0:00:02 > 0:00:06July 22 2013
0:00:06 > 0:00:09and Prince George, like countless royal princes before him
0:00:09 > 0:00:13is presented to the nation by his proud parents.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17This timeless scene is part of our national story.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19He's a big boy. He's quite heavy.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Standing discreetly behind him is a black woman -
0:00:25 > 0:00:28their midwife, Jacqui Dunkley-Bent.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Jacqui and women like her have played a part in our story, too,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34and this was their moment.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40Thinking about that time in my life, around the royal births,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43the midwives were very proud
0:00:43 > 0:00:50and there were many midwives from BME extraction who talked about
0:00:50 > 0:00:52showing their children the television.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58In all honesty, I was overwhelmed by the impact
0:00:58 > 0:01:01that it had had on others.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Jacqui and her colleague Arona Ahmed
0:01:07 > 0:01:09were following in the footsteps of thousands
0:01:09 > 0:01:11of Caribbean and African women
0:01:11 > 0:01:15whose contribution over the years has largely gone unnoticed.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Those days, people, when you put on this uniform,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24and your hat and your apron and your belt,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27the people respected you for that.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Oh, I couldn't part with this.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32This is history.
0:01:32 > 0:01:38And yet they have helped create and sustain the NHS for almost 70 years.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Without those nurses,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43we would not have the National Health Service we have now.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47There is no doubt in my mind
0:01:47 > 0:01:50that those of us who migrated into England,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53to the National Health Service, saved it.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55They looked after us even at the expense
0:01:55 > 0:01:57of caring for their own families.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03My children were always complaining that they never saw me.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05They never... You know, "What is happening, Mum?
0:02:05 > 0:02:08"Are these women going to stop having babies?"
0:02:08 > 0:02:13The nation has much to thank them for, but we haven't always shown it.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17When I turned up on the doorstep, they didn't want me,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20herself and her husband.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23"I don't want a black nurse coming into my house.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26"I want my own midwife."
0:02:26 > 0:02:28If you complained about me being black,
0:02:28 > 0:02:32there's nothing I can change about it. That's who I am, a black woman,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35who happened to be a nurse, caring for you.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50I don't know if any of this is familiar.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54It shows life at Musgrove in the '40s, '50s and '60s.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57- Yes.- So, were you here in the '50s? - I was here in the late '50s.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01- And the Queen Mother came? - And the Queen Mother came.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05And I remember us forming a guard of honour for her.
0:03:05 > 0:03:11And you can see that we were wearing our yellow dresses and white aprons,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13with our caps on.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16It is really a special day.
0:03:16 > 0:03:2178-year-old Lynette Richards-Lorde qualified as a nurse in 1962
0:03:21 > 0:03:24at Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27before going on to become a midwife.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31We had our training school,
0:03:31 > 0:03:32that was...
0:03:32 > 0:03:37and I think the maternity wards were on the other side of the building,
0:03:37 > 0:03:39but these were all general wards.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44It was very hard work, because you had three years of training,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48and your first year, your first year, you were, like...
0:03:48 > 0:03:50in sluice.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Bedpans. You were the bedpan queen.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56You made them shine and you cleaned them,
0:03:56 > 0:03:57that was your job,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00but when you became a second-year nurse
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and you passed your first exams,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06that was when you started doing the interesting jobs.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08- That's Anita.- Oh!
0:04:08 > 0:04:11She's from Guyana, like me.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14I remember being in that group there.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16She was a good friend.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19When I became a second-year nurse,
0:04:19 > 0:04:24I was supposed to graduate from the bedpans and start doing nice jobs.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29There was an English girl who was in my set and she,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33she was doing these things, but I was still doing bedpans.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36And I mentioned this to the sister. She said, "Well, you know,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39"your turn will come." So I didn't wait for my turn.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41I went to the matron and I said to her,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43"Matron, this is what is happening to me."
0:04:43 > 0:04:46And she said, "You leave it with me, Lynette.
0:04:46 > 0:04:47"I will see to it."
0:04:47 > 0:04:51By the time I went back to the ward, things had changed.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55You have to give me some of your nursing skills
0:04:55 > 0:04:57that you've imposed over the years.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59Oh, I'm sure you can teach me a few things, too.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02- We'll teach each other, then. - Yes, we will teach other.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04This is sort of a very typical ward, what it was like.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- Yes, Nightingale Wards. - Nightingale Ward, yes.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10And everything had to be straight,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12you know, all the patients,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15they can't be lying on top of the bed, they have to be in the bed,
0:05:15 > 0:05:16that type of thing.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19You know, it was very, sort of, army-style.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Lynette's journey to Nightingale Wards had its roots in a time
0:05:25 > 0:05:28when the country needed help to repair the damage of war.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34Health Minister Aneurin Bevan wasn't shy of declaring his ambition
0:05:34 > 0:05:37for his new National Health Service in 1948.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40I'm proud about the National Health Service.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43It's a piece of real socialism.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46It's a piece of real Christianity too, you know,
0:05:46 > 0:05:51and there is nowhere in any nation in the world,
0:05:51 > 0:05:56communist or capitalist, any health service to compare with.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58APPLAUSE
0:06:02 > 0:06:03But there just weren't enough
0:06:03 > 0:06:05doctors, nurses and midwives to run it.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11The National Health Service, at that time, was straining again,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15as it is now, under the weight of what it needed to deliver
0:06:15 > 0:06:18and there were not enough nurses.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20There were not enough nurses to do the job.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25On July 5th, the new National Health Service starts,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28providing hospital and specialist services, medicines,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30drugs and appliances.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Months into its launch, Bevan announced that the popularity
0:06:34 > 0:06:37of the service meant it was costing nearly 30% more
0:06:37 > 0:06:38than he had anticipated.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44The cost of prescription charges,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47dentistry and eye care was crippling the service
0:06:47 > 0:06:49and creating a staffing crisis.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54It was only a matter of time before the government would have to look
0:06:54 > 0:06:56beyond its borders for help.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00Within 12 months of the NHS being created,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03a report came out which identified there was a shortage,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06they needed another 40-odd thousand nurses and midwives.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10So, really, from 1949 onwards,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13there was actually a proactive campaign done
0:07:13 > 0:07:17by the Department of Health and the Minister of Labour
0:07:17 > 0:07:21where they went out to the Caribbean and other parts of the Commonwealth
0:07:21 > 0:07:23to attract and recruit nurses.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27We helped the mother country during war,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30we were now being called upon by the mother country
0:07:30 > 0:07:33to help them in another hour of need.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35This was not the war.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41This was care of the British public at time of illness.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Thousands of young women answered the call over the years,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55many with their own reasons for wanting to leave home.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00I came here pursuing a nursing career.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03All I wanted, ever, was to be a nurse.
