New Portobello Road Black History Walk Film
During October 2020, Black History month, we shot a short film of a Black History walk in #Portobello Road for local residents and people interested in this aspect of British History. We worked with a local young actor and musician, Emmanuel Simon (Manny), as the storyteller.
Manny did an amazing job, recounting some of the most interesting and relevant aspects of Portobello Road history. We filmed him on a walk along Portobello and Golborne roads, telling the story of this area’s rich black history and some of the most important characters, including the arrival of the Windrush generation, racism experienced by arrivals from the Caribbean, the founding of the carnival and aspects of the wonderful musical heritage in the area (Did you know Bob Marley recorded the album ‘Exodus’ at Island Records, Basing St Studios?)
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- Empire Windrush brought one of the first large groups of post-war West Indian immigrants to the United Kingdom, carrying 1,027 passengers and two stowaways on a voyage from Jamaica to London in 1948. 802 of these passengers gave their last country of residence as somewhere in the Caribbean: of these, 693 intended to settle in the United Kingdom.
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- May 18, 1959 – Murdered in Race Riot area of London: A 32-year old West Indian, Kelso Benjamin Cochrane, a carpenter, was walking home when a group of youths challenged him on a street corner. A running fight developed and Cochrane was stabbed in the chest. Two coloured men took him to hospital by taxi, but he died a few minutes after admission.
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- 1959 – People Hold Protest Walk In Whitehall
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- The first ever “Notting Hill carnival”, created in response to the previous year’s racial riots in the area and the state of race relations at the time. The carnival, organised by Claudia Jones.
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- The first ever “Notting Hill carnival”, created in response to the previous year’s racial riots in the area and the state of race relations at the time. The carnival, organised by Claudia Jones.
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- The first ever “Notting Hill carnival”, created in response to the previous year’s racial riots in the area and the state of race relations at the time. The carnival, organised by Claudia Jones.
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- The Mangrove restaurant at 8 All Saints Road in Notting Hill
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- Mangrove Nine evidence photo
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- Mangrove Nine evidence photo
A member of our staff researched the history and help create the script. The film which was co-produced and edited by Alex Diaz (www.alxdz.co.uk) with the collaboration of local North Kensington artist Renata Fernandez (www.renatafernandez.com) for the portraits.
You can watch the Portobello Road Black History Walk film in our YouTube channel. Hope you’ll enjoy it.
Special thanks to the film Funders: Culture, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Grenfell Young People’s Fund, Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund, London Community Foundation. And to the Tabernacle for their help and support.