Hello, and thank you for joining me for another Oak Academy History video.

My name is Mrs. Knox, and I'm on hand today to help guide you through all of the resources and the materials you need to be successful with your learning.

So let's get started with the lesson.

Today's lesson is part of the Edexcel GCSE history historical environment topic of Notting Hill.

We're looking at the issue of what Notting Hill can tell us about migration.

In today's lesson, we'll be looking at racism and policing in Notting Hill in the 1950s, and by the end of the lesson, you will be able to explain the reasons for increasing tension between the police and the Black community, including the role of anti-immigration groups.

Now, one term that we'll come across in our lesson today is the term institutional racism.

This term means the discrimination or the unequal treatment on the basis of race, which come from systems, structures, or expectations within an institution or organisation.

Our lesson today will be in three parts, so let's get started now on part one, which will focus on the Metropolitan Police.

In 1952, there were approximately 16,400 officers in London's Metropolitan Police.

Over 97% of these police officers were white, male, and many were often ex-military.

The Met made little effort to build relationships with the growing Black community in London or to understand the community that they were policing.

Some Black people who attempted to join the Met were refused entry because of their race.

Chief constables were reluctant to employ non-white officers based on the belief that they would be suited to the complexity of the job.

This meant that the police serving Notting Hill often lacked an understanding of the cultural norms of the community they were policing, which created a barrier between them and many local residents.

The racist attitudes of the Met were mirrored across the country with only around two dozen Black police officers nationwide by the mid 1970s.

Subsequently, police forces were not respected or trusted by many in the Black community.

All right, let's have a check now of your understanding by answering this question.

What percentage of Met Police officers were non-white in 1952? Was it A, less than 1%, B, less than 3%, C, less than 5%, or D, less than 10%? Press pause, and when you have your answer, press play.

Well done, if you said the correct answer was B.

In 1952, less than 3% of the Met Police officers were non-white.

Here's another check of your understanding now.

This is a true or false question.

The Met Police formed positive relationships with the Black community in the 1950s.

Is that true or false? Press pause and when you have your answer, press play.

You should have said the correct answer is false.

Why is the answer false? Is it because of A, they did not understand Black communities and believed Black people should not be in the police? Or B, they made an effort to get to know the local residents, but the Black community refused to work with them.

Press pause and when you've got your answer, press play.

You should have said the correct justification was A, they did not understand Black communities and believed Black people should not be in the police.

All right, now let's put everything you've learned in this section into practise.

You need to complete the table to show whether each of the following statements is true or false.

Press pause whilst you complete the task and when you're ready to see the answers, press play.

Welcome back.

Let's have a run through of the correct answers.

Statement one read, Met Police officers were Black, female, and often ex-military.

You should have said that is false.

The second statement said, the Met Police understood all the communities they policed.

Again, you should have said that was false.

The third statement said Black people were prevented from joining the Met.

You should have said that that answer was true.

The fourth statement said there was racism within the police force across the country, not just in the Met Police in London.

You should have said that that statement is true.

And the final statement said that the Met was respected by Black communities in Notting Hill.

You should have said that that statement is false.

Well done if you've got them all correct.

In the follow-up task, I'd like you now to rewrite the false sentences as correct statements.

Press pause whilst you do this and then we'll go through the answers.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at the correct statements you should have written.

Met Police officers were white, male, and often ex-military.

You should have said the Met Police did not understand all the communities they policed.

And finally, you should have said the Met was not respected by Black communities in Notting Hill.

We're ready now to go on to the second section in our lesson today.

This section will focus on racism in the police force.

In the UK in the 1950s, there were no laws protecting Black people from police harassment or brutality.

The police had the power to stop, search, and arrest people they suspected of intending to carry out a crime.

These stop and search powers were disproportionately used against Black people, especially in areas like Notting Hill where Caribbean migrants had settled, and particularly against Black males compared to white males.

The police were even known to deliberately go on hunts to search for Black people to arrest.

Unfortunately, there were other ways in which the police subjected Black people to racism.

Police brutality was common including beatings and extremely offensive language.

Furthermore, the planting of evidence on Black suspects to make conviction easier also took place, as did extremely close monitoring of Black people by police officers.

For instance, the police regularly nothing when Black people were denied entry to shops or public places, simply because of their race, and racist attacks usually resulted in the police releasing the white offenders, and instructing the Black victims to go home.

Understandably, the Black community was angry about the mistreatment.

