Windrush Line map at Canada Water station. Pic: Alice Chapman

London Transport has been celebrating the recently renamed Windrush Line to mark Black History Month.

The south London Overground route was inaugurated in February in honour of the Windrush generation – a wave of more than 500,000 people invited to the UK from the Commonwealth between 1948 and 1971, many from the Caribbean.

The new Windrush line runs through areas where Caribbean communities still live today, such as Dalston Junction, New Cross and West Croydon.

Speaking to Eastlondonlines at West Croydon, where the line ends, Bishaaro Dihoud, an economics student said: “Calling the overground the Windrush Line would be a great way to recognize the Windrush generation and everything the Caribbean community has done for the UK. It could be a cool way to celebrate London’s diversity and the huge impact the Windrush generation had on the city.”

Many people from the Windrush generation worked on building and operating public transport in London over the years. In 1956, London Transport began a direct recruitment campaign in the Caribbean that ran until 1970.

Some of these transport workers settled in south London.

20-year-old Isobel Belmer, who works as a barista, said “I always think it’s something that was ages ago, but there are actually lots of people probably still taking this line that can relate to it and lived through it. All the other lines across London have names that represent something to do with history, such as the Victoria Line or the Elizabeth Line. I really like this, though, because it represents a different side of history”.

Migrants from Jamaica arrived at the Tilbury Docks in 1948 on HMT Empire Windrush. This marked a historic wave of immigration from the Caribbean to the UK and was part of a national project to rebuild post-war Britain.

In 2018, reports that the UK government had wrongly detained, deported or denied legal rights to migrants from the Windrush provoked a national outcry and a compensation scheme was launched the following year for around 15,000 people thought to be eligible.

By February this year, the government said over £83 million have been paid in compensation and over 84% of claims had received a final decision. However, Windrush campaigners have criticised the scheme for excessive bureaucracy.

Black History Month is celebrated annually in October. The UK’s first Black History Month was in 1987. It was originally intended to recognize the contributions of people of African and Caribbean backgrounds but has since expanded to include the history of all Black people.