunch break. A Yemeni man is pictured leaning against a box, smoking pensively, as though a world away from his white workmates.

Many of the colour pictures are of youthful Yemenis taken at last year's Arabic Arts Festival in Liverpool. Young men with rapt expressions watch a performance by American-Yemeni rapper Hagage Aj Masaed. Young women in colourful headscarves giggle and gossip at the festival launch. Photographs show the sons and daughters - many educated to degree level - of those who stayed on after the collapse of heavy industry. Women had begun to arrive in greater numbers from the mid-70s to join men who had either set up or joined small businesses.

And the men who went back? Their photographs form the bulk of Smith's book. The landscapes are unmistakably eastern, but there are echoes of a western past here and there. A stallholder selling colourful cushions sports an old Liverpool shirt with the name Owen on the back. Mohammad Ali Atia holds up a picture of himself arriving in Middlesbrough in 1958. He returned to his native Melah in 1975 and is now a successful farmer of qat.

"When I first arrived in that area and started making inquiries," Smith says, "Atia was the only local resident who looked as though he'd been kitted out by Marks & Spencer casuals."

Most of the returnees have reverted to traditional Yemeni dress. A turbaned and skirted Ali Dubwan Quaad is pictured strolling across the barren, stony soil in the stark landscape of the Shameer region. He retired there after 28 years in the UK. His pension now supports an extended family of more than 30.

Coal, Frankincense and Myrrh: Photographs of Yemen and British Yemenis, by Tim Smith, is published by Dewi Lewis at £16.99.

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The story of Britain's Yemeni immigrants

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he first mosque to open in the UK was not in Birmingham or Bradford, or even London. It was in Glyn Rhondda Street in Cardiff. And those who set it up were not Pakistani but Yemeni - or, to be more specific, they were sailors who came to Welsh and English ports on coal-burning ships from British-colonised Aden in the later part of the 19th century.

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Identities and roots: a historical account of the Yemeni community in the South Yorkshire town of Sheffield, UK

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Identities and roots: a historical account of the Yemeni community in the South Yorkshire town of Sheffield, UK

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Khadeegha Alzouebi: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274316375_Identities_and_roots_a_historical_account_of_the_Yemeni_community_in_the_South_Yorkshire_town_of_Sheffield_UK

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Birmingham hosts the biggest Yemeni diaspora in the UK, with the latest census by Birmingham's Yemeni Society stating that today 33,000 live in Birmingham and its surrounding suburbs.

Yemenis were attracted to the city because of the jobs in the car and steel industry, but despite Birmingham hosting the biggest Yemeni community, it wasn't the first destination they arrived at.

The city council of Sheffield states that Yemenis have been settling in the UK for more than a century and a half, making them the longest established Arab community in the UK and their arrival to the nation took place several decades before they moved to the midlands.

"The city council of Sheffield states that Yemenis have been settling in the UK for more than a century and a half, making them the longest established Arab community in the UK"

While researching Yemeni history in the UK, I came across many documents that tell many stories about how Yemenis settled in the United Kingdom. However, no one tells the story better than Dr Abdullah Al-Shamahi, a respected Yemeni historian and a veteran in the Yemeni community in Birmingham. Dr Al-Shamahi arrived in Birmingham more than 42 years ago and witnessed two generations of Yemenis and their quest to find a home in Britain.
From one port to another
The first group of Yemenis arrived at South Shields as early as 1860 when the port of Aden was controlled by the British Empire, Dr Al-Shamahi explains.

The British occupied the Yemeni port of Aden in 1839 in what was a strategic move to provide Britain with a base between the Suez Canal and British Occupied Bombay. By taking control of Aden, the British had immediate access to African and Arabian coasts as well as a place to refuel their ships mid-voyage.

1864: A view of Aden near the port area (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Expedition of a British Force from Aden To Shugra, 1866. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Yemeni migration to Britain was, to a great degree, the consequence of British colonial policy. Most of them came from Aden to work on the ships that were fuelling the economy of the British Empire, predominantly based in the engine rooms.

White British sailors would try to avoid these roles due to the heat and low paid wages, so Yemenis were employed instead.

