New African Caribbean exhibition to launch in Sheffield

Cutlery workers pictured on Sydney Street in 1983

A new exhibition celebrating the stories of Sheffield's African Caribbean community has been launched.

Caribbean Footprints will include photographs, film and mementos from those who called the city their home after arriving on the HMT Windrush in 1948.

The exhibition is on display at Weston Park Museum and is free to visit.

A spokesperson said it will be a "tribute" to how the community has contributed to life in the city.

Between 1948 and 1971 people from the Caribbean moved to the UK to help fill post-war labour shortages and "helped to forge Britain's future," according the exhibition organisers.

Exhibits include a cricket bat from 1968, signed by young people and organisers who attended the Living Together Police and Young People weekend.

This was held at Unstone Grange with members of Crookesmoor Youth Club and police cadets to improve understanding and community relations with the police.

The first African Caribbean Carnival Queen pictured in 1979

Another is a choir gown from the 1980s worn by a singer from the Community Choir from the Church of God of Prophecy on Duke Street.

Simon Jones, one of the community co-curators behind the exhibition, said: "The exhibition stands as a tribute to the enduring resilience, unwavering strength, and rich cultural vibrancy of the African Caribbean community in Sheffield."

The exhibition also addresses contemporary issues such as the campaign for justice for victims of the Windrush scandal, with two films contributed by the Justice4Windrush campaign.

The Windrush scandal took place when it emerged the government had not properly recorded the details of people granted permission to stay in the UK.

Many were were wrongly deported.

Three women at the African Caribbean Festival in Sheffield in 1989

Lucy Cooper, exhibitions and display curator at Sheffield Museums, said: "Caribbean Footsteps is a moving, joyful celebration of people gifted with African Caribbean heritage living in the city and we can't wait for visitors to the museum to explore it."

There will be a Caribbean Footsteps opening party on 11 May with a range of activities and live music.