The 1920s to the 1950s is an era characterised by war and economic hardship. While the ‘Roaring Twenties’ is synonymous with jazz, prohibition, and partying aristocrats, it’s also a time of economic turmoil. In 1926, millions of British workers take part in a historic walkout - the General Strike - in response to poor working conditions and lessening pay. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 causes an unprecedented economic depression, so that by 1932, unemployment in Britain rises to almost 3.5 million.
Fears of a new world war escalate during the 30s after the Spanish Civil War erupts; it is an international conflict that pits Nationalists and fascist states Italy and Germany against Republicans, the Soviet Union, the European Left, and the US. The war ends in 1939, only for the Second World War to erupt later that year.
The Second World War ends in 1945, and in 1948 Britain passes the British Nationality Act, giving British nationality and citizenship to subjects in British colonies. The Act makes provision for the British government to encourage mass migration from the Commonwealth, in order that these colonial British subjects can help rebuild the country after the decimation of its labour force by two world wars. Hundreds of thousands of people arrive from the Caribbean and the newly independent India and Pakistan. In 1948, the now symbolic Empire Windrush docks in London, carrying over 800 passengers from the Caribbean. It is a wave of migration that brings many writers - Sam Selvon, George Lamming, Andrew Salkey - whose stories becomes a hallmark of postwar literature.