Today, the term institutional racism would be used to describe the actions of the 1950s Met Police.

However, this term was not commonly accepted until the early 2000s.

Partly as a result of lack of terminology in the 1950s, and partly due to the widespread racism of the time, when Black people spoke out against police mistreatment, they were ignored or accused of exaggeration.

Some police officers even accused the Black community of being full of troublemakers.

Moreover, there were instances of the police turning a blind eye to racist attacks on Black people, and failing to protect Black communities from violence.

Consequently, the Black community, particularly Caribbean migrants in the Notting Hill area, felt that the police were not interested in looking after them.

A part of the problem was that the police, including superior officers, often shared commonly held racist assumptions despite having the responsibility for protecting the Black community.

At the time, the police had little interest in community links or understanding the people they policed.

For example, in Notting Hill, many officers found Caribbean culture, particularly the food, the music, and even the clothes threatening and un-British.

When the West Indian Federation, the WIF in 1959, suggested to the then police commissioner Sir Joseph Simpson, that he could improve the situation by teaching police officers about Caribbean culture, the police commissioner was not interested.

All right, let's have a check of your understanding now.

I'd like you to make a list of examples in which the Met demonstrated institutional racism in the 1950s.

Press pause and when you've managed to compile your list, press play.

Okay, let's have a look at some of the things you might have included on your list.

You could have said the police used unnecessary force against Black suspects.

That Black people were frequently stopped and searched without reason.

That white perpetrators of racist attacks were often allowed to go free.

That the police supported business owners who denied Black people entry.

And finally, the police commissioners showed no interest in understanding Black communities.

Here's another quick check of your understanding now.

I'd like you to answer this question.

Which aspects of Caribbean culture did the police regard as a threat to Britishness? Was it A, art, architecture, and ceremonies, B, food, music, and clothing, or C, literature, theatre and poetry? Press pause and when you're ready for the answer, press play.

Well done if you said the correct answer was B.

The aspects of Caribbean culture the police regarded as a threat to Britishness were food, music, and clothing.

Finally, in this section, I'd like you to attempt this question.

Explain why the treatment of Caribbean migrants in Notting Hill in the 1950s led to anger amongst the Black community.

In your answer, try to include the following details.

You can mention the institutional racism within the Met Police, the suspicion of Caribbean culture, or discrimination against the Black community.

Press pause and when you're ready to see a possible answer, press play.

Okay, let's see how you got on with that.

Your answer might have included some of the following.

There was anger amongst Black communities in Notting Hill in the 1950s as Caribbean migrants were subjected to extensive racism and discrimination by the police.

Today, the actions of the 1950s Met Police force against Black people would be described as institutional racism.

The police officers in Notting Hill would harass Caribbean migrants, stopping and searching them on a regular basis and subjecting them to unnecessary police surveillance and even the planting of evidence.

Furthermore, the police believed Caribbean food, music, and clothing to be a threat to British culture.

This resulted in discrimination against Black communities who turned to anger towards the police in response.

Okay, we're now ready to go on to the final section of the lesson today.

This section will look at the impact of anti-immigrant groups.

In the 1950s, Black communities were concentrated in defined areas in certain cities, such as Notting Hill in London.

This meant that many parts of the country had no experience of living alongside non-white neighbours.

Some white British people still base their views on outdated motions of the British empire and Britain's place in the world.

These unchallenged misconceptions about British superiority made it easy for racist and anti-immigrant groups to spread racist propaganda.

Many of these groups were violent or threatened violence, and this understandably led to a heightened sense of fear in the Black community, especially since most Black people believed that the police did not do enough to protect them in the first place.

One anti-immigrant group at the time were known as the Teddy Boys.

They were largely made up of working class, white young men.

To show their membership, they often wore a draped jacket, which was likened to the fashions of the Edwardian era.

And the name Teddy comes from a shortening of the word Edwardian.

Teddy Boys roamed the streets, some of them threatening Black people, particularly Black men who were dating white women.

Many of them drove into Notting Hill from other areas to deliberately look for Black people to attack.

Okay, let's have a check of your understanding now.

Let's answer this question.

Which of the following statements best describes members of the Teddy Boys? A, Caribbean men who settled in Notting Hill, B, members of the Met Police who were institutionally racist, C, racist working class white young men, often from outside Notting Hill, or D, racist, wealthy middle class men from Notting Hill.