0:08:05 > 0:08:11Zena Edmund-Charles came to the UK from Jamaica in 1956, aged 24,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14set on fulfilling her childhood dream.
0:08:14 > 0:08:15At the age of five,
0:08:15 > 0:08:20I told my teachers, family, friends, everybody,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23that I want to be a nurse
0:08:23 > 0:08:24and I'm going to be a nurse.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29At the age of 16, my father, he was a minister,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33and he thought I was too scornful to do nursing,
0:08:33 > 0:08:35so he discouraged me from nursing.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40My mother was a seamstress, so he said, "Take your mother's trade
0:08:40 > 0:08:43"or be a teacher."
0:08:43 > 0:08:45I wasn't interested in either.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49This is my original uniform.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54It's something that is the most precious thing that I have.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56It's my pride and joy.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Beverley Chapman arrived in September 1969 as an 18-year-old
0:09:03 > 0:09:06with a burning sense of national pride.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12I remember mainly one of the things that the lady said to me
0:09:12 > 0:09:16at the embassy. "What do you feel about yourself...
0:09:16 > 0:09:22"as somebody that was born in Jamaica, going to England?"
0:09:22 > 0:09:24And I remember saying,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27"I am an ambassador to Jamaica."
0:09:27 > 0:09:33I said that I will always put forward the best,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38the best of Jamaica as I walk round England and nurse people.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51In 1956, 18-year-old Jean Gay came to the UK
0:09:51 > 0:09:55to escape the cultural constraints of her life in Barbados.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00God rest my mum, but I was motivated to come to England
0:10:00 > 0:10:03because I was in this very strict home.
0:10:03 > 0:10:04We went to church most days of the week
0:10:04 > 0:10:08and then two or three times on Sundays and so on and so forth.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11And I just, you know, I wanted to
0:10:11 > 0:10:14go to the pictures and I wanted to go to a party
0:10:14 > 0:10:17and to dance and stuff like that.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21I had this ambition - I wanted to swear.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25It wasn't allowed in my mum's home!
0:10:26 > 0:10:28And so on, so...
0:10:29 > 0:10:32..when I got to England, the first thing I was going to do
0:10:32 > 0:10:33was to swear at somebody.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39In some cases, families helped save money
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and in others, government bonds were purchased
0:10:42 > 0:10:44by the young would-be nurses and midwives
0:10:44 > 0:10:47to secure their passage to the mother country.
0:10:47 > 0:10:53I came by boat, it was a 21-day voyage.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56The ship was called the SS Auriga.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Others arrived by air,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02all were expecting an idealised vision of England,
0:11:02 > 0:11:07influenced by Shakespeare, Bronte and traditional country pursuits.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20I remember being on this very nice train and everything was grey.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Grey. Very, very grey.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26It was sort of scary, but it was adventurous at the same time.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28We ended up at King's Cross
0:11:28 > 0:11:32and train stations in Jamaica are in the open air
0:11:32 > 0:11:34and there you can see the sky.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37You can see fields, you can see cows and the odd sheep.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42This was this cathedral of steam
0:11:42 > 0:11:43or smoke. It was...
0:11:43 > 0:11:45It was like something out of a novel.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50I was completely transfixed by the noise and the smell.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52It was filthy.
0:11:52 > 0:11:53I couldn't believe that I was in London.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57I thought it was the ugliest, the darkest,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00the most dismal place I had ever seen.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04My father had a brother in England.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06When I came to London, I had to get in touch with him.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11When I got to his house, they didn't have a bath.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16And I thought, "No, this is England. Is this...?"
0:12:16 > 0:12:17And I realised it was normal.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19And I asked him, I said, "Where's your bath?
0:12:19 > 0:12:21"Where do you all bathe?"
0:12:21 > 0:12:23And he said, "Oh, well, we don't.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27"We go once a week to Caledonian Road baths."
0:12:28 > 0:12:30And I...
0:12:30 > 0:12:32I thought, "But this is my father's brother.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35"He's a West Indian, how could he live and not bathe?!"
0:12:35 > 0:12:37SHE LAUGHS
0:12:38 > 0:12:40This is something that's inherent with us.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44You bathe twice a day, minimum, in Trinidad, you know? And I thought,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47"My God, he's really lived here a long time."
0:12:49 > 0:12:50The women had little time to adjust
0:12:50 > 0:12:53before being sent to their training hospitals around the country.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00There they would encounter long hours, low wages and little sleep.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05For those who could stand the pace,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08it was the start of a lifetime working for the NHS.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16When we started in the training, we used to go to a classroom
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and we were taught the theory of nursing.
0:13:19 > 0:13:20And then they had another room,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22which they called the practical room.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26They had dummies and you were shown how to wash patients and so on.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29We had things like, what they call the pressure areas,
0:13:29 > 0:13:34show you how to rub the backs and rub the bottoms,
0:13:34 > 0:13:39and you were shown how to do the injections, that type of thing.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42And then, after three months,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45you took an exam and you were sent to the wards,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49that's when you were let loose to the patients. Right?
0:13:49 > 0:13:50SHE LAUGHS
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Poor patients!
0:13:52 > 0:13:56By 1955, recruitment was still ongoing
0:13:56 > 0:14:00despite tens of thousands of black nurses having arrived in the UK -
0:14:00 > 0:14:03the majority coming from the Caribbean.
0:14:04 > 0:14:05But there was a catch.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09It seemed not all NHS recruits were created equal.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13State Enrolled Nurses sat a two-year course
0:14:13 > 0:14:15and were seen as practical support staff,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19as opposed to the State Registered Nurses who trained for three years
0:14:19 > 0:14:22and were eligible for promotion to roles such as ward sister.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26Many black women, regardless of ability,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29were funnelled into the Junior SEN category
0:14:29 > 0:14:32right up until it was abolished in the mid-1980s.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40There are also a lot of very negative cultural assumptions going on.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43There was an expectation that they would not be able to cope
0:14:43 > 0:14:45with the higher nursing qualification
0:14:45 > 0:14:47of the State Registered Nurse,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49compared to the slightly lower one
0:14:49 > 0:14:51of the State Enrolled Nurse.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56And a lot of them ended up on the State Enrolled Nurse programme,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58which was an inferior qualification,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01didn't have international recognition,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04and they didn't realise until it was too late to opt out.
