WINDRUSH WOMEN: THEIR LIFE, THEIR FAITH, THEIR WORK

On this 75th Anniversary of the arrival of HMS Empire Windrush and migration of Caribbeans coming to Britain during the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, it’s a good time to focus on the women of this period and the important role they played, particularly those who were at the forefront of Black Pentecostal worship.

When the Empire Windrush arrived in 1948, 257 onboard were women. Some came alone, while others came as wives and fiancées.

They had travelled to Britain, like their menfolk, seeking opportunities for themselves and their families. Later, their numbers increased when opportunities came to work in the newly created National Health Service (NHS).

These women were following in the footsteps of Mary Seacole, the Jamaican nurse who had left Jamaica a century earlier to nurse soldiers in the Crimean War. Largely forgotten and overshadowed by the fame of Florence Nightingale, who had refused to work with her or acknowledge her service, it took the campaigning zeal of Ziggi Alexander and Audrey Dewjee to bring Mary Seacole’s work to the public’s attention. Today a statue of her stands in St Thomas’ Hospital in Central London as a tribute.

Caribbean women faced many difficulties in the new country when they arrived. They, however, demonstrated incredible resilience and adaptability by balancing their responsibilities as workers and homemakers. They established community organisations that supported their fellow migrants and improved their living conditions. Their communities were once characterised by a network of families, relatives and friends, rich in what sociologists call ‘social capital’. In these communities people learnt where to find jobs, rooms to rent, doctors, partners, church groups, and official help, and where to get Caribbean foods. Neighbourhoods also had hairdressing salons, barbershops, small businesses, social clubs, grassroots publications, and community activists.

Established the same year as when the HMS Empire Windrush arrived, the NHS, which the government created to provide health care for the nation, soon ran into trouble. It realised that the women who had served the country so well during the war – and whom the government was relying on to staff it – chose to go home and raise a family rather than work in the newly created Service. The government turned to the Caribbean to fill the gap, advertising vacancies in local newspapers. Caribbean women answered the call, but unfortunately, when they arrived in Britain to work in hospitals and care homes, they faced discrimination, with many white nurses refusing to work with them, forcing them out of the Service and into menial jobs.

In those early years, the Pentecostal Church was the pillar of the Caribbean community, and women played a vital part in its establishment. They were then, as they are today, the backbone of the Church. They helped recruit members, cared for and supported other members, ran pardners, and sought contributions for church funds. Despite earning lower wages than men, they were the majority, and so were instrumental in the church’s growth. Tithing was not accepted as it is now, so churches relied heavily on women’s incomes.

Three women, among many others, stand out for me during this period.

One was Mother McLachlan, who, after arriving in Britain on the Empire Windrush, established the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) in 1952 at her home on Navarino Road in Hackney, North London. COGIC is the oldest Caribbean Pentecostal church in Britain. That same year, while attending a World Pentecostal Conference at Westminister Central Hall in London, she met Bishop Charles Mason, the founder of COGIC Worldwide. Asking for his assistance with the church in London, he agreed to help. He sent Mrs White from his church in Memