The University of Liverpool Racism, Tolerance and Identity: Responses
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The University of Liverpool Racism, Tolerance and Identity: Responses to Black and Asian Migration into Britain in the National and Local Press, 1948-72 Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of The University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Matthew Young September 2012 Abstract. This thesis explores the response of national and local newspapers to issues of race and black and Asian immigration in Britain between 1948 and 1972. Scholars have highlighted the importance of concepts of race, identity and belonging in shaping responses to immigration, but have not yet explained the complex ways in which these ideas are disseminated and interpreted in popular culture. The thesis analyses the complex role newspapers had in mediating debates surrounding black and Asian immigration for public consumption. By engaging with concepts of race and tolerance, newspapers communicated anxieties about the shape British culture and society would take in the postwar years. Their popularity granted them opportunities to lead attitudes towards black and Asian people and multiculturalism. The influences of social, political and cultural developments on both the national and local level meant newspapers often adopted limited definitions tolerance which failed to combat racism. In other cases, newspapers actively encouraged racist definitions of belonging which privileged their largely white audiences. In order to understand newspapers‘ engagement with concepts of race and identity, this thesis analyses the various influences that informed their coverage. While the opinions and ambitions of prominent journalists had a significant impact on newspaper policy, the thesis highlights the language and genres newspapers used to appeal to large audiences. It argues that this had a significant influence on how responses to immigration were communicated in the public sphere. For Grandma, Granddad, Nan Young and Ollie. Acknowledgements. Firstly, I would like to thank my mum and dad for providing me with the opportunities which have led to the production of this thesis. I wouldn‘t be in this position without all the support they have given me through the years. My brother Chris has also always been there for me, as have all my family and friends. They will always have my gratitude. I would also like to thank Heather and her family for all their unfaltering support (and for enduring the suffering I must have put them through during my PhD). The dedication of this thesis to my grandparents is only a small gesture of the immeasurable impact they have had on my life and work. Special thanks, of course, is offered to my supervisors Andrew Davies and Michael Tadman. They have always been there to offer advice and fresh perspectives about my research. Their insights and support were absolutely essential to the development of this thesis, and have been invaluable for my own personal development. Staff and post grads at the University of Liverpool‘s Department of History have offered exemplary guidance and encouragement over the years. I would also like to thank the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire for awarding me a research grant that facilitated extended research across the North West and so widened the scope of the thesis. By giving me permission to use images from the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror, MirrorCorp also helped give my thesis a more visual impact, an important quality when talking about the influences of popular newspapers. Thanks also to Jack for always reassuring me during the tough times any PhD students must face. I don‘t think I could have navigated them as easily without the help of my office mate Chris, whose advice, high spirits and motivation helped create a productive and, even more crucially, fun research environment. For all the people in my life who have supported me, and for those who are with us only in spirit: Thank you. Table of Contents Introduction. p.1 Part I: Literature Review and Methodology. Chapter 1: From ‗Race Relations‘ to Multicultural Racism: A Literature Review of Racism and Immigration in Britain. p.11 Chapter 2: Methodology: The Potential of Contemporary Newspapers as a Source. p. 34 Part II: The National Press Chapter 3: The Daily Mirror‘s Crusade Against the Colour Bar, 1953-60. p. 58 Chapter 4: ‗A Welcome Mat with Strings‘: The Daily Mirror‘s Responses to Racism and Immigration, 1961-72. p. 106 Chapter 5: ‗Vanishing‘ Britain: Immigration, Empire and white Britishness in the Daily Express and Sunday Express, 1945-72. p. 157 Chapter 6: ‗An Ugly, Raging, Black Question‘: The Express Newspapers and ‗Race‘ in the Domestic Sphere. p. 186 Part III: The Race and Immigration in the Local Press of Liverpool, Bolton and Manchester. Introduction To Part III p. 205 Chapter 7: ‗The ―Lost Souls‖ of Liverpool‘: The portrayal of Liverpool‘s Black Community in Liverpool Echo and Liverpool Daily Post 1948-72. p. 210 Chapter 8: ‗Boltonians, Britons or Merely Exiles?