0:15:07 > 0:15:08I felt like I was nothing.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12I was just a slave. Just...
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Just taken for granted.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17I feel low, very low,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19as if I was inferior.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22They made you feel like that.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24They did, they made you feel like that.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27And the funny thing, I'm a very outspoken person,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31but then I swallowed my pride because I wanted to achieve.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Life in the mother country was proving to be far more challenging
0:15:38 > 0:15:41than they had expected as they strive to build careers.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48Many white patients just didn't want to be treated by black nurses.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51They never prepared you for how the patients would treat you
0:15:51 > 0:15:54and, you know, they'd slap your hand away
0:15:54 > 0:15:55and say, "Don't touch me."
0:15:55 > 0:15:57And, you know, "Your black is going to rub off."
0:15:57 > 0:16:01I was looking after this woman, she said, "Don't touch me!
0:16:01 > 0:16:03"Don't touch me! Take your black hands off! Nigger! Nigger!
0:16:03 > 0:16:06"Go back to your country! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!"
0:16:06 > 0:16:10"What kind of houses you all lived in?
0:16:10 > 0:16:13"Is it mud hut, or treehouses?
0:16:13 > 0:16:17"Is it true that black people's got tails?"
0:16:17 > 0:16:20This man called me, you know, black bastard.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22And I just screamed at him,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25and I said, "Oh, I am so sick to death of you!"
0:16:25 > 0:16:28I said, "Now tell me something I don't know. Surprise me.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30"Tell me something I don't know."
0:16:30 > 0:16:36How could people actually look at you without knowing you
0:16:36 > 0:16:41and make assumptions about you that were so horrible?
0:16:45 > 0:16:50You just reached a stage you cannot believe that this is the country
0:16:50 > 0:16:52that you are told is your mother country.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56You can't believe that this degree of ignorance exists.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59I knew I couldn't change being black,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and as long as my behaviour,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06my care was impeccable,
0:17:06 > 0:17:11you couldn't find anything to complain about my care,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13if you complained about me being black,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15there's nothing I can change about it. That's who I am,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19a black woman, who happened to be a nurse,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21caring for you.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25Outside of the workplace, life was proving just as difficult.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34The 1948 Nationality Act had granted all subjects of Crown Colonies
0:17:34 > 0:17:36a legal right to live and work in the UK.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40But there was no law against prejudice.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43They're a nuisance at work,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45they won't work,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and for folks who've got them living by them,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50they're more nuisance still.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55I've got to bring this little boy up amongst them and...
0:17:55 > 0:17:57they're not clean.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00And the smell of the cooking makes you feel sick.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03You can get them all out of the country
0:18:03 > 0:18:05and as soon as you can get them out, the better.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08I'll be pleased, I'll tell you that.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Although thousands from the Caribbean and Africa had been asked
0:18:12 > 0:18:15for help, the public, and perhaps the government,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18did not expect or want these economic migrants
0:18:18 > 0:18:19to stay more than a few years.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23When people were first invited,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25it was very much on the idea that it would be temporary.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28There wouldn't be that many. That was how it was sold.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31You're talking mid-'50s, when it became, as large numbers, 20,000,
0:18:31 > 0:18:3530,000 a year. Then it becomes clear this is going to be people staying.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37This is going to be people bringing families.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39This is really when "Keep Britain White" emerges,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42when the more overt forms of racism emerge,
0:18:42 > 0:18:43because Britain never wanted us here.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46The British people never invited us here, the British state didn't
0:18:46 > 0:18:48really want us to stay here. It was just to fill a void.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52On the streets and the pubs and the factories,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57the government did not communicate to white people that, by the way,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01we are inviting people from the Caribbean to work and keep jobs,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04we need this labour.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Please welcome them with open arms.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12I didn't feel in any way strange when they started talking about
0:19:12 > 0:19:14immigrants coming in and taking their jobs,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16because I knew, one, it wasn't true.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20I knew that immigrants got the jobs that they didn't want to do.
0:19:20 > 0:19:21I've known that all along.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25They thought we would come in, run the buses,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27work at Lyons, do the nursing,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31and all the other things that we did, and we would go home at night
0:19:31 > 0:19:32and somehow, miraculously,
0:19:32 > 0:19:37wherever we came from, we would fly back in the following morning
0:19:37 > 0:19:38to continue our shifts.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42It wouldn't... How we lived in the interim was of no concern to them.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Some of the women who did want to return home with experience
0:19:54 > 0:19:58and qualifications under their belt found that they couldn't afford to.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03It became apparent after a year or so
0:20:03 > 0:20:06that this plan is not going to work.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10Firstly, one wasn't saving any money, there wasn't enough to save.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12The wages were small.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Other needs were met, we were fed and sheltered,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20but the actual cash you had in your hand at the end of a month
0:20:20 > 0:20:21would be £9 or £10.
0:20:21 > 0:20:28To get back by air at the time, when I enquired, was £500.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Our parents wouldn't have had that sort of money.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Having helped us to get to England,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35there was no money to bring us back home.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39I felt out of sorts
0:20:39 > 0:20:42and I remember calling my mother up,
0:20:42 > 0:20:47made a reverse charge call to Jamaica, and this long sob story
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and she says, "You are a Tate
0:20:50 > 0:20:52"and Tates do not quit.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55"Furthermore, you are 4,000 miles from Jamaica,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58"there are no buses to Jamaica," and put the phone down.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02That was it. I had to shape up.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06There was no... There was no excuse. There was no...
0:21:06 > 0:21:08"I know I can't, because..."
0:21:08 > 0:21:09That's not how I was raised
0:21:09 > 0:21:12and that's not how she expected me to perform.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18As staying in the UK became a reality
0:21:18 > 0:21:20for more and more black people,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23far-right leaders were quick to exploit the government's failure
0:21:23 > 0:21:26to deal with the rising tension.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31There are many immediate evils of the coloured invasion, which are
0:21:31 > 0:21:33well-known to everybody living in this area,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36but in our opinion, the most important is the long-term one
0:21:36 > 0:21:40of mass interbreeding. We feel that you cannot have coloured immigration
0:21:40 > 0:21:43on the scale in which you're having it today without, sooner or later,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46having mass interbreeding. That must lead...
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Nurses and midwives had to go to work every day
0:21:49 > 0:21:53against a backdrop of racial violence in the news.