Soon after, Yemeni sailors started to arrive at other ports like Cardiff, Liverpool and Hull. In the 1920s, an estimated 1,500 Yemenis were living in Cardiff, making up half of its ethnic minority population.
Arab Boarding Houses
It is in the docklands that Yemenis started to establish boarding houses after they couldn't find shelter in the neighbourhoods of their British peers. The first Yemenis struggled to co-exist with British society. They were not welcomed as neighbours, would not hang out at pubs and also faced a language and culture barrier.

"The first Yemenis struggled to co-exist with British society. They were not welcomed as neighbours, they usually would not hang out at pubs, in addition to the language and culture barrier"

They then established what was known as the "only Arab Boarding Houses" which were simply sleeping areas, restaurants and cafes for Yemeni sailors.

According to The Yemeni Project, Ali Said was the first person to open the first seaman's boarding house for Arabs in 1894 in the Holborn area of Laygate, South Shields. This became an area largely associated with its Yemeni residents.

By 1920 there were eight boarding houses and the appearance of more Yemeni-run cafes led to the formation of a Yemeni community, with around 300 and 600 Arab residents now in South Shields. The boarding housemaster - usually former sailors who had chosen to settle in South Shields and set up their cafes and shops - played a key role in the lives of the Arab seamen, as they would offer them vital help like assistance in securing their next ship, or money and advice, when needed.
Sacrifices made
During the First World War, Britain entered the war on the side of the Allies and it needed to recruit more Yemenis for the merchant navy, who were providing supplies for the British military and therefore were targeted by the Germans.

Historians believe that more than 3,000 Yemenis were killed while attempting to provide supplies to the British troops. A big figure in comparison to the limited number of Yemenis living in the UK at the time.

After the First World War, Britain came out with an exhausted economy. White British seamen returning to their normal lives were finding that some of their jobs were taken by the Yemenis, while the latter felt that they have sacrificed for Britain as much as their fellow British men and therefore deserved to be treated equally.

Tension rose over the British seamen's sentiments that Yemenis were taking their jobs and competing for higher salaries. The Yemenis who were initially welcomed during the war were now being faced with racism and Islamophobia.

The strain continued to rise and in 1919, Yemenis faced street violence with attacks on the Arab Boarding Houses and cafes.

Meanwhile, the South Shield Gazette pushed racist and hostile messages against the Arabs. It was around this time that the Yemeni sailors joined the Minority Movement - a left-wing group formed to challenge the National Union of Seamen, which they felt was failing to represent them.

The tensions kept broiling and in the 1930s the Yemenis in South Shields took part in the riots that had broken out. Amid a police crackdown, some were arrested while others were deported back to Yemen.

Second chances and new beginnings
After the Second World War, more commercial ships started to run on diesel instead of fuel, which meant that Yemenis were on the hunt for new jobs.

The steel and car factories in the midlands were attracting Yemenis to leave the sea and go to the land, as factories were recruiting more workers.

"By the late seventies and the beginning of the eighties, the economy in the Gulf began to boom due to high oil production. This meant better-paid jobs and in countries that share a lot of similarities to Yemen in terms of language, culture and lifestyle"

Yemenis found work in heavy industries, especially jobs that required hard labour. Leyland factories and the Black Country in the midlands, in reference to the coal mines, were happy to hire Yemenis willing to take low paid jobs.

Dr Al-Shamahi explains how in the 1970s it was hard to find an unemployed Yemeni. Many of them were still coming individually, saving their income and then sending it back to their families in Yemen as it was far higher than what their families would be earning back home.

However, by the late seventies and the beginning of the eighties, the economy in the Gulf began to boom due to high oil production. This meant better-paid jobs and in countries that share a lot of similarities to Yemen in terms of language, culture and lifestyle.

Saudi Arabia was one of the favourite destinations for Yemenis who were trying to leave the UK. But, this did not last long as the 1990 Gulf crisis changed the special bilateral arrangements that these countries had with Yemen. Many of them were forced to leave the Gulf and to start searching for a new life elsewhere.

The Yemenis who had left the UK began to return but this time with their families, as they started to settle down and start their new life in Britain.

