meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Witness History

Britain's Black Schools

Witness History

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture, History

4.51.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2021

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1960s mainstream schooling in Britain was failing many black immigrant children. A disproportionate number were being sent to schools for those with low intelligence. Black educationalists like Gus John and others set up supplementary Saturday schools for black children to try to mitigate the problem. Claire Bowes has been hearing how some police and headteachers tried to shut them down.

Photo: photo of an early black supplementary school courtesy of the George Padmore Institute, London.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless

0:06.8

searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the

0:11.8

telly we share what we've been watching

0:14.0

Cladie Aide.

0:16.0

Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.

0:19.0

Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.

0:21.0

And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less

0:24.9

searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds.

0:29.2

Hello and thanks for downloading witness history from the BBC World Service with

0:38.8

me Claire Bowes. In 1960s Britain many black immigrant children were being sent to schools for those with low intelligence.

0:48.0

racist attitudes throughout the school system were to blame.

0:52.0

Black educationalists like Gus John and others set up

0:55.8

supplementary Saturday schools for black children to try to mitigate the problem.

1:00.3

I've been hearing how some police and had teachers try to shut them down.

1:07.0

In 1964, age 19, Gus John was all set to become a priest. After excelling at school in the Caribbean,

1:18.4

he arrived in England to study theology at philosophy and so on. So I'm studying theology and philosophy and so on.

1:31.0

Singing Gregorian Chan, God knows how many times a day, which I enjoyed I have to tell you.

1:37.3

But then I was conscious that there was a community in Oxford of black people outside of the university.

1:45.0

Soon he found himself helping the local black population in Oxford

1:50.0

with landlords and employers. You know in your face racism no dogs no blacks no

1:59.0

Irish. White English people had very little knowledge at all of the Caribbean, where it was, how it worked, what language they spoke.

2:11.0

So the general impression that people had was that we as

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.