0:21:53 > 0:21:551958 is where you see the flashpoints,
0:21:55 > 0:21:56so the Notting Hill race riots,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58which actually, when we remember them,
0:21:58 > 0:22:00we kind of remember those as being unrelated to black people.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02This was not black people. This was white racists
0:22:02 > 0:22:04who ran around Notting Hill causing trouble
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and that is, kind of, one of the first flashpoints you see.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09People were afraid to go out on the streets
0:22:09 > 0:22:10and people were legitimately afraid,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13because you had things like the teddy boys roaming around you,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15you had people getting beaten.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18You can go through history and pick out periods where you can find
0:22:18 > 0:22:21there's lots of violence which was done to black people,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and black women as well as black men, where people were afraid,
0:22:24 > 0:22:25and legitimately afraid to go out.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33I had my own fight with teddy boys.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37I remember leaving work one night.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39As I was coming out of the hospital,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43I stopped in the shop and bought a portion of fish and chips,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45and there was this group of teddy boys.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47About... I would say about ten of them.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50They knocked the fish and chips out of my hand.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54I remember being pushed and kicked and so on.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00And then the Bajan swelled up in me.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03So I decided to ignore the blows,
0:23:03 > 0:23:08I was kicked in places I didn't know I possessed, and...
0:23:08 > 0:23:11ignored the blows and I just focused on one of them.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15And I remember poking my finger in his eye.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20And he swore and they all ran after that.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Even though it was all those years ago,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30it's something that is still...
0:23:30 > 0:23:32you know, I can still visualise it.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34It's quite horrible.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45MUSIC PLAYS
0:23:51 > 0:23:53Not all memories are so unhappy.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Many black nurses and midwives were welcomed with open arms.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01Beverley and Linda remain friends to this day.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Oh, goodness me.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07This is me with my Afro.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10I had an Afro perm for quite a few years
0:24:10 > 0:24:14around about the time that the boys were born.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17And this is Bev and I at our best.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20On the dance floor, having a laugh.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23I think if Bev and I were up and looking like that, dancing,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26they had obviously put one of our songs on for us.
0:24:26 > 0:24:32In 1970, Linda was a trainee nurse at St James's Hospital, Leeds.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35It's where she would first meet a young girl from Jamaica.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42So I'm walking down with my suitcase and my bag, the very first moment,
0:24:42 > 0:24:47and there's this girl that came up to me and said, "Excuse me,
0:24:47 > 0:24:48"where are you from?"
0:24:48 > 0:24:52And I said, "I'm from Jamaica." And I'm thinking, "What is this?"
0:24:52 > 0:24:56And she said, 'Well, my name is Linda Rushworth
0:24:56 > 0:24:59"and I'm going to be your friend
0:24:59 > 0:25:01"and I'm going to look after you."
0:25:01 > 0:25:06On the first day of the course, Bev looked so nervous
0:25:06 > 0:25:09and not sure where she was or what to do,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13and I just, sort of, saw her and thought,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16"Oh, do you know? I need to speak to this girl.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19"I need to tell her that I'll be her friend."
0:25:19 > 0:25:24I looked at her and I said, "You're going to look after me?"
0:25:24 > 0:25:25She said, "Yeah."
0:25:25 > 0:25:29And we've just been friends ever since.
0:25:30 > 0:25:31As trainee nurses,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35their shifts would see them spend little time together on the ward,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37but outside of work, their lives
0:25:37 > 0:25:41would revolve around each other for the next 40 years.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Linda is like my sister.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48Linda knows Montego Bay, Jamaica like I do.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52There are not many people you can say are true friends.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55She's supported me for 40-odd years.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Many black nurse and midwives found life easier
0:26:04 > 0:26:07when they gravitated toward the big cities.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11I didn't see a black patient while I was in Somerset.
0:26:11 > 0:26:17Not one. It wasn't until I actually went to Birmingham,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20that is when... Ah!
0:26:20 > 0:26:24I actually see my own people, you know?
0:26:24 > 0:26:25It was so different.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29The first big surprise when I came here
0:26:29 > 0:26:33was that there were so many black people at the Whittington.
0:26:33 > 0:26:39It was famous for its Caribbean nurses and they just seemed to come,
0:26:39 > 0:26:40you know, all the time.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42And so it was really nice.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44You felt like home from home.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46We have a lot of togetherness.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48So as black nurses, we always try
0:26:48 > 0:26:51and do things together, like
0:26:51 > 0:26:55cook our native food together, so whoever comes - I was in Kent -
0:26:55 > 0:26:59so whoever comes to London and brought something back,
0:26:59 > 0:27:00we'd share it.
0:27:00 > 0:27:06For me, that comradeship was what it meant to be...to us nursing.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08It wasn't the studying. It wasn't the books.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10It was the comradeship you had.
0:27:10 > 0:27:16You know, we learnt to enjoy ourselves in our own environment.
0:27:17 > 0:27:23And the more we did that, the less the external things bothered us.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25We started to really have fun.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28We started to have some, some fun,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31some real togetherness with our own kind.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Like any young person living away from home,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41having fun was just as high on the agenda as working hard.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Oh, my, having a good time.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46Having a BETTER time!
0:27:46 > 0:27:50It was a good time, the dancing, the fun...
0:27:50 > 0:27:51SHE LAUGHS
0:27:53 > 0:27:57The blue beat. # Da, da, da, da, da, da, dum. #
0:27:57 > 0:27:58SHE LAUGHS
0:27:58 > 0:28:05In those days, you went from house party to house party and you tried
0:28:05 > 0:28:08to get at least two a month.
0:28:08 > 0:28:09If you could.
0:28:12 > 0:28:18It was black people's way of harmonising their lives and talking
0:28:18 > 0:28:24and being together, knowing that work hard, play hard...
0:28:24 > 0:28:26and get on with life.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32You sort of... You go in the cellar and when you come out,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34you might go in at eight o'clock,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36when you come out it's five o'clock in the morning,
0:28:36 > 0:28:38or six o'clock in the morning. Daylight.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Because you're down there, you don't realise it's daylight.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45And others say, "You rent a spot,"
0:28:45 > 0:28:49like, you stand on one place, rub off all the wallpaper.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51You enjoy it. You go out,
0:28:51 > 0:28:53you look forward to going out on a Saturday night
0:28:53 > 0:28:57and the cellar party, that was the best thing, man.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Very often, you would go out, you'd be... How can you say?
