In this updated edition of his acclaimed study of the black presence in
Britain during World War I, Stephen Bourne illuminates fascinating
stories of black servicemen of African heritage. These accounts of the
fights for their "Mother Country" are charted from the outbreak of war
in 1914 to the conflict's aftermath in 1919, when black communities up
and down Great Britain were faced with anti-black "race riots" despite
their dedicated services to their country at home and abroad. With
unprecedented access to the wartime personal correspondence of the
Jamaican siblings Vera, Norman and Douglas Manley, Bourne helps bring to
light the day-to-day trials, tribulations and tragedies of life on the
battlefield. Replete with previously unseen and unpublished images, the
stories of servicemen like Arthur Roberts--"Scotland's Black Tommy"--and
Trinidadian soldier and campaigner George A. Roberts sit alongside the
experiences of people of African descent at home during World War I.
These include a black police officer, munitions factory workers and even
stars of the stage like Cassie Walmer. Informative and accessible, with
first-hand accounts and original photographs, Black Poppies is the
essential guide to the military and civilian wartime experiences of
black men and women, from the trenches to the music halls.