A walk commemorates 70 years since the SS Windrush arrived from the Caribbean.
The tour will take walkers through the black history of Dalston from the the 1950s to the present day. It is run by Black History Walks, a collective of athletes, IT professionals, teachers, artists, authors and filmmakers who collaborate to produce events on British history which includes African-Caribbean people.
Tony Warner, director of Black History Walks, told the Hackney Post: “There’s a huge history of Windrush in Hackney.”
Last week, the Hackney Post reported that members of the Windrush generation in Hackney are still “living through hell” almost a year after the scandal emerged, according to Hackney South and Shoreditch MP Meg Hillier.
Warner said: “In the 1940s Dalston was literally a bombsite so it was a lot cheaper for people arriving here, but there were still signs saying no blacks, no dogs, no Irish.
“The banks wouldn’t lend money to Jamaicans, so they set up a system where they would put £10 aside, so it became a partner system. One person would buy a house, and then rent it out to their friends.”
The walk’s organisers hope it will open up a hidden world of black heritage sites in the area, from black music history to Hackney’s black activism and its pioneering role in housing equality.
It will also cover the history of Black British civil rights, including the Hackney Black Peoples’ Defence Association.
Warner said: “There’s a huge black history in Dalston. There’s the Four Aces Club which was based in Dalston, where the library is now. When there were very few black clubs available it was one of the first venues to play black music. Bob Marley played there, and Stevie Wonder, so it’s hugely important.”
The walk will also explore gentrification, social cleansing and the education of black children, from grassroots campaigns to national change. It will also trace the development of race relations throughout the 1960s and 1970s, looking at the reasons, impact and legacies.
The walk is set to be well attended, with more than 20 tickets already sold. It is taking place on Sunday 17 March between 10:30am-12:30pm. Tickets cost £10 and can be booked online.