0:29:03 > 0:29:04You might be sidetracked.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06You might meet an interesting person
0:29:06 > 0:29:09that you didn't want to leave and so on.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13And very often maybe, you got back, you know, the doors would be,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17would be locked. If we knew we were going to be back late,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19then we would leave the windows open.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21Come back and climb through the window in your bed,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24and I never got caught.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27SHE CHUCKLES
0:29:27 > 0:29:29It was good fun
0:29:29 > 0:29:32and nurses were always up for fun.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34Nurses had a lot of fun
0:29:34 > 0:29:38and then they'd go back on duty and go serious
0:29:38 > 0:29:41and get on with it.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43But they didn't say no to a party.
0:29:43 > 0:29:44Ever.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53That didn't mean they weren't set on getting ahead, though.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57This is a picture of me as a nurse.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01It must be before I qualified,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04because I haven't got my blue uniform.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06My blue belt on.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12This is my belt!
0:30:12 > 0:30:17Now, when you've qualified, you get a silver buckle.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20So somebody like your husband, or your parents,
0:30:20 > 0:30:25would buy you a solid silver buckle and this is what this is.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Just look how ornate mine is.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32Those days, people, when you put on this uniform
0:30:32 > 0:30:35and your hat and your apron and your belt,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38the people respected you for that.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Oh, I couldn't part with this.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43This is history.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50When I put it on, I transcended into something.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54I...I was so proud of the scholarship,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56I was so proud of my training.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59I was so proud of my patients and how they loved me
0:30:59 > 0:31:01and the way that I nursed
0:31:01 > 0:31:06that when I finished at St James', I had to keep this one uniform
0:31:06 > 0:31:10and so I've kept it all these years.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13Beverley was one of the lucky ones,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17a State Registered Nurse who went on to qualify as a midwife.
0:31:18 > 0:31:25My wish was to deliver a lady without her having a tear.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30So I wanted to do what I was taught,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33but with a bit more of me,
0:31:33 > 0:31:35because that's how I nurse.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38I nurse with a bit more of me.
0:31:38 > 0:31:44I never saw myself as, like, a black midwife.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46I saw myself as a midwife
0:31:46 > 0:31:51with a job to do, to look after these ladies
0:31:51 > 0:31:55that has had to go through nine months of a pregnancy,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58not knowing whether that baby's OK,
0:31:58 > 0:32:02and everybody said, "I've taken a picture. It's this. X-ray it." No.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06It's at the back of your brain, "I hope that everything is all right."
0:32:06 > 0:32:08- Hello.- Hello.- How are you?
0:32:08 > 0:32:11- All right, thank you.- I've just come to examine you.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13- OK.- When did you come in? - This morning.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17For black women battling to get ahead,
0:32:17 > 0:32:19midwifery offered independence
0:32:19 > 0:32:22and a well-defined career path.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24That's the foot sticking out again.
0:32:24 > 0:32:25He doesn't like this.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33Professionally, it made the nurse a clinician in her own right
0:32:33 > 0:32:35and it could lead to senior roles in the profession.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40I'm just going to listen to the baby's heart.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45Many, many black nurses went on to do midwifery,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48and they were good at it.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51Seriously skilled.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53Remain so.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56It was a big deal. To get your midwifery under your belt
0:32:56 > 0:32:58was a really, really good thing to do
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and to be able to deliver babies or, you know,
0:33:01 > 0:33:02be in the postnatal ward,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04or antenatal ward and so on and so forth.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06But, yes, it was a stepping stone.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09It opened the door to you becoming a health visitor
0:33:09 > 0:33:11and, at the time, you had your own caseload,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14you were able to make decisions about the patients
0:33:14 > 0:33:16that you were seeing and so on.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18So it was something that people aspired to.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20BABY CRIES
0:33:21 > 0:33:25You are considered a practitioner in your own right.
0:33:25 > 0:33:30So that you could, as long as you identify that a woman is normal
0:33:30 > 0:33:34and is likely to continue with a normal pregnancy,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37then you can, in effect, and by law,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41look after her entirely by yourself.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44I'd like to say that I had a passion for women's health,
0:33:44 > 0:33:46I wanted to be a women's advocate,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49but it was a natural progression from nursing to midwifery.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51Nobody told me what to do.
0:33:51 > 0:33:52I just felt that I would like...
0:33:52 > 0:33:55I considered it to be a career progression.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59It certainly worked for midwife Lynette.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01She went on to become a director of nursing,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05one of the first black woman in the UK to reach that rank.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12This is a register of cases. For any district midwife,
0:34:12 > 0:34:17she has to make a record of all the cases that she's delivered.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21We delivered a baby at 9.15pm.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23This baby was 8lb 12oz
0:34:23 > 0:34:29and she had a normal delivery, normal labour, third stage complete,
0:34:29 > 0:34:33blood loss minimal and both were satisfactory.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36So when we discharged them, everything was all right.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41Sometimes, on average, you had one delivery every other day,
0:34:41 > 0:34:45sometimes, and in one night, I was called three times.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48As soon as I got in, another call came.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50The operator would say, "There's a case here for you."
0:34:50 > 0:34:53And I would say, "Am I the only one on duty?"
0:34:53 > 0:34:58He said, "Well, you know, you're the one who answers first."
0:34:58 > 0:35:00So I said, "Well, you should check the others.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02"I mean, I need to have some sleep."
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Others simply saw caring for expectant mothers
0:35:08 > 0:35:11and delivering children as their vocation.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17I went into nursing as a means of bettering myself
0:35:17 > 0:35:21and when I had the opportunity of being a midwife, I saw it and went,
0:35:21 > 0:35:23"Yes, this is my calling."
0:35:27 > 0:35:32- When that baby pops up and... - IMITATES BABY CRYING
0:35:32 > 0:35:36And you see what you've got, you feel...
0:35:36 > 0:35:41even more joy within you than you did when you get that pay packet.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45It was an amazing experience
0:35:45 > 0:35:49of being a midwife and the different types of women you met
0:35:49 > 0:35:51and the different types of labours.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56And what they did when they were in labour, sing, hit their husbands,
0:35:56 > 0:36:01squeeze their hands to death, or swear at them
0:36:01 > 0:36:03and say, you know, "Never again. You got me into this!"
0:36:05 > 0:36:10I delivered this baby and I was travelling on the bus,
0:36:10 > 0:36:15like, 38 years afterwards,
0:36:15 > 0:36:20and this lady tapped me on the shoulder and says, "Excuse me,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23"are you Carmen?" And I said, "Yes, but sorry,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26"I don't recognise your face."
0:36:26 > 0:36:28And she said, "You delivered my son."
0:36:28 > 0:36:32And then I said, "You remember me from then?"
0:36:32 > 0:36:36And she said, "Oh, yes, I'll never forget you."