Fast-forwarding to more current times, Dr Shamahi says that the new generation of Yemenis, although born and raised in the UK, are somehow still haunted by their past. As a result, he feels that the community's influence over the UK's politicians and lawmakers is limited. Where it is true that the community has managed to preserve many of Yemen's traditions and are not conflicted in their identity, the downfall has been the lack of influence and not fully benefiting from the opportunities in education, development and the new industries that are present in the UK today.
Baraa Shiban is a Yemeni political consultant and a caseworker with the human rights group Reprieve. He has served as a member of the Yemeni National Dialogue 2013-2014 and participated in the Yemeni uprising 2011. He writes in an independent capacity. Follow him on Twitter: @BShtwtr This article is part of a special series called Arabs in the UK: An exciting new project that sheds light on the Arab population in the United Kingdom and aims to showcase their continuing contributions to communities. Follow here to read more articles from this series:

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Yemenis: The longest established Arab community in the UK

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Birmingham hosts the biggest Yemeni diaspora in the UK, with the latest census by Birmingham's Yemeni Society stating that today 33,000 live in Birmingham and its surrounding suburbs. Yemenis were attracted to the city because of the jobs in the car and steel industry, but despite Birmingham hosting the biggest Yemeni community, it wasn't the first destination they arrived at.

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From South Shields to Sheffield: A photographic journey

by Rebecca Johnson

Yemenis in Britain were the focus of two exhibitions which I had the opportunity to visit in April this year. The first, entitled The Last of the Dictionary Men - Stories from South Shields'Yemeni Sailors, was held at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead. The reference to 'Dictionary Men' owes its inspiration to the Yemeni poet and intellectual, Abdullah al-Baradduni, who in a work published in 1995 wrote:

'Our land is the dictionary of our people - this land of far horizons where the graves of our ancestors sleep, this earth trodden by processions of sons and sons of sons'

The early decades of the last century saw the arrival of several thousand Arab seaman at a number of British ports. The major concentrations were in Cardiff and South Shields. Most of these seamen came fromYemen and neighbouring parts of Britain's Aden Protectorate, and were temporary migrants who returned to their home villages after a period of service on British ships. Over the years, however, an increasing number stayed on, forming the first significant Muslim communities to settle in Britain.

From left to right: Alial-Thaur, Khaled Alyemany, Tina Gharavi, Mayor of South Tyneside, H. E. Mohamed Taha Mustafa and Abdo Mohamed Kaid (Chairman of the South Shields Yemeni Community) Courtesy: Tony Griffiths

After the Second World War, in which many Arab seamen lost their lives serving in the British Merchant Navy and Armed Forces, the decline of Britain's shipping industry sharply reduced employment opportunities. The number of registeredYemeni seamen in South Shields dropped from several hundred in 1960 to under sixty in 1986, all of whom were by then aged over fifty. Meanwhile, intermarriage with the host society facilitated the assimilation of people of Yemeni descent into the wider community.

The rich but little known history of Yemenis in South Shields inspired film-makerTina Gharavi to undertake a series of video interviews with the 'Dictionary Men' for this exhibition. Forming a striking backdrop to the interviews were portraits by photographer Youssef Nabil of the thirteen Yemeni elders involved. These veterans of a long defunct occupation are the last surviving seamen from the first generation of Yemeni settlers in South Shields. The exhibition has thus played an invaluable part in recording for posterity their lives and memories. Accompanying the exhibition was a screening of Tina Gharavi's moving documentary, The King of South Shields. This centred on the visit to Tyneside in 1977 by the champion boxer Muhammad Ali (Clay) and his wife to solemnise their marriage in the new mosque in Laygate - a familiar landmark with its white dome and twin minarets - and the inspirational impact which this visit had on local Muslim youth.

The launch of the exhibition was greatly enhanced by the presence of the 'Dictionary Men' themselves, some frailer than others but all happily basking in their hard-won celebrity! They came with members of their families, and to join three generations of Yemeni Tynesiders on that occasion was, for me, an unforgettable experience.

Sheffield was the venue for the other exhibition which I attended, entitled Coal, Frankincense and Myrrh. In the 1950s and 1960s a new influx of Yemenis into Britain found employment not in shipping but in heavy industry, especially in the steel and metal working plants in Sheffield and Birmingham. When the demand for seamen declined, someYemeni seafarers also moved to the Midlands as new employment opportunities in industry opened up there, and in this way forged a link between two phases of Yemeni migration to Britain. Many of the Yemenis who came to Sheffield worked in companies such as Firth Brown and Dunfold Hadfields. Years later, the 1994 civil war in Yemen brought a number of refugees to Sheffield seeking to join relations and friends already well established there.

