50 years ago 500 West indians made a 30 day journey across the Atlantic in an ageing merchant ship, the Empire Windrush. They were to become the symbolic founders of Britain's black communities. For the first time there were would be communities that would not, could not, blend into the background. British society faced an entirely new challenge. This text tells this story through the eyes of the survivors of that first voyage, their descendants, friends and colleagues. At the heart of the book are first-hand accounts of these times, discussing what it was like to be black at that time.