Blue Plaque Awarded In Honour Of Jamaican Duo Who Established A “Safe Haven”
Are proud to announce the Blue Plaque Unveiling Ceremony on Sunday 10th April 2022 in tribute to Hubert “Baron” Baker and Leopold “Totobag” Williams two outstanding Jamaicans who established a “safe haven” at 9a Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, W11 2EE for new arrivals from the Caribbean in the 1950s and 1960s.
Baker, a passionate campaigner for racial justice was born in Jamaica in 1925 and arrived in Britain in 1944 aged just 19 years during WW2 he joined the RAF. Discrimination was rife: ‘no blacks, no dogs, no Irish’ signs hung from windows across the country. Racist landlords and employment issues plagued Caribbean migrants, and the fascist Oswald Mosley called for the repatriation of Caribbean people.
Baker persuaded the government to open Clapham South’s air raid shelter as temporary accommodation. Following this, Baker and others fought to establish black communities in London. Many migrants were able to find employment and housing in nearby Brixton, in large part due to Baker. When the Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury in 1948, Baker welcomed the 492 new arrivals. The migrants, hoping to begin new lives, were to face immediate issues around housing. When housing was denied to Caribbean migrants, he found alternatives. When racists attacked black Britons, Baker fought back.
As a Ladbroke Grove resident, the racist threats on the street were unavoidable and violent. Baker and his friends saw a need for resistance and organised the community to protect the Black community. Matters came to a head in 1958 with the first race riots in Britain when marauding racists terrorised the local community for two days.
Baker stated.
Immediately after the war it was the government’s policy to “Keep Britain White”…that is to say they wanted all the service personnel to be sent back to their respective countries. I took exception to that but they eventually produced a policy whereby if you learned a trade then you could remain here…Things were alright, you could get jobs one way or another – but you know, if you are black you stay back, we were the last hired and the first fired
This special Blue Plaque Ceremony takes place at 6 pm on Sunday 10th April and is the latest in the series of important community ceremonies that commemorates and celebrates exceptional individuals in the African Caribbean community who have made outstanding contributions to society, the impact of which continues to be felt today. The ceremony will immediately be followed by the Private View of Grove Survivors: by Charlie Phillips – A photographic and mixed media installation exhibition and tribute to Hubert “Baron” Baker and Leopold “Totobag” Williams at the Muse Gallery, 269 Portobello Road, W11 1LR.
Charlie Philips, a Jamaican and leading documentary photographer is a former resident of 9a Blenheim Crescent having lived there on his arrival to the UK in the 1950s.
According to Charlie:
Baron and Totobag were the first unofficial community leaders and gave a lot of people refuge including myself when I first came to the UK
Charlie is also a prominent and much-respected figure in Ladbroke Grove, Brixton, and other black communities. His work has been featured in leading international publications and art galleries including Young Vogue (he was the first black photographer to be featured on its cover), the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Theatre where his work was displayed as part of the seminal “Nine Night” Theatre production.
If you cannot physically attend the event, you can watch the unveiling via zoom! Simply register on the eventbrite link given below and we will email the zoom link before the event on the day:
I’m sure there were plenty of disgusting, racist signs that demonstrated prejudice against immigrants. They were SO foul, I won’t even list them.
HOWEVER, the SPECIFICALLY WORDED, “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish” are a complete MYTH!
In fact, the myth began in the Northeastern USA (Boston-New York) in the mid-1980s, among IRISH-Americans, trying to burnish THEIR record of persecution.
A certain faction of these Irish-Americans spread the falsehood that the Irish were the “first slaves” in the US, and, so the enslavement of Black Africans was not really a racist genocide — since the “Irish slaves” were white!
The grammatical construction of the phrase on the mythical “signs” is supposed to indicate: “Black, BAD; Dogs, WORSE; Irish, COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE IN EVERY WAY!”
If such signs HAD originated in 50-70s Britain, they would — almost certainly — have used “Coloured”, since “Black” did not become common usage in the UK until the US Civil Rights movement gained publicity over here.
Also, in NATURAL speech in English, we “automatically” use the vowel sounds in words in the order: I, A, O. So … “Bing, Bang, Bong”, “Big, Bad, Wolf”, “Tic, Tac, Toe” and so on.
If a real person had used the same words in a natural way, the phrase would have been, “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs”.
Also, why would any Boarding House, or Cafe, or Employer even bother to put “No Dogs”???
There are NO — not one — remaining examples of such signs. They were said to be SO common — posted EVERYWHERE — with exactly the same wording — they MUST have been mass-produced, in a factory … yet not a single one has survived!?!? VERY odd!
Finally, there are NO MENTIONS of such signs before the mid-1980 in the USA or the mid-1990s in the UK! And, in the US they are taken as “anti-Irish” but in the UK as “anti-Black.”
There is SO much REAL evidence of REAL racism and prejudice that it is completely unnecessary to invent OTHER “evidence”. Especially because — when the fakery of these “signs” is pointed out, it can give today’s racists a golden opportunity to say that ALL racism is fake!!!