The exhibition documented journeys made by Yemeni migrants, and their subsequent lives, and explored notions of 'home', identity and integration with the host society. At the heart of the exhibition were pictures taken over the past 25 years by photo-journalist Tim Smith, powerfully evoking the experience of an expatriate community through changing times, and highlighting aspects of the history which Yemen and Britain both share.

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British-Yemeni Society: From South Shields to Sheffield: A photographic journey

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From South Shields to Sheffield: A photographic journey by Rebecca Johnson Yemenis in Britain were the focus of two exhibitions which I had the opportunity to visit in April this year. The first, entitled The Last of the Dictionary Men - Stories from South Shields'Yemeni Sailors, was held at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead.

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The Yemeni community forms a small but important part of Sheffield's population, with most being families of the former steelworkers who migrated during the 1950s and 60s .

Yemenis have made major contributions to the industrial development of Britain, both before and after the Second World War, yet for many remain, as Fred Halliday described in his pioneering study Arabs in Exile, an 'invisible community', often absorbed into broader group identities such as lascar, Muslim, Arab, Asian, and more .

This blog combines National Archives (TNA) sources with oral history interviews to develop an insight into the journeys of Yemeni former steelworkers, who travelled to Sheffield after the Second World War.

Background

The majority of Sheffield's Yemenis came from the Aden Protectorate, particularly the provinces of Yafai, Shaibi, Hadida and Dhala, as well as North Yemen, particularly Rada, Gubin and Shar, some of which can be seen on the following Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) map .

Protectorate of South Arabia. Catalogue ref: FCO 8/370

Empire Marketing Board 1927-1933 poster, featuring Aden. Catalogue ref: CO 956/691

The British founded a coaling station in Aden in 1839 and began to bring South Yemen under their sphere of influence in the 1870s. The function of Aden was characteristic of that of strategic colonies during the imperial era: it wasn't exploited so much for its mineral wealth, but for its location on the short-sea route to India, as well as further East .

The importance of the port in facilitating trade with India - providing a staging post for steamships, not to mention cheap labour from the hinterland to feed their furnaces with coal - is certainly apparent in this poster (right) used by the Empire Marketing Board, and featuring Aden as its backdrop.

The handwritten note on this Colonial Office document below, summarises the reasons that the British kept the broader protectorate, its 'object being to safeguard the landward approaches to the port of Aden'.

'Policy in the Aden Protectorate: relations with Treaty Chiefs'. Catalogue ref: CO 537/3973

Halliday (1974: 164) explains further, 'The boom in Aden had only a limited effect on the tribal areas, due to the fact that the Aden growth was generated externally and its profits went abroad'. This 'reflected a political decision by the British to keep the tribal areas as unchanged as possible. ... If the economic changes had affected the hinterland's structure, the political stability and the buffer zone that Britain wanted among the tribes might have been undermined'.

The insulation of the Yemeni hinterland from the growth in Aden provided the major 'push' factor of migration, while the post-war boom in Britain (as well as chain migration - where prior migrants facilitate the journeys of successive sojourners/settlers) provided the major 'pull' factor.

The journey to Britain

While the official documents at The National Archives are important in piecing together an understanding of the Yemeni background, and the broader context of migration, they tell us little about the rich and varied lived experiences of the migrants themselves. These include the journeys to Britain, which often feature prominently in the life-stories of Yemeni elders. This emphasises the need for mixed methods research, and historians to engage with communities themselves. The remainder of this blog will foreground these stories.

Many of the Yemenis made indirect journeys to Britain on French ships - stopping in the French colony of Djibouti, and then changing in France to continue their onwards journey to Britain - and as a result would not appear on UK passenger lists, as they fail to record travel within Europe . Nasser is one migrant who recalls a stop in Djibouti:

When I first came to England from Yemen in 1959, I travelled on a ship from the port of Djibouti. We had very little money, so we bought tickets to sleep down in the lowest part of the ship. We could see the sea just below us when we looked out of the portholes.

Perhaps being so low down in the ship made me feel bad, because I became sea sick, I went on the deck to breathe some fresh air and an English lady saw me. She noticed that I was sick and invited me to her cabin on the upper deck to give me a tablet or an aspirin for my headache. Her cabin was very clean and luxurious, and it had soft and beautiful furniture - very different from down below in the ship where we slept.

