News article, 'It's live and let live in Britain's Harlem'

Description:Balsall Heath, a Home for Immigrants^{<small>1</small>}

The Daily Herald’s article ‘It’s live and let live in Britain’s Harlem’ is included in a volume about ‘ethnic communities’ which was assembled by Birmingham Central Library.^{<small>2</small>} This cutting and a similar one in the volume from the News Chronicle reflect national interest in Birmingham’s growing Black population at this time.^{<small>3</small>} The Herald article focuses on the experience of Samuel Hall, recently arrived in Balsall Heath from Jamaica and it considers the state of accommodation for immigrants in the City, their employment prospects, how they were regarded by the authorities and by long established residents. The existence of a colour bar on employing, and providing services to, Black people is also considered. Whilst noting difficulties for immigrants in relation to these issues, the article concludes that Birmingham has generally ‘behaved in a friendly and live-and-let-live way to its coloured [sic] population’. It also reports without censure the contemptuous nickname ‘Little Burma’ that was given locally to Balsall Heath because of its immigrant population.

Such immigrants were drawn from Ireland (<a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1819">see Transport Report</a>) as well as the Caribbean and South Asia, and these communities shared similar experiences in the 1940s and 1950s. Finding themselves channelled into areas like Balsall Heath by the infamous signs stating ‘No Blacks, no Irish, no dogs', immigrants found accommodation which was often cramped, decaying and overpriced.^{<small>4</small>} Nevertheless, migrants arrived in Birmingham to 'better themselves' and they set about doing so. Here, the Clifton Institute in Balsall Heath played a major role. Established by the council to provide educational opportunities for Black migrants, tuition was offered to better equip them for employment, particularly in an environment where qualification requirements were imposed on Black applicants for low skilled jobs.^{<small>5</small>}

A strong supporter of the Clifton Institute was Doctor Clarence Piliso, a Black South African who had a medical practice in Birmingham. He regarded the Clifton Institute as a temporary measure to assist people until they could compete effectively in the market-place.^{<small>6</small>} Piliso had founded the Afro-Caribbean Society in Birmingham in the 1940s and worked with Henry Gunter and others to challenge the colour bar then operating at Birmingham City Transport [BCT] (<a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1923">see 'Transport Workers in South West Birmingham'</a>) and in private organisations. Their efforts led to the ending of the BCT colour bar in 1954, but further work was needed to completely end such practices.^{<small>7</small>}

The Irish Immigrants’ Association similarly campaigned to improve conditions and opportunities.^{<small>8</small>} Their efforts were boosted in 1951 when Maurice Foley uncovered exorbitant rents for ‘grossly over-crowded, ill-kept, dirty accommodation’.^{<small>9</small>} This was experienced by other migrants, but Foley’s report highlighted the abuse in a dramatic way when it was submitted to the Irish government. His findings were verified by the Irish Ambassador, prompting diplomatic investigations and press enquiries in Ireland and Britain. Birmingham’s private landlords and the City Housing Committee came under external scrutiny and a slow process of mitigating the worst abuses began. Whilst some press exchanges revealed old Anglo-Irish tensions and reported offensive assertions such as ‘They have never known anything better and that is what they prefer’,^{<small>10</small>} Foley’s intervention focused attention on a disgraceful situation and gradual improvements benefited people from all communities.

Such shared experiences fostered a degree of empathy that was also reflected in social gatherings hosted by bodies such as Saint Paul’s Church where Irish and Caribbean people attended dances in the Parish Hall.^{<small>11</small>} People who would later find strength and protection through an emphasis on their own identities also shared experiences and developed links with people from other communities. Dual heritage families bear witness to bonds between individuals, illustrated by the Morgan Family featured in the 1954 News Chronicle’s article and highlighted by current initiatives such as The Inheritance Project based in Balsall Heath.^{<small>12</small>}


<font color="#666633"><small>¹ Balsall Heath developed as an affluent suburb in the mid-nineteenth century. By the 1880s Birmingham had expanded to its edge and the area was formally incorporated into the City in 1891. Developments beyond Balsall Heath in the urban districts of Yardley and King’s Norton & Northfield soon resulted in the area being subsumed in Edwardian suburbia and by the 1950s Balsall Heath was a transitional zone between inner slums and outer suburbs. For details, see Birmingham City Council, Developing Birmingham 1889–1989 (1989); A. Hemming & V. Hart Balsall Heath Past and Present (2003); C. Upton A History of Birmingham (1993)
² ‘Birmingham News cuttings: Ethnic Communities 1954–1968’ [BA&H]
³ The News Chronicle was a national newspaper and reported ‘The Morgans are a fine Example’ (2 March 1954). Despite the relatively wide date range given to this volume of news cuttings, relatively little exists from local newspapers in the 1950s, the main bulk of cuttings being from the mid-1960s onwards. Similarly, the volume dealing with ‘Irish People’ mainly covers the 1970s.
⁴ The wording of such signs has been ingrained in the collective memory of the Birmingham Irish community.
⁵ ‘The Morgans are a fine Example’, News Chronicle, (2 March 1954) [BA&H: Birmingham Newscuttings, 1954-1968]
⁶ ‘The Morgans are a fine Example’, News Chronicle, (2 March 1954) [BA&H: Birmingham Newscuttings, 1954-1968]. Lydia Lindsey raises a different perspective, regarding the position of African Caribbean workers in the Birmingham workforce as an example of a split labour market where race and class segregate different components of the total workforce. See L. Lindsey, ‘The Split-Labor [sic] Phenomenon: Its impact on West Indian workers as a marginal working class in Birmingham, England 1948–1962’, Journal of Negro History vol.78 (1993)
⁷ See www.birmingham.gov.uk/archivesandheritage/henrygunterandtheafro-caribbeansociety and ‘S.Dar, ‘Birmingham Buses and the Colour Bar’ (2007), www.connectinghistories.org.uk (viewed 28/03/2011)
⁸ G. Limbrick, A Great Day: Celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Birmingham (2007), p.108; J. Moran, Irish Birmingham, a History (2010), p.178
⁹ M. Foley, Position of Irish workers in Birmingham (1951), cited in J. Moran, Irish Birmingham (2010), p.173
¹⁰ Birmingham Gazette (1951) cited in M. Foley, Irish Birmingham (2010), p.175. A wider discussion of this is given in Moran, pp.173-175. Such attitudes were also encountered by immigrants from other communities.
¹² Moran, p.226</small></font>