Press pause and when you're ready for the answer, press play.

Well done, if you said the correct answer was C, the Teddy Boys were racist, working class white young men, often from outside Notting Hill.

Another anti-immigrant group was the White Defence League, the WDL.

This was a neo-Nazi group founded in 1957.

They campaigned violently against Black migrants, demanding that Britain should be kept white, and publish their racist views in their monthly magazine.

Like the Teddy Boys, members of the WDL would travel into predominantly Black areas and hunt for Black people to attack.

Their central office was in Princedale Road, Notting Hill.

The WDL later united with other groups to form the British National Party, the BNP, a racist anti-immigration group, which still exists within the United Kingdom today.

Here's another check now of your understanding.

What was the racist demand of the White Defence League? Was it A, Britain should be cleaned up, B, Britain should be for all, C, Britain should be kept tidy, or D, Britain should be kept white? Press pause and when you've got your answer, press play.

Well done if you said the correct answer was D, the racist demand of the White Defence League was that Britain should be kept white.

A third anti-immigration group at the time was the Union Movement.

A far-right political party founded in 1948.

They were led by the fascist Oswald Mosley, who had been imprisoned for starting the British Union of Fascists during World War II.

At its height, the group had 50,000 members and actively supported Hitler.

As leader, Mosley made violent speeches against immigrants and encouraged attacks on Black communities.

His rallying cry was, "Keep Britain white." The offices of the Union movement were in Kensington Park Road, which is in Notting Hill.

In 1959, Mosley tried to win the parliamentary seat of Kensington North, which if successful would've made him a member of Parliament for the area which included Notting Hill.

He ran a racist campaign claiming Black migrants were criminals and rapists.

However, he only won 8% of the votes, a very small share, and the Union Movement never recovered from the embarrassing failure.

Here's another check of your understanding now.

I'd like you to answer this true or false question.

Anti-immigrant groups made racial tensions in Notting Hill worse.

Is that true or false? Press pause, and when you've got your answer, press play.

The correct answer was true.

Why was the answer true? Was it because A, racist violence was promoted by groups like Mosley's, fascist Union Movement, or B, Mosley's violent views were widely supported and he was elected as an MP? Press pause, and when you've got the right answer, press play.

That's right, you should have said the correct justification was A, racist violence was promoted by groups like Mosley's fascist Union Movement.

Finally, in this section, I'd like you to try this task.

I'd like you to read Izzy's statement and explain how far you agree with her about the reasons why Caribbean migrants had negative experiences in Notting Hill in the 1950s.

Let's now read Izzy's statement.

She says that, "The negative experiences of Caribbean migrants in Notting Hill in the '50s were caused by the racist attitudes within the Metropolitan Police." Press pause whilst you complete your answer and when you are ready, press play.

Welcome back.

Let's see how you got on.

Your answer might have included some of the following.

I largely agree with this statement as institutional racism within the police force made life very difficult for Caribbean migrants.

The police failed to prevent racist attacks on Caribbean migrants as many officers were prejudiced against Black people.

For example, they disliked Caribbean culture, which they saw as un-British, and did not bother to gain an understanding of it.

They also turned a blind eye to attacks committed by white perpetrators.

However, the statement does not give a full explanation of the reasons why Caribbean migrants had negative experiences in Notting Hill.

The existence of anti-immigrant groups also made them feel vulnerable.

The ideas of these groups were outdated and based on notions of white supremacy from the days of the British Empire.

The idea that Britain should be kept white was promoted by the White Defence League, and Oswald Mosley's Union movement who wanted to tap into fears the British public had about the loss of traditional British culture.

This led to hate crimes against Caribbean migrants in places like Notting Hill.

Therefore, although it is true that Caribbean migrants in Notting Hill had negative experiences in the 1950s due to racism within the police, it is also the case that the racist attitudes of anti-immigrant groups made them feel unsafe.

We've now reached the end of today's lesson, so let's have a look at this summary.

In the 1950s, the Metropolitan Police was predominantly white, and while some Black men wanted to join, they were prevented from doing so.

During this decade, tensions between the Caribbean migrant community in Notting Hill and the police increased, due to institutional racism and a lack of cultural understanding.

The increasing attacks by anti-immigrant groups such as the White Defence League, led to greater tension between the police and the Black community, with many Black people feeling unprotected by the police.

Well done for all of your hard work in our lesson today.

I hope you feel that you have met your learning objective.