While she was talking to me and giving me the aspirin, the captain walked into her cabin. He was very angry when he saw me there and he told me to go back down below. He said that I had no business in that part of the ship. He was not interested in what the lady said and didn't listen to her. ...

The Yemeni passengers travelled in steerage class below deck and the differences in the conditions of their holds and the cabins of the largely white first-class passengers, was certainly very marked.

The majority of the migrants travelled from Aden, through the short sea route, via Suez. Those that travelled around the time of the Suez War in 1956 when anti-Arab racism was at an apex had to endure a particularly hostile and difficult journey. The following FCO document, from a file entitled, 'Propaganda attitude towards Nasser and the UAR' emphasises very strongly that, far from being an aberrant lapse from broadly held liberal traditions, racism was an integral component of imperial expansion, and the wars waged to support it :

'Propaganda attitude towards Nasser and the UAR.' Catalogue ref: FCO 168/519

While far from the analysis of the psychological effects of colonialism presented by authors such as Frantz Fanon , the FCO file does however acknowledge the depth of racism within the British state and the agencies tasked with enforcing its imperial ambitions. Its entrenched nature among both the officials concerned with the exercise of 'soft power,' as well as the troops, representing what Louis Althusser (1971: 132) described as 'the Repressive State Apparatus [which] functions "by violence"', is jarring . The document is especially valuable too, as it's clearly slipped through the FCO's programme to destroy and disappear files seen to 'embarrass HMG [Her Majesty's Government] ... members of the police, military forces or public servants...' . A point which again highlights the importance of engaging with community voices, such as Abdullah's, who travelled in 1956:

We travelled on a French ship and the crew treated us very badly. The captain and officers said that we Arabs must stay below deck, and not come on the deck and mix with the first class passengers who were enjoying themselves in the sun ... and having plenty to drink.

It was 1956 and just before the war over the Suez Canal. The Egyptian immigration officers supported us and told the French crew to treat us better. But we were angry at them and decided to make a protest. So just before the ship arrived at Marseilles we started to throw a lot of the ship's furniture and bed sheets into the Mediterranean Sea.

Abdullah's story highlights powerfully an early example of the interwoven oppressions of racism and class discrimination, as well as the struggles waged against them, which would thread throughout the lives of the Yemenis in Sheffield, as they came to labour in many of the least desirable jobs in industry often rejected by the indigenous working class.

Against this backdrop of what Cedric Robinson might describe as 'racial capitalism' - a term which draws attention to the ways in which racism 'permeate[s] the social structures emergent from capitalism' - some migrants were nonetheless fortunate enough to be in receipt of many individual acts of kindness from locals. This was certainly the case in Ali's story, who is particularly grateful to his taxi driver and Doreen, who took him in:

When I arrived at Sheffield Station from London after I left the ship at Tilbury, I didn't know anyone and I didn't know where to go. The Taxi driver said, 'Try Attercliffe, I think there are some Arabs there', but I didn't understand him because he didn't speak Arabic and I didn't speak English. He took me to Attercliffe, and after to Darnall Road. He started to knock on the doors of the houses to ask the people who lived there if there was a room to rent.

On the eleventh house where he knocked, a lady called Doreen opened the door. 'He can stay with me, he's welcome', she said when she saw me. So I moved into that house. It was near Brown Bailey's, the steel factory. So later at night I went there to ask for a job. I got a job there in the middle of the night. When I came back to Doreen's house she was angry and worried about me, she gave me a slap. 'Where did you go all night?' she shouted. I answered in Arabic, 'I found a job', and I was very happy. But no one understood my language.

The National Archives' records and the stories quoted only begin to hint at the richness of the narratives of Yemeni former steelworkers in Sheffield. Although, as Halliday observed, often an 'invisible community,' their contributions to industry and society in Britain's industrial heartlands (as well as in its coastal communities before), have been crucial in both the pre- and post-war periods .

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From Yemen to Yorkshire: Using mixed methods to investigate migration - The National Archives blog

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The Yemeni community forms a small but important part of Sheffield's population, with most being families of the former steelworkers who migrated during the 1950s and 60s .

