22 June 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in Essex. The ship brought to Britain just over 800 passengers who had left the West Indies, the great majority of whom sought to settle and begin new lives in the UK.
The Windrush 75 anniversary is being marked in 2023 with events, exhibitions and broadcasts. In February, the Royal Historical Society issued a call for organisers of history-related events to send in details for posting on the RHS website.
The following list, arranged in date order, includes submitted events, along with others selected by the Society, which take place in June. They include academic conferences, lectures and seminars, alongside exhibitions, community history events and performances. They are a small selection of what’s available. If you know of other history-related activities please let us know.
At the end of the list you’ll find two forthcoming events organised by the Royal Historical Society, and taking place in June and early July, which we hope will also be of interest.
Recent Acquisition: Journeys to Hope
Outdoor Exhibition, London – 5 January-September
The Caribbean Front Room – Stories from Windrush and Beyond
Exhibition, London – 5 June-28 July
Great Minds: Colin Grant – Windrush Stories
Lecture, Nottingham – 8 June
Windrush Stories Launch, at Manchester Poetry Library
Workshop, Manchester – 15 June
Another Lambeth Windrush History? June 23 1948
Lecture, London – 16 June
The Windrush Generation: The Black Contribution to the British Experience, with William Henry
Lecture, Manchester – 16 June
Suffolk Windrush Lectures, Parts 1 & 2
Lectures, Online – 16 June & 14 July
From War to Windrush 75, Imperial War Museum
Conference, London – 17 June
Wellingborough Windrush Community Event
Festival, Northamptonshire – 17 June
The Windrush Scandal in a Transnational and Commonwealth Context
Conference, London – 19 June
The Story of Empire Windrush in Ten Documents, with The National Archives
Workshop, Online – 19 June
Lecture, London – 19 June
The Pitt Lecture, 2023: with David Olusoga
Lecture, London – 19 June
Archives Live: Windrush 75, with The National Archives
Workshop, Online – 19 June
Lecture, Cambridge – 19 June
Disrupting British African History Sessions
Lecture Series, Online – 19 June-2 October
Windrush Memories: Sharing History at Nottingham Black Archives
Workshop, Nottingham – 20 June
Windrush 75: Riddim and Poetry, at the Museum of London Docklands
Music and Poetry Readings, London – 20 June
Life after Windrush, with the University of Westminster
Online Panel – 21 June
Windrush 75: The History and Legacy of the Windrush Generation
Webinar – 21 June
Serendipity Annual Windrush Day Lecture, 2023, with Gary Younge
Lecture, Leicester – 22 June
Conference and exhibition, Cardiff – 22 June
Windrush Day, 2023 at the National Maritime Museum
London – 22 June
The National Archives x Tilbury Port: Windrush 75 2023
Workshop, Tilbury – 22 June
Their Journey, Our Heritage Project Launch: Windrush 75 Celebration
Workshop, Birmingham – 22 June
The Windrush Decision: An Always Community Project, with Nottinghamshire Archives
Workshop, Nottingham – 22 June
Windrush at 75: books that shaped the black British experience
Listing in the Guardian newspaper, with contributions from David Olusoga, Colin Grant and Lavinya Stennett, among others
How the Windrush generation changed stories of Britain forever – ten recommended reads
The Conversation – written by Alison Donnell (University of East Anglia)
Part of The Conversation’s season of Windrush articles published in June
Windrush 75 – A celebration at Croydon Minster
Exhibition, London – 22 June
The Windrush Story, with Southampton City Libraries
Lecture, Southampton – 22 June
The Windrush 75 Day Conference, at Sheffield Hallam University
Conference, Sheffield – 22 June
WINDRUSH 2023: Industrial Voices of Windrush Nottinghamshire
Workshop and exhibition, Mapperley – 22 June
Windrush 75: Stories Through Film, with Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Screenings, Bristol – 22-24 June
Reimagining Our Future: A Celebration of the Windrush Legacy, at the University of the Arts
Exhibition, London – 22-24 June
BELONGINGS: Windrush 75 Anniversary Weekender: Evewright Arts Foundation
Festival, Purfleet, 22-25 June
Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories: Evewright Arts Foundation
Exhibition, Tilbury, June 2023
Over a Barrel: Windrush Children Tragedy and Triumph, at the Black Cultural Archives
Exhibition, London – 22 June-10 September
AFRUCA’s Windrush 75th Anniversary Event
Festival, Manchester – 22 June
Windrush 75: Alex Pascall in conversation with Jacqueline McKenzie, at the National Portrait Gallery
Panel Discussion, London – 22 June
Windrush 75 International Conference: Reforming our Futures, with the National Windrush Museum
Conference, London – 23 June
Windrush 75: Legacies Festival at the Migration Museum
Exhibition and Workshops, London – 24 June
948 Collective: Windrush Legacies, at South London Gallery
Video Exhibition, London – 24-25 June
A Conversation on Windrush / Sgwrs am Windrush
Workshop, Online – 28 June
Beyond Windrush: Tracing Your Ancestry with the Passenger Lists
Workshop, London – 28 June
Additional UK-wide events are also available via the Windrush 75 Network website
On Tuesday 13 June, we held a panel discussion on the life and intellectual legacy of Eric Williams (1911-81) and his major work, Capitalism and Slavery (1944).
With panellists Heather Cateau (University of the West Indies), Stephen Mullen (Glasgow), Harvey Neptune (Temple, PA), Meleisa Ono-George (Oxford) and Matthew J. Smith (UCL, chair). The recording of this event is now available.
Registration is now open for the Society’s 2023 Prothero Lecture which will be given this year by Brenda E. Stevenson, Hillary Rodham Clinton Professor of Women’s History at Oxford University.
This year’s lecture is ‘To Do and Be Undone: Enslaved Black Life, Courtship, and Marriage in the Antebellum South’ and will be available in-person at UCL and online. Further details of the lecture and how to book are available here.
The RHS Prothero Lecture will be followed by the Society’s annual summer party at UCL: chance to meet fellow historians and open to all.