0:36:36 > 0:36:37I am proud to be a midwife.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41It is one thing I know that I have done well.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44That I know women have appreciated what I've done.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48This commitment to the care of mothers was second to none,
0:36:48 > 0:36:53but it came at much personal cost to the midwives and their families.
0:36:53 > 0:36:59Working as a midwife, some things had to be sacrificed.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04If I'm called out to someone who is...
0:37:04 > 0:37:05perhaps, not in labour,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09but she's uncomfortable, or needs advice, or whatever,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13I couldn't turn around and say, "No, I'm not going."
0:37:13 > 0:37:15I had to be there.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20My children were always complaining that they never saw me.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23They never... You know, "What is happening, Mum?
0:37:23 > 0:37:26"Are these women going to stop having babies?
0:37:26 > 0:37:28"You're never here."
0:37:28 > 0:37:32But that was only because I had to do what I had to do at work
0:37:32 > 0:37:36and I would stay behind and I would...
0:37:36 > 0:37:38make sure that everything was OK with these women.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42And I always, too, believed that if you did have a family,
0:37:42 > 0:37:44you have to have them on board.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48They have to understand what your job is about.
0:37:48 > 0:37:49If you're going to be...
0:37:49 > 0:37:51If you really enjoy it and you really love it,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53they have to understand why.
0:37:53 > 0:37:54And I remember once,
0:37:54 > 0:38:00after years of arguing and upset with my husband and the kids,
0:38:00 > 0:38:06he came to me one day and he said, "Ally, I just had an aha moment."
0:38:06 > 0:38:09And I said, "Why? What about? What for?"
0:38:09 > 0:38:11He said, "I just realised
0:38:11 > 0:38:15"that you're actually married to the job and then me."
0:38:17 > 0:38:19He said, "I can live with that.
0:38:19 > 0:38:20"I could live with that."
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Yes, my husband actually said that to me.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31For many black nurses, practically maintaining a better life
0:38:31 > 0:38:35for their children meant working long hours to earn enough money,
0:38:35 > 0:38:39but also covering the shifts that other nurses didn't want to do.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Any person that migrates, that comes thousands of miles,
0:38:44 > 0:38:45leaves from their home,
0:38:45 > 0:38:47to come to a different country comes for two reasons.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49One is for work and usually for their kids,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51because they want a better life for their kids.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54This is why you'll find immigrants generally work very, very hard.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56They generally do jobs that nobody else wants to do,
0:38:56 > 0:38:57because it's very much...
0:38:57 > 0:38:59You don't just go thousands of miles for no reason
0:38:59 > 0:39:02and so nurses are no different in that regard.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05Particularly if you look at their shifts, the amount of work,
0:39:05 > 0:39:06the labour that's involved in nursing.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08These people are working very, very hard,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11in major part to make better lives for their children.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18We did have to do...
0:39:18 > 0:39:20the night shift.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24But some of us used that to our advantage,
0:39:24 > 0:39:28because some of us had children and childcare at the time
0:39:28 > 0:39:30was non-existent.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33So it suited us.
0:39:37 > 0:39:44Once the authorities knew that's how we lived, how we coped, erm...
0:39:44 > 0:39:48there was this, sort of, unpleasant, erm...
0:39:51 > 0:39:56..situation where people who had children then,
0:39:56 > 0:39:58they were forcing them to work days.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02I hadn't negotiated a contract where I worked nights
0:40:02 > 0:40:05and then I could look after my little ones during the day.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07You'd work these things out for yourself
0:40:07 > 0:40:11and then you'd find the sand shifting from under your feet.
0:40:11 > 0:40:17So it is true, one way or another, we were always being challenged.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23- Glasses?- Yeah. Do you think we should get them
0:40:23 > 0:40:25from the box underneath or...
0:40:25 > 0:40:27- No, there's glasses here. - One, two, three... Yeah.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33This is going to be a nice wine. 2004.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37- Is that a good year?- I think it's the right time to be drinking it
0:40:37 > 0:40:39more than it's a good year.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45Jean and her husband were not unusual
0:40:45 > 0:40:46in having to ask their oldest child
0:40:46 > 0:40:48to look after younger siblings.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53- CORK POPS - Perfect.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Most times Joseph would be at home.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00Sometimes we were in a tight place where we had to cross...
0:41:00 > 0:41:02where the shifts crossed
0:41:02 > 0:41:05and we had to leave Rachel in charge.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08And, fortunately for us, she was very disciplined.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13Being the child of a nurse,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16it could be a bit difficult, because they were times when I did think
0:41:16 > 0:41:19it wasn't fair, that I might have liked to do
0:41:19 > 0:41:21what might be classed as a little bit naughty,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24or a little bit reckless, or a little bit, you know,
0:41:24 > 0:41:28but I wasn't able to, because I had
0:41:28 > 0:41:32accepted the mantle of eldest child.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36How did you feel having the responsibility
0:41:36 > 0:41:38when both of us are out?
0:41:38 > 0:41:43I don't think I really resented it, but they were times,
0:41:43 > 0:41:47there were times when I did think it really wasn't fair.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50- Yeah.- So you recognised it as a responsibility?
0:41:50 > 0:41:52I did. I really did.
0:41:55 > 0:41:56Push down if you want to.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01At work, black midwives were unwittingly paving the way for their community.
0:42:01 > 0:42:02- That's it.- And again.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07The intimate nature of the care they delivered took black nurses
0:42:07 > 0:42:09into white lives in an unprecedented way.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14Even though they had escaped some of the hard slog of nursing
0:42:14 > 0:42:16and found a degree of independence,
0:42:16 > 0:42:18they were still forced to put up
0:42:18 > 0:42:21with appalling prejudice from patients.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26One lady, she wasn't my patient and the midwife was off.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29When I turned up on the doorstep, they didn't want me,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32herself and her husband.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35"I don't want a black nurse coming into my house,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38"I want my own midwife."
0:42:43 > 0:42:47I do recall a woman who came into the unit I was working in
0:42:47 > 0:42:51and I went to her room and as I walked in the room, she said to me,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53"You're not putting your black hands on me."
0:42:53 > 0:42:55No, "Your dirty black hands on me."
0:42:55 > 0:42:57I said, "Let me wash them and see what difference it makes."
0:42:57 > 0:43:00That's my first... "Let me wash them and see what difference it makes."
0:43:00 > 0:43:02And she just looked at me.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04And then she says, "I don't want your dirty black hands on me."