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Introduction
I was born in Burao in Somaliland in 1952. My family lived in the town and I attended the girls boarding school there. I really loved my school! Because of Somaliland's history as a British protectorate until 1960, there were strong links to Britain. Although Somali was our mother tongue, it wasn't written down as a language until 1970. So all the teaching was done in English and the exams we sat were from the East African branch of the Cambridge Examination Board. Our teachers were from all over the world - America, Egypt and England and the principal of the school was an English woman married to a Somali man. We even had a photograph of Queen Elizabeth on the wall at the school, along with the Mayor of our town and the engineer who built the school.

Anab Ali Jama came From Somalia to England in 1987. She first settled in London but them moved to Sheffield after visiting a friend here and deciding that it was a good place to bring up children. She was interviewed about her school days in Somalia by Nikky Wilson in January 2007.

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SGMT - School days in Burao, Somalia, 1960s

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Introduction I was born in Burao in Somaliland in 1952. My family lived in the town and I attended the girls boarding school there. I really loved my school! Because of Somaliland's history as a British protectorate until 1960, there were strong links to Britain.

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Burngreave Messenger - Voice of the Burngreave Community

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Story and photo by Farhaan Warsame
The UK historically has been close to Somalia through its involvement in the British Somaliland Protectorate, this link has given rise to a long tradition of Somalis migrating to the UK. The first Somaliland immigrants came in the 19th Century. A second group of seamen came during World War 2 and moved to industrial cities such as Sheffield where labour was in great demand. They settled in Attercliffe and worked in the steel industry.
Mohamoud Abdilahi Ibrahim came in 1959 with a youth group from British Somaliland to the UK to work and they came by ship to Liverpool. Everyone decided to go where their relatives lived so he went to Mexborough but he could not find a job. After that, he moved to Sheffield and found a job in the steel industry in Attercliffe where his other relatives lived and worked. Mohamoud now is retired and sometimes he voluntarily cleans Ellesmere Green, as he now lives in Burngreave and has been here for more than 20 years.

He said:

"Sheffield people are very friendly and kind. I feel at home in Sheffield."

During the 1980s and 1990s, the civil war in Somalia led to a large number of Somali immigrants, comprising the majority of the current Somali population in the UK. Some of them have settled in Burngreave and work locally, such as in Royal Mail and selfemployment.

Another Somali immigrant who lives in Burngreave said: "I like living in Burngreave because it has a lot of facilities such as different shops that sell a variety of food, Mosques, schools green spaces and good transport. I like that it is close to the City Centre."

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Somali Immigration in Burngreave - Burngreave Messenger

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Story and photo by Farhaan Warsame The UK historically has been close to Somalia through its involvement in the British Somaliland Protectorate, this link has given rise to a long tradition of Somalis migrating to the UK. The first Somaliland immigrants came in the 19th Century.

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Somalia and Sheffield are an unlikely pairing. Somalia is a country in the Horn of Africa, situated on the east side of the continent. Unlike Sheffield, Somalia is largely dry, hot and the country is distinctive for being particularly flat - forget the green rolling hills of the Peak District. All the same: Sheffield boasts a significant Somali population, with estimates suggesting there are around 5,000 Somalis living here. While there are plenty of academic studies written about Sheffield's Somali population, there's little coverage of this community in the local news. I wanted to get beyond the statistics and hear stories. What does it feel like to have moved somewhere so different? How easy was it to integrate? Does Sheffield feel like home? I headed to Burngreave to see for myself.

It's easy to assume that Somali immigration to the UK originated with the civil war sparked by an abortive military coup in 1978 - a conflict which has now raged on for 30 years and has led to mass emigration of Somalis all over the world. But the story is a far older one than that: Britain colonised Somaliland (the Northwest of Somalia) in 1897. According to " Post-conflict identities: Practices and affiliations of Somali refugee children," an academic research project carried out by the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds, this led to a long tradition of Somali migration to the UK, with seamen migrating from Somaliland to "to work and live in the dockland areas of London, Cardiff and Liverpool" in the early 1900s. The decline of the Merchant Navy in the 1960s meant these same immigrants were forced to seek new jobs and many Somali seamen moved to cities further north like Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield, where the steel industry had grown and more workers were required. Still, the majority of Somalis currently living in the UK arrived as asylum seekers in the 80s and 90s following the civil war.

Someone directs me to what they describe as a "Somali supermarket," Ileys Food Store. It's a Monday morning, so the owner is busy sweeping and restocking shelves. But he's OK with me chatting to the Somali man behind the counter, he says. Abdikarim Farah, 51, is meticulously polite but I can tell he isn't overjoyed about doing the interview: I have to stitch his story together from one-sentence answers. Still, he gives me a good chunk of time and we talk intermittently - when customers come in, he breaks off from the interview to chat and joke with them.