‘: The Bolton Evening News and Asian Immigration into Bolton, 1958-72 . p. 252 Chapter 9: Moss Side Story: The Representation of Social Decline and Black and Asian Immigration the Manchester‘s Local Press, 1950-72. p. 304 Conclusions: Newspapers, Racism and Missed Opportunities. p. 357 Selected Bibliography. p. 373 List of Figures Figure 1: Daily Mirror, 2 September 1958. p. 71 Figure 2, Daily Mirror, 16 September 1958. p. 72 Figure 3, Daily Mirror, 3 December 1953. p. 74 Figure 4, Daily Mirror, 15 March 1954. p. 78 Figure 5: Daily Mirror, 26 July 1958. p. 83 Figure 6: Daily Mirror, 8 September 1958. p. 90 Figure 7: Daily Mirror, 14 December 1954. p. 94 Figure 8: Daily Mirror, 3 September 1958. p. 102 Figure 9: Daily Mirror, 2 November 1961. p. 114 Figure 10: Daily Mirror, 17 November 1961. p. 116 Figure 11: Daily Mirror, 6 November 1961. p. 118 Figure 12: Daily Mirror, 5 December 1961. p. 120 Figure 13: Daily Mirror, 21 August 1961. p. 122 Figure 14: Daily Mirror, 11 November 1964. p. 125 Figure 15: Daily Mirror, 3 March 1970. p. 147 Figure 16: Daily Mirror, 3 March 1970. p. 150 Figure 17: Distribution of Liverpool‘s Black Population, 1976. p. 217 Figure 18: Map of St James Place, Upper Parliament Street, Wesley Street, Park Place and Upper Stanhope Street. p. 224 Figure 19: Map of Bolton 1975 Ward Boundaries. p. 257 Figure 20: The areas of Manchester designated for slum clearance. p. 313 . Figure 21: West Africans, Indians and Pakistanis in certain Manchester Wards p. 314 Introduction. This thesis explores how concepts of race and national identity were communicated to the public by British newspapers between 1948 and 1972: from the start of a period of unrestricted black and Asian migration into Britain, to the point when British citizenship was legally defined on white racial terms. The 1972 Commonwealth Immigration Act, by defining eligibility to enter Britain in terms of ancestry, effectively removed the rights black and Asian people had enjoyed as citizens of the Commonwealth. At the same time, Britain‘s imperial decline meant that ideas of Britishness and race were increasingly important and in flux in the postwar years. The period was also one of great importance for British newspapers, as some national newspapers began to reach circulation figures of up to five million, while certain local newspapers enjoyed a market more free from competition following the decline of many provincial titles after the First World War. As most adults read newspapers, and often multiple national and local titles, newspapers held a powerful position to influence popular attitudes. The high-profile nature of debates about race ensured that immigration and racism received widespread coverage in newspapers, and so they navigated readers‘ perceptions about its effect and significance. Race is a mutable historical artefact, the meaning of which has been ‗continually contested and redefined‘ by media in response to economic, social and cultural change.1 The task of the historian, and the aim of this thesis, is ‗to reconstruct the process whereby racial 1 Laura Tabili, ‗The Construction of Racial Difference in Twentieth-Century Britain: The Special Restriction (Coloured Alien Seamen) Order, 1925‘, Journal of British Studies, 33, 1 (January, 1994), p. 60. I use the term ‗race‘ throughout the thesis without the use of quotation marks in order to avoid confusion in chapters that use extensive quotations from primary source material. My use of race as a term reflects its ideological power and enduring influence in shaping material and social relations rather than its scientific validity. 1 differences have been defined and assigned meaning‘.2 Political, social, industrial and cultural forces all play a role in the construction of ideas about race and identity. Newspapers both reflected and reinterpreted these forces and communicated them to mass audiences. This was not a simple process. Instead, the various ideological and commercial interests and the attitudes of owners, editors and journalists shaped the policy of newspapers and the language they used. This thesis not only explores the content of newspapers, but also the diverse voices they represented, the aims of owners and journalists and how they influenced press responses to immigration and debates about race and identity. The thesis focuses on a selection of national and local newspapers. By the 1950s, the Daily Mirror had become the country‘s most popular newspaper and had pioneered a tabloid, popular language which had allowed it to communicate clearly and directly to massive audiences. Its rival the Daily Express was close behind it in terms of circulation throughout the period, and had itself pioneered new approaches to journalism in its early adoption of bold headlines and the clear presentation of news. Both newspapers offered different perspectives on race and immigration and represented diverse opinions and strategies of attracting and leading their readers.