Legacies: London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce
New exhibition now open
Celebrate the contribution Caribbean people have made to transport in London and British culture more widely at our new exhibition Legacies: London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce, now open at the Museum.
Explore the struggles and triumphs many of these individuals and their families experienced as they moved halfway across the world from the Caribbean to the UK.
Stories include memories from first, second and third generation Caribbean people who worked for London Transport (LT) or still work for Transport for London (TfL).
The exhibition is free with your Museum admission. Book your tickets online today!
More about the exhibition
After the Second World War, the UK’s need for workers to help re-build the country coincided with the Caribbean population’s need for jobs. Britain benefited greatly from those making the difficult 7,000km journey to London.
From 1956 to 1970, LT ran a direct recruitment campaign from Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica, looking for employees to come and work for the organisation. Arriving with high hopes about starting a new life in Britain, many were shocked with the difficulties they faced including racism, poverty, homesickness and damp, cold British weather.
New recruits worked as bus conductors, station staff, canteen assistants and in track maintenance. Though many employees were skilled and well-educated, they had to take basic, low-paid work and often found promotion difficult due to informal but pervasive discrimination.
Yet, despite these challenges, many employees have fond memories of enjoying their work, helping to create new social and sports clubs such as the London Transport Caribbean Association and joining LT’s many sports teams.
Today, Transport for London (TfL), includes new generations of Londoners, some of whom are related to the first generation of Caribbean recruits
The exhibition also focuses on the influence Caribbean culture has had on the Capital and beyond. From iconic events such as Notting Hill Carnival to the development of the large-scale artwork for TfL’s Art on the Underground programme at Brixton Tube station, this exhibition acknowledges the positive impact Caribbean communities have had on the UK, inspiring the visual arts and influencing the way we live, work and play.
Things to do at home inspired by the exhibition
People have come from all over the Caribbean Commonwealth to live in the UK. Do you know which flag is which?
Take a look inside our cookbook at some classic Caribbean dishes and see if you can recreate some of these tasty meals.
Further reading for young people
There is lots to see and many powerful stories in this exhibition, including interactives and stories to encourage conversation and discussion.
After visiting the exhibition, we want to encourage further learning and talking. This is so future generations will continue to remember the legacy of those that travelled from the Caribbean to the UK, helping to shape the country as we know it today.
We have collected details of the wonderful work of other organisations and individuals for you to explore further.
We hope that signposting different websites, resources, books and articles will encourage you, your family and school to continue talking and learning about the themes and stories addressed in the exhibition.
If there are other resources or information sources that you would like to see shared on this page, please email [email protected] with further details and we will look into including them.
Coming to England by Dame Floella Benjamin and Diane Ewen
Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah
The Story of Windrush by K. N. Chimbiri
The Place for Me: Stories About the Windrush Generation by Dame Floella Benjamin, K.N. Chimbiri, E.L. Norry, Judy Hepburn
Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books, has more book recommendations.
Caribbean Journeys at London Transport Museum
Caribbean Journeys: Wembley Artsmark Project Key Stage 2 resources from London Transport Museum
Shango’s migration story from Museum of London
Moving here – Windrush and beyond from The National Archives
Education and young people from the Runnymede Trust
Windrush generation in Brent loan box from Brent Council
Brent’s Windrush generation learning resource
Windrush learning resources for schools from Seven Stories
Empower and Educator from Know your Caribbean
Suitcase stories at Redbridge Museum and Heritage Centre (page 5)
Windrush day learning resources from Reading Museum
Windrush Journeys school sessions from the Black Cultural Archives
Key Stage 2 lesson plans accompanying the book The Story of Windrush by K. N. Chimbiri
Did you know about the new National Windrush Monument?
On 22 June 2022, the fifth annual Windrush Day, a bronze statue designed by Jamaican sculptor Basil Watson was unveiled at Waterloo station, where it stands as a tribute to the Windrush generation.
With thanks to our Advisory Board
London Transport Museum is collaborating with an Advisory Board of TfL staff of Caribbean heritage who have helped shape the content and narrative of the Legacies: London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce exhibition. London Transport Museum would like to thank the Advisory Board for their enthusiasm, ideas and invaluable feedback.
The Museum would also like to thank the TfL Raising Awareness of Culture and Ethnicity (RACE) Staff Network Group who have generously shared their resources and expertise and provided valuable input into the exhibition.
Caribbean music playlist
Read more
After the Second World War, London Transport experienced labour shortages. To maintain a sufficiently large workforce, the organisation increasingly needed to look beyond London. Read more about London Transport’s direct recruitment from the Caribbean.
Both men and women were recruited through London Transport's direct recruitment campaign from the Caribbean. Read about how Black women have contributed to London Transport over the years, from canteen staff to bus drivers and beyond.
We focus on four London transport workers who feature in this map, created in a collaboration between the Black Cultural Archives and Transport for London, using London’s iconic Tube map to celebrate the contributions of Black people to London’s history and culture.
