Description: Offering a rare account of the historical development of a black community in Britain, Chessum addresses the way people's lives are constructed through racialized and class identities and how African Caribbean 'immigrants' in Leicester have been reconstructed as an 'ethnic minority'.
Review Quotes: 'The study of post-war migrations to Britain is given new impetus and direction by Lorna Chessum's new book...an important and timely study. It is an important contribution to our understanding not merely of one particular city, but to the process which has transformed the face of urban Britain over the past half century.' Professor James Walvin, University of York, UK '...as a case study about the role of the local state in the shabby history of British race relations, and on the maturation of a community against the odds, Lorna Chessum's book makes a welcome contribution to the literature.' Ethnic and Racial Studies '...this book is a solid attempt to fill in some of the gaps of Caribbean migrants' lives in Britain, and will be of interest to people researching minority communities and their activism.' Patterns of Prejudice 'Chessum has indeed demonstrated how, over time and on the ground, "immigrants" have made a black community which has defined itself in terms of "race" and "class".' Race & Class '...an impressive piece of empirical research and it can be said without any hesitation that [it has] contributed considerably to our understanding of the recialised structure of multicultural Britain.' Contemporary British History