Documentary tells stories of Windrush generation’s children

A documentary featuring seven people from Bristol who grew up as children of the Windrush generation premieres at the Watershed in Bristol on 29 October. First Born Second: Voices of the Children of the Windrush Era explores what it meant to grow up black and British in the 1970s and 1980s.

What is the film about?

The documentary gives screen time to seven Bristol voices describing a childhood shaped by two cultures. Roger Griffith MBE, co-producer and project curator of the film, said he wanted to champion the parents who migrated while showing how their children grew up in the “rich tapestry” of a Bristolian, British, black experience, and how they overcame “racism, institutional discrimination and a clash of cultures”.

What did those featured in the film say?

Broadcaster Sherrie Eugene-Hart, who shares her story in First Born Second, said she hoped people were left with a sense of pride, hope and achievement. “There was a lot of joy growing up – when any celebration happened everybody was invited,” she said. “It’s something I’ll always cherish.”

Eugene-Hart said her parents were protective and did not always want to share their own unhappy stories, including being chased by Teddy Boys, a 1950s mostly white British youth subculture whose members in some cases carried out racial violence, and being refused jobs. “I think it’s very hurtful for everybody,” she said.

Griffith said his generation had “a very Bristolian, British, black experience”, which he called a “rich tapestry” of “triumph, tragedy and joy”. “Our parents were pioneers, but we were pioneers in a different way because we had to grow up in those two cultures – being black and British,” he said.

What was the Windrush generation?

The Windrush generation was invited to come from the Caribbean to the UK to help rebuild post-war Britain. Several hundred of those who migrated were Jamaican, while others arrived from islands including Trinidad, St Lucia, Grenada and Barbados. Many travelled on the HMT Empire Windrush, the boat that has since become a symbol of a wider mass-migration movement.

What else accompanies the screening?

Director Michelle Pascal said the “untold” stories people shared with the filmmakers revealed a much bigger picture of their “resilience, belonging and change”. Pascal said many of those approached to be filmed had had brilliant careers, and that the household, and specifically the Caribbean front room, connected them; glass fish that stood in Caribbean homes also appear in the film. Eugene-Hart and Beverly Douglas, who is also in the film, have recreated their version of a Caribbean home in a separate exhibition called Dominican Front Room, which can be visited at the Undershed before the screening.

Frequently asked questions

When does First Born Second premiere?

First Born Second: Voices of the Children of the Windrush Era premieres at the Watershed in Bristol on 29 October.

Who is featured in the documentary?

The film focuses on seven Bristol voices, among them broadcaster Sherrie Eugene-Hart and Beverly Douglas, with Roger Griffith MBE as co-producer and project curator and Michelle Pascal as director.

What was the Windrush generation?

The Windrush generation was invited to come from the Caribbean to the UK to help rebuild post-war Britain, with many migrants travelling on the HMT Empire Windrush.

What is the Dominican Front Room exhibition?

It is a recreation of a Caribbean home made by Sherrie Eugene-Hart and Beverly Douglas, shown at the Undershed before the screening of First Born Second.

With reporting from BBC News.

Stock image, not from the events described. City Skyline — Joe deSousa / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)