Editing Brixton (section)

===1948: The Windrush generation===
{{See also|Windrush generation}}
[[File:windrush.jpg|thumb|left|The ''[[Empire Windrush]]'' which brought immigrants from the Caribbean to [[Tilbury]] in 1948.]]
[[File:Windrush square.jpg|thumb|Windrush Square street sign<ref>[http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-atlas/london/windrush-square Windrush Square] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605012120/http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-atlas/london/windrush-square |date=5 June 2010 }} Icons: A portrait of England. Retrieved 6 October 2006.</ref>]]

In the 1940s and 1950s, many immigrants, particularly from the [[West Indies]] and Ireland, settled in Brixton.<ref name=autogenerated5>{{cite web |url=http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/LeisureCulture/LocalHistory/Local/AShortHistoryOfBrixton.htm |title=London Borough of Lambeth &#124; A short history of Brixton |website=Lambeth.gov.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230051452/http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/LeisureCulture/LocalHistory/Local/AShortHistoryOfBrixton.htm |archive-date=30 December 2013}}</ref>

The first wave of immigrants (492 individuals) who formed the [[British African-Caribbean community]] arrived in 1948 at [[Tilbury Docks]] on the [[HMT Empire Windrush|HMT ''Empire Windrush'']] from [[Jamaica]] and were temporarily housed in the Clapham South deep shelter. The nearest Labour Exchange ([[Jobcentre Plus|Jobcentre]]) was on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, and the new arrivals spread out into local accommodation.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="smallislandread2007">{{cite web |url=http://www.smallislandread.com/windrush_generation.htm |title=Small Island Read 2007: The Windrush Generation |website=Smallislandread.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217062006/http://www.smallislandread.com/windrush_generation.htm |archive-date=17 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="Empire Windrush History">{{cite web |url=http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Empire%20Windrush%20History.html |title=Empire Windrush History |website=Oceanlinermuseum.co.uk |date=24 May 1948 |access-date=6 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234612/http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Empire%20Windrush%20History.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Many immigrants only intended to stay in Britain for a few years, but although a number returned to the Caribbean, the majority remained to settle permanently.<ref name="BBC">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/windrush_01.shtml British history: The making of modern Britain] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213125310/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/windrush_01.shtml |date=13 December 2019 }}, BBC Online: Mike Phillips, 1998. Retrieved 4 October 2006.</ref> The arrival of the passengers has become an important landmark in the history of modern Britain, and the image of [[West Indian]]s filing off its gangplank has come to symbolise the beginning of modern British multicultural society.<ref name="BBC"/> In 1998 the area in front of [[Brixton Library]] was renamed "[[Windrush Square]]" to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the ''Windrush''.<ref name=autogenerated5 />

{{anchor|Brixton riots}}