Abdikarim has lived in Sheffield since 1998 (he's based in Burngreave) and he hails from Somaliland, an autonomous region in Somalia which declared independence in 1991 but whose sovereignty has not yet been recognised by any foreign powers. His brother had been a 28-year-old student when civil war had broken out and in 1989, he fled to Britain. His brother lived in London initially but relocated to Sheffield at the age of 31 to study economics at Sheffield Hallam - London was too expensive a city for him to countenance studying there.

Soon after, Abdikarim's father, mother and sister relocated to Sheffield to join him. Abdikarim wanted to move at the same time, but he was the only member of their family whose visa was initially rejected. He doesn't know why his first visa application was rejected, but he knows why his second visa application was granted when he was 28: "Because of family reunion."

"The first six months were very difficult," he tells me. "I felt homesick. Because the first few months, it takes time. I missed the weather, it was so cold here, raining all the time. There it's dry, sunshine." But Abdikarim didn't just miss the sunshine. He fixes the counter with a glare. "And also I was married and at that time I left my wife and my children behind."

The visa was only for him, he explains, and he felt it was the right thing for their family to relocate to Britain and then try and arrange for the rest of his family to join him. But at the time, his daughter was just two years old and his wife was pregnant with their son. In what I assume is one of this world's leading understatements, he tells me that his wife wasn't happy about his decision. But he phoned her regularly and kept distracting himself by working as much as possible - at the time, he studied for his GCSEs at City College alongside a physically taxing job packaging the pies at a pie factory. His wife and children secured a visa a year later and the whole family celebrated their arrival: Abdikarim's mother cooked them "rice and traditional chicken, meat, all that."

Nowadays, he tells me his children are bigger than he is. His son is 23 and is figuring things out: he was studying IT at university but after two years, he dropped out to pursue something more in line with his interests. His daughter is almost 25 and she's married and has a two year old daughter of her own. How does it feel to be a grandfather? "Yes, I'm feeling over the moon to see my family growing big like a tree." He tells me he'd like to spend more time with his granddaughter, but he has to work.

Later that day, I get a phone call. I'd chatted with a group of men outside a cafe for a while in my hunt for interviewees. Basha is the perfect interviewee for you, said one, because he's not just Somali, he's written the book on Somalis - quite literally. He's a journalist and he's published a book about his home country. I'd hung round waiting for him for a bit, having heard that Basha keeps a strict routine: he prays at the mosque down the street from the cafe and then he comes and drinks a green tea with everyone. But eventually everyone decided it was too early, so I'd left. Now one of the men was summoning me back. "He's here, will you hurry?"

Basha Abdi is 65 years old and is a slight, graceful man. He pulls his stool a few metres away from the cafe and gestures for me to do the same. We talk for an hour and during that time, we're interrupted constantly. Everyone knows Basha and everyone seems to adore him.

Occasionally, talking to Basha gives me the same sensation that discussing complicated subjects in German to other non-native speakers of the language gives me: the sense of talking at a slight remove, like there's a closed window between us. We can make out most of what we are saying to each other, but sometimes the specifics grow muffled. Basha's English is excellent, but at points, the story of his life and his politics is so complex that it strains the limits of his language. As such, this won't be a perfect representation of Basha's story. There will be gaps, holes, ambiguities. I think that's OK, though.

Basha was 30 when he left Somalia, which he fled because of the lack of political stability that the civil war ushered in. "Most of the intellectuals left the country. We came here and we started our lives anew," he says. Back in Somalia, he'd been the editor-in-chief of a magazine called Socialism, which did what it said on the tin. He moved to Cairo, in part, because it was also an intellectual hub with lots of opportunities for journalists. But while he describes Cairo as a good place, it wasn't his end goal. Basha dreamed of moving to Britain, primarily because he was an idealist.

"I wanted British people to understand what was going on in Somalia, how the conflict is, what the role of the United States and Britain in Somalia was," he says. "Somalia is a very rich place. If there's a place in Africa where there is fighting, there is something of value there. I thought if the people understood this, they could try to do something to solve the problem there."