0:43:04 > 0:43:07I said, "When I came into the room, did I treat you with disrespect?
0:43:07 > 0:43:09"That's all I wish to know."
0:43:09 > 0:43:12And she says, "No, but you black bitches are all the same."
0:43:15 > 0:43:18It's very, very, you know,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21upsetting when,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24as a human being, you're trying to help someone
0:43:24 > 0:43:27and she doesn't want you there because of your colour.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35Feeling abandoned by society and with little faith in the system,
0:43:35 > 0:43:38some black families were compelled to take drastic action
0:43:38 > 0:43:40to ensure their children's wellbeing.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50One young nurse would make a brave, but not uncommon decision.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55I went into the nurses' home one day after work
0:43:55 > 0:43:57and there was this Bajan girl
0:43:57 > 0:43:59sitting at the bottom of the stairs crying.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02And I said to her, "What's the matter?"
0:44:03 > 0:44:08And she said, she had gone... She'd got off work early,
0:44:08 > 0:44:13she'd gone to pick up her son from the childminder's
0:44:13 > 0:44:18only to find he was still sitting in the pushchair that she'd left him in
0:44:18 > 0:44:22in the morning, and still wearing the same nappy
0:44:22 > 0:44:26that he had been wearing when she left him.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30And this thing hurt and upset her so much,
0:44:30 > 0:44:32it left a lasting impression on me
0:44:32 > 0:44:36and I think it was that reason that when I had my daughter,
0:44:36 > 0:44:39I decided there is no way I am giving her
0:44:39 > 0:44:41to anybody here to look after.
0:44:41 > 0:44:46She will be much better off with my parents and my family in Barbados.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48It wasn't difficult for me to send my daughter back to Barbados,
0:44:48 > 0:44:50because I knew she would be well looked after.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55I knew she would have friends, she'd have family
0:44:55 > 0:45:00and I knew that my parents would care for her the way that I probably
0:45:00 > 0:45:03would not have been able to care for her if she'd stayed with me.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06I discussed it with her dad
0:45:06 > 0:45:09and he didn't seem to think that it was going to be a problem.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15It affected my relationship with my daughter in a terrible way.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21Because when she did... When my mum did bring her back here to England,
0:45:21 > 0:45:23we had no relationship.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26She didn't know, really know who I was.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29When my mum went back to Barbados,
0:45:29 > 0:45:31she couldn't understand why her mother,
0:45:31 > 0:45:35as she thought, had left her here with me, this horrible woman.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40My husband and I thought, at the time,
0:45:40 > 0:45:43that because we wrote to her regularly, we spoke on the phone,
0:45:43 > 0:45:47we sent photographs of ourselves, we got photographs of her...
0:45:47 > 0:45:50and my parents explained that her mother was in England,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52that it was enough, but it wasn't.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56It wasn't enough and it took her a long time
0:45:56 > 0:46:00to really understand why I took her to Barbados.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13Has he just woken up? He looks very sleepy.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15No, he hasn't, actually.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Beatrice Norman is retiring as head nurse of children and young people
0:46:19 > 0:46:21at North Middlesex Hospital.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Are you being good?
0:46:23 > 0:46:24You are, aren't you?
0:46:25 > 0:46:27Aww!
0:46:27 > 0:46:32After coming to England from Uganda in 1968 aged six,
0:46:32 > 0:46:34she would go on to forge an impressive career
0:46:34 > 0:46:36in paediatric nursing,
0:46:36 > 0:46:38championing the needs of her young patients,
0:46:38 > 0:46:40guiding the careers of her staff
0:46:40 > 0:46:43and raising the standards of the departments she has worked in.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47I love coming here,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51because this is where we don't do anything painful.
0:46:51 > 0:46:57It's so nice. Play, have fun.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01So the teenagers can hide in there and escape,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04and the little ones come in here and play.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07We have two fantastic play leaders.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10However, Beatrice is still rare
0:47:10 > 0:47:13in rising to the top of her profession as a black woman.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16There was a report that came out, The Snowy White Peaks,
0:47:16 > 0:47:18Roger Kline, 2014,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20and he says that the actual advancement -
0:47:20 > 0:47:22so you've got lots of black staff in the NHS -
0:47:22 > 0:47:23but the advancement is terrible.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26I mean, it's like 1% of chief executives,
0:47:26 > 0:47:28about 5% of senior managers
0:47:28 > 0:47:30if you look at where people are still located
0:47:30 > 0:47:34in very particular roles within the NHS, even now, 70 years later.
0:47:35 > 0:47:42I feel very angry that 70 years have gone and it tells me that...
0:47:43 > 0:47:47..if there was some other issues that had gone on for 70 years,
0:47:47 > 0:47:48they would not be tolerated.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50I mean, if, for example,
0:47:50 > 0:47:54you had white nurses who had stuck at their position
0:47:54 > 0:47:57for all these years...
0:47:57 > 0:48:00I think MPs would be shouting about it,
0:48:00 > 0:48:03you know? I just think it wouldn't be tolerated.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07It would be obviously so...
0:48:07 > 0:48:08unjust.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16I think we need to have that belief
0:48:16 > 0:48:21that actually we're just as good as the person next to you.
0:48:21 > 0:48:22You have to shine.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25You have to really show that people don't have a choice,
0:48:25 > 0:48:29but to give you that job. You've got to be very determined
0:48:29 > 0:48:34and you have to try and ignore those people that put blocks in the way.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37I'm passionate about caring for children.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39I'm passionate about them getting the right care.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44Other black women have found it extremely difficult
0:48:44 > 0:48:46to advance to more senior roles.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48When I started applying
0:48:48 > 0:48:53for sisters posts, I was told...
0:48:53 > 0:48:58I thought I did well and then when I said, "Why did I not get the job?"
0:48:58 > 0:49:02"Oh, you was only beaten by one point, two points."
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Never more than one or two points.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07So, therefore, in the end, I stopped applying.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12I said, "I've been passed over so many times,"
0:49:12 > 0:49:16and I said, "I'm not going to make a fool of myself any more."
0:49:18 > 0:49:23It's a sad and painful story, common to many black women.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27That, you know, made me demotivated.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32So, there was a time I just didn't want to do any further course
0:49:32 > 0:49:35or anything, because I said,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37"Nobody's going to, you know,
0:49:37 > 0:49:41"give me the grade I deserve, so why bother?"
0:49:45 > 0:49:48Gradually, it dawned on us that it's not because I can't do a job
0:49:48 > 0:49:51that I'm not getting a promotion.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54It is because you don't like me.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58I went off sick for a good three months,
0:49:58 > 0:50:05because I was so stressed, going in there, it's like...
