| Description | Press cuttings containing articles printed in local and national newspapers, largely concerning events in Smethwick during the 1960s relating to race relations, the 1964 and 1966 election campaigns in Smethwick, in which immigration and related issues were used by both the Conservative and Labour candidates, but particularly by the Conservative Peter Griffiths, and the difficulties faced by members of immigrant communities in Smethwick and Birmingham in getting housing, education and health care. There are also a number of articles on the activities of the Indian Workers Association, the Co-ordinating Committee Against Racial Discrimination, and other groups working for social justice.
Articles consist of: coverage of the dispute over allocation of housing in Marshall Street, Smethwick; threatening letters sent to Indian residents in Marshall Street 1967; the racist housing policy of the Smethwick Conservatives; the problem of racism in Britain in reported in the 'Daily Worker' 1965; the election manifestos of the main political parties in the 1966 election; proposals for extra money for facilities in areas with a high concentration of immigrant communities, undated; the need for funding for immigrant areas of the Black Country; the 1966 election campaign in Smethwick; report on complaints to the Race Relations Board, including a quote from Maurice Ludmer of the Co-ordinating Committee Against Racial Discrimination [CCARD]; investigation of cases of alleged racial discrimination in Birmingham; cases put by Avtar Jouhl to the Race Relations Board over segregation in pubs and factory 1966; the problems of interacting with tight-knit immigrant community in Smethwick who were from a small area of Punjab; feature on needlework completed by an Indian girl and an English girl at Handsworth Wood Girls school; Conservatives end a dispute on the Race Relations bill 1968; questions in Parliament about whether it was government policy to help immigrants to return home 1968; the operation of a 'colour bar' in a Smethwick public house, Shirley Fossick gives evidence; letter from the Indian Workers Association in a Smethwick newspaper 1963 expressing regret at decision of Smethwick Conservatives to refuse a loan for an Indian moulder to buy property in Smethwick; Indian Workers Association call for Smethwick Council to withdraw Don Finney as one of town's representatives on the Commonwealth Welfare Council for the West Midlands 1963; the Executive Committee of the Birmingham Trades Council endorses an appeal made by the Co-ordinating Committee Against Racial Discrimination [CCARD] for an end to racial antagonism, though the appeal was also supported by the Communist party; protest by the National Council for Civil Liberties about a comment made by a Tottenham magistrate on 'mixed marriage'; 1964 Smethwick election campaign; the operation of a 'colour bar' at a Smethwick youth club by Ken Bunch; Peter Griffiths thinks neither immigrants not white people in Smethwick want to mix 1963; call for a cross-party conference in Smethwick on immigrants, in order to formulate a united policy; Conservative plans to introduce a scheme for separate immigrant classes in Smethwick; anonymous threats to Jiwan Singh, cultural secretary of the Birmingham branch of the Indian Workers Association 1965, apparently based on the assumption that Singh was a committee member of the Co-ordinating Committee Against Racial Discrimination [CCARD]; accusations of the distortion of statistics about immigrants by the Conservative chairman of the Birmingham Health Committee 1968; the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham c1965; the operation of a 'colour bar' on housing in Smethwick; housing and employment conditions in Sparkbrook, Birmingham and Southall; West Midlands Conciliation Committee criticised by Maurice Ludmer of the Co-ordinating Committee Against Racial Discrimination, the Pakistani Welfare Association, the Indian Workers Association and the Anti-Apartheid Movement for a visit by a member of the organisation to apartheid South Africa; Manchester Sikh bus drivers not allowed to wear turbans at work; immigration used as an election issue 1964-1966; Joshi and Sohan Singh Sandhu accused of committing disorderly act after Harold Wilson's visit to Birmingham 1968; National Front demonstration in Wolverhampton; various issues surrounding forthcoming election 1963, including letters to newspapers about attitudes to immigrants and the employment of immigrants, including references to the activities of the Indian Workers Association and the Co-ordinating Committee Against Racial Discrimination [CCARD]; general articles on race relations; immigrants setting up their own self-help organisations; activities of the Indian Workers Association and the Black Peoples Alliance; address given in Wolverhampton by members of the Black Panthers movement; Tariq Ali will not speak at Wolverhampton because of threats from white extremists 1970; Doojan Napal, an Indian lecturer at Wolverhampton Polytechnic has tea thrown at him by students; report on a march against the Immigration Bill 1971, including a quote from Joshi; the operation of a 'colour bar' on housing by Smethwick Conservatives c1965; report on a 'Hands-Off Cuba' march; high proportion of immigrant children in some Birmingham schools 1966. |