After spending three years in Cairo, he moved to Paris, because he thought it would be easier to get to Britain by train. He spent two months in Paris before achieving his dream and ending up in London. The thing that struck him most, he says, was the sense of freedom. "You could talk about what you want, you could express yourself, nobody could catch you. In Somalia, if you talk, they can shoot you."

In London, he started his own magazine called Freedom, which was published in both Arabic and English and was about the Horn of Africa, Somali topics, Somali culture, the conflicts in that part of the continent. In 2000, he moved up to Sheffield to be closer to his mother, who was already living here alone - she'd separated from his dad years before. He brought Freedom with him, which he funded via grants from the council and donations from the local community. He set up an office in the top floor of the building at the end of the road we're sat on. We wander down the road and gaze up at it.

He had a team working for him, but many of them were volunteers - since his income from the magazine fluctuated, he couldn't always afford to pay other professional journalists. "Sometimes I got £5,000, other times £10,000."

Early on, like Abdikarim, he worked packaging items in a food factory but he was fired after a few months. The cause of his dismissal? Sometimes he would arrive at 9:02 instead of 9am on the dot and he didn't realise his superiors were making a note of this. After four months his supervisors told him "We're losing a lot of time because of your laziness, you're always two minutes late." He told them he couldn't live like that. "Because I like to talk, it was very hard. You have to work like a machine. I can't do that."

But his life wasn't only about work. At the age of 50, he married a woman 21 years younger than him - a Somali-British woman who had grown up in Sheffield who he met through his community. They stayed together for twelve years before divorcing. "Why did you fall in love with her?" I ask. I'm waiting for the usual: eyes like stars, we couldn't stop making each other laugh, she felt like home. He watches me, wry. "We say in our culture: 'You're lucky if it's like that.'"

Still, Basha describes her as a very nice and a very sociable person. Honestly, she sounds like a second Basha: according to him, everyone adored her. But that was the problem. He describes her as having "too many friends" and suggests that their home felt more like a community centre than a private residence.

Now he lives alone, but he's not lonely. He ascribes his happiness to having a library in his home. He follows a strict daily routine - he gets up, he drinks a green tea at the cafe we're next to, he goes to the mosque to pray, afterwards he sits at the cafe for two hours with his friends, "talking too much."

What do they talk about? Politics in Muslim countries - what's going on in Afghanistan or Somalia, say. "Today I came here and they're talking about the British girl who won the tennis. Somali people are very sociable, they like politics. The first question when you sit down is always 'What's happened?'" He tells me he functions like a one-man newspaper: because he likes reading news, all his friends always want him to distil the latest politics for them. When I ask him what he likes reading about best, he tells me he likes reading about African problems.

"If you don't read, you become stressed. When you read, you're OK, because you spend time on something of value. If you read about history or geography or about politics, you're not wasting time. If I don't read, I become confused," he says.

I press him: don't you become depressed, reading about serious political problems? He considers this for a second and then smiles. "You know," he tells me, "when you pray, it takes the stress out of you. So when I read the news and become stressed, I go and pray."

It all sounds so idyllic, I say. His routine, his community. Well, things aren't perfect here for Somalis, he says. "The last 15 years, those who grew up here and became British, some of them got involved with Jamaicans who exploited the Somalis. Somebody comes to you and says I'll give you £200, take this hash, take it to the other side, sell it, make money. You come back, you get £200. Now there are a lot of Somalis in prison." He argues these are the generation of Somalis who were born here, who were exposed to British culture, which "is about get rich quick, no patience."

What Basha loves about Sheffield is Burngreave and the way it feels like a smaller version of Somalia. Some of the best rules from home still apply here: generosity is an integral part of the community. If somebody's car gets wrecked in a crash and the person needs £3,000 for a new one, every person in the community will donate £20. If a couple can't afford a wedding, everyone donates. If someone needs to travel and they can't afford the ticket, no problem. If there's a funeral, you have to go, even if you didn't know the person. Why? "Islam is like that. Islamic culture says help each other. Because one day you will be in the same place. The same fate will wait tomorrow for you."

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'We came here and we started our lives anew'

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Somalia and Sheffield are an unlikely pairing. Somalia is a country in the Horn of Africa, situated on the east side of the continent. Unlike Sheffield, Somalia is largely dry, hot and the country is distinctive for being particularly flat - forget the green rolling hills of the Peak District.