No Turning Back - Seven migration moments that changed Britain

• History

NO TURNING
BACK

Seven migration moments that changed Britain

British emigration has been one of the largest movements of people in modern history. Tens of millions of people have left the British Isles over the past 400 years. Today, some 75 million people across the world self-identify as having British ancestry, greater than the population of the UK itself.

But while immigration dominates debates, Britain’s emigration story is often overlooked. Why is this? Who are the many millions who have departed these shores and why did they go? Can exploring their motivations help us better understand the motivations of people who arrive? What impact has this mass movement had on the world – and on Britain?

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Retrospect

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Click on the hotspot

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Navigating through the lesson

AFTER THIS LESSON YOU WILL KNOW

• the seven migration moments
• be able to choose your own migration moment
• to be able to understand how your story fits into
   the story of migration to britain

Which moments that
defined our immigration history
do you already know?

Mindmap

Question: Which moments have defined immigration history?

Do: Let each students write down at least two events. (Via lessonup.app or the LessonUp app or use whiteboards) Once each student has answered, take a look at the answers and categorise the answers by theme by dragging the answers to different corners.

Possible answers: The idea that there are only seven  key moments in this long story is of course fanciful. The splashing ashore of the Normans and Anglo-Saxons ... the arrival of the first Christian monks, Flemish glaziers, Jewish moneylenders, French weavers, German monarchs, Irish railwaymen, Chinese seamen, the Empire Windrush, Syrian refugees ... the departures of ships used to transport enslaved persons from West Africa to the Americas, the Mayflower, East India College- trained colonial administrators, Charlie Chaplin, the exodus of two million people immediately after the Second World War... the list of decisive journeys is as various and twisting as the story of Britain itself.

The arrival of the Huguenots

Protestantism became illegal in France in
1685. Their churches were burned to the ground. France’s
Protestants, known as the Huguenots, had no choice but to flee.

1290

1685

The expulsion of the Jews

King Edward I of England made a royal decree in 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England.
It remained in force for the rest of the Middle Ages.

Illustration from the Rochester Chronicle in 1355 showing Jews in late-13th century Britain wearing yellow badge on outer clothing. 

Courtesy of the British Library

Timeline

Source second image: The massacre of Huguenots at Tours; men and women are shot.

The Aliens Act 1905
For the
first time, Britain had a peacetime law to
control who could and who couldn’t enter 

the country. People were now classified as
‘undesirable’ or ‘desirable’ immigrants.

1608

1905

The East India Company docks in Surat.

Sets into motion an upheaval of empire. Was this the dawn of globalisation?

Timeline

Push factors

PUSH AND PULL FACTORD THROUGH THE AGES

Pull factors

When you have to leave your country because of a decree.

You move to another country, because you would be able to stay true to your religion.

You were forced to move to another country by white men.

You move to another country, because you do not feel welcome where you currently live.

You would move to participate in the East Indian spice trade.

You move to another country, because you would feel more welcome there

Drag and drop: click on the hotspots and drag them to the right factor.

In the last slides you saw two reasons why people had to leave their homes. They were reasons to push them away from one country, which pulled them to another. We call this push and pull factors. The reasons people migrate are usually economic, political, cultural, or environmental.

Rock Against Racism

Fans and musicians allied with anti-racism
campaigners to form a new cultural movement, Rock Against Racism (RAR).

1952

1970

First passenger jet flight 

Modern technology has helped to make the world a smaller place. But it has also posed challenges. Does mass travel make the world a smaller place?

Timeline

     Do you approve of mass travel?

With airplaines people can travel anywhere whenever they want. This has caused mass travel.

Question: Do you approve of mass travel?

• Benefits: exploring new cultures, holidays to the sun or snow, etc.
• Disadvantages: the environmental impact

There are no wrong answers. 

Do: Discuss why the students have chosen their answers.

    Rock Against Racism was a grassroots movement that brought together musicians and their fans to fight against racism. How would you start a grassroots movement in modern day? 

Using social media

With the internet

A petition

Educating myself and others

Other...

There are no wrong answers.  (0 never, 100 all the time)

Discus subjects such as: Black Lives Matter and white privilige.

This video shows that not everybody is as privileged and that some people (even without knowing) are more privileged than others. There are hierarchies within racism. It is possible to experience oppression in one category but be privileged in another.

If you want to do this exercise with your class, make sure that it feels like a safe environment. You can find the questions they used beneath the Youtube video.

2011

2011 Census
The
2011 Census showed an 85% increase in the number of people describing themselves as ‘mixed or 

multiple ethnic’.

2021

We are due to have another census take place in 2021. What do you think it will tell us about how Britain is changing? 

Timeline

‘Mixed’, Some think the 

term is problematic. Does it make sense

to group a person who is White Irish and

Black Caribbean under the same umbrella  as someone who is Chinese and White English, for example? And what about the argument that all Britons are of ‘mixed’ heritage in any case? 

These discussions will continue, but the

reality is clear. Away from the debates

around national identity, race and

immigration, more and more people from  different backgrounds and ethnic groups are forming relationships and having children. Traditional notions of ‘Britishness’ are being challenged and changed.

Daughter (Emilia) and mother (Laverne)

Photograhper: Andy Barter

Emilia: ‘My mother’s family are black Caribbean; my father’s are white British. My dual heritage has always been synonymous with ambiguity. Strangers have been unable to place me but have had an apparent need to do so – my ethnic identity often seeming far more important to them than it did to me."

Read Amilia's story and answer the following question in the next slide.

     What is your opinion about the words 'mixed or multiple ethnic'? 

We just saw seven moments or events in our history that changed the world we know today. But since we have been traveling and migrating for ages, is there such a thing as 'mixed or multiple ethnic'?

Ask the students what their opinion is about the words 'mixed or multiple ethnic'. Start a discussion with their answers.

Spin the wheel and ask these questions to the students.