0:50:05 > 0:50:07you're fighting against people
0:50:07 > 0:50:12and you don't want to be the one to say they are prejudiced.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14But you know, in the back of your mind,
0:50:14 > 0:50:18you know they are prejudiced and they're working against you.
0:50:20 > 0:50:26It makes you so angry sometimes that you don't feel like going into work.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30A lot of nurses gave up their career
0:50:30 > 0:50:32rather than endure it.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35A lot left the NHS.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41There is a feeling about what good looks like.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43The lighter your skin and, you know,
0:50:43 > 0:50:45the less melanin you have in your skin,
0:50:45 > 0:50:49the better your life chances will be, generally, across the board
0:50:49 > 0:50:55and my suspicion is that that thinking was exactly
0:50:55 > 0:50:58what was going on for a lot of people who were in positions
0:50:58 > 0:51:00who could actually appoint people.
0:51:00 > 0:51:01"Good looks like me."
0:51:01 > 0:51:04So me, being white, middle-class male, white, middle-class female.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07"So I feel safe, I feel comfortable.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09"I know how they're going to perform.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12"I know their background, so I'm going to choose them."
0:51:14 > 0:51:17I think the issue lies within the system
0:51:17 > 0:51:20and the system has been developed in a way
0:51:20 > 0:51:26that makes black and ethnic minority people in the system struggle.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33The reaction from staff, as Beatrice's retirement looms,
0:51:33 > 0:51:35is evidence of what the NHS will lose
0:51:35 > 0:51:38if it fails to value its black nurses and midwives.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43I'm going to be very sad to leave my nurses.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48A lot of them have grown up with me.
0:51:48 > 0:51:49I'm quite passionate about them.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54- Magda, are you going to eat something?- Yeah.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56It's been a long, long journey.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59It's time for someone else to take over.
0:51:59 > 0:52:04I'm leaving people I really care for, so I've been very lucky.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08I've been blessed to work with such a group of people
0:52:08 > 0:52:13that I really, truly love. So that doesn't happen very often.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17You know how I feel about you leaving, so...
0:52:17 > 0:52:21- Cross.- Yeah, I'm very cross and mad.
0:52:21 > 0:52:27But, you know, it's time for you to go and we all have to respect that.
0:52:27 > 0:52:32There is always a place for you. If you need anything, just come back!
0:52:32 > 0:52:35- Call!- Thank you.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37This is always going to be my family.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45I've worked very hard to do that service.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49It's a fantastic service, it's very well-known.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53A lot of the paediatricians have come back as consultants,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55because of what the service is.
0:52:55 > 0:53:00So I'm very proud to have been part of that.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05The contribution of black health workers, men as well as women,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07is a story of achievement over adversity.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12Two years after her first royal birth
0:53:12 > 0:53:16and part of a legacy of black women who braved the hostility
0:53:16 > 0:53:19to care for a nation, Jacqui Dunkley-Bent
0:53:19 > 0:53:22was once again the top choice to lead the team
0:53:22 > 0:53:26who would safely deliver Princess Charlotte into the world.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30I'm a great believer in, you know, putting your head down,
0:53:30 > 0:53:32working hard, being wise,
0:53:32 > 0:53:38knowing the system and knowing how to place yourself within that.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41I, personally, don't think that my success
0:53:41 > 0:53:44is down to the era that I was born.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46I think that, you know,
0:53:46 > 0:53:50there were people that were successful decades before me
0:53:50 > 0:53:56and I think that there is something innate in people that enables them
0:53:56 > 0:53:59to either not see the barriers and the challenges,
0:53:59 > 0:54:01or even if they see them,
0:54:01 > 0:54:04that they go right through them or go around them.
0:54:08 > 0:54:13I think, without us black people, they would have fallen so short
0:54:13 > 0:54:15that I don't think they would have survived.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20Without those nurses,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24we would not have the National Health Service we have now.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26There's no doubt in my mind
0:54:26 > 0:54:29that those of us who migrated into England,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32to the National Health Service, saved it.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40In the summer of 2016, some of those whose stories we have heard gathered
0:54:40 > 0:54:43for an event to mark the life of the earliest known black woman
0:54:43 > 0:54:46to nurse British patients -
0:54:46 > 0:54:49a pioneer whose achievements have only recently appeared
0:54:49 > 0:54:51in school history books.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55This statue will stand as a living testament
0:54:55 > 0:54:58to the life work of Mary Seacole
0:54:58 > 0:55:03and as an ongoing tribute to the thousands of health care workers
0:55:03 > 0:55:06from the Caribbean and from Africa
0:55:06 > 0:55:09who underpin the modern NHS.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:55:25 > 0:55:28Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805,
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Mary Seacole was the first black nurse
0:55:30 > 0:55:33to come to the aid of the mother country
0:55:33 > 0:55:38as she cared for wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41I think it's a very wonderful day, isn't it?
0:55:41 > 0:55:45To see one of us is being recognised through Mary Seacole.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48She nearly gave her life for this
0:55:48 > 0:55:51and for us to now receive her legacy,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53I think it's a wonderful day.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55It's really good to be alive.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58I know we've all made a contribution, but for her,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02it must have been even harder and we're very proud.
0:56:02 > 0:56:07Mary Seacole represents determination,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10dignity, persistence.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13Her determination, in some ways,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17reflect some of what we as nurses in the NHS had to go through.
0:56:17 > 0:56:18We wanted to help people,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22whether it was one person or a thousand people
0:56:22 > 0:56:27and her professionalism was the platform on which we did it.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31We love nursing and we save lives.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48And the legacy lives on.
0:56:48 > 0:56:54Zena, who left Jamaica to work here in 1956, is proud and undaunted
0:56:54 > 0:56:58after 50 years blazing a trail for black health workers.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05India and Asia are my great-grandchildren.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08I brought them along with me
0:57:08 > 0:57:13so that they can learn what it is to be good,
0:57:13 > 0:57:16to be kind, to be helpful.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Mary Seacole set an example for people like me
0:57:20 > 0:57:26and bringing them here is setting an example for them as well.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36I always say to my colleagues that you'll be able to cope,
0:57:36 > 0:57:43and I try my utmost not to get too depressed of things,
0:57:43 > 0:57:46and try to be happy and cheerful,
0:57:46 > 0:57:49and show my colleagues,
0:57:49 > 0:57:52black colleagues, that we can make it, we're here for a purpose.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56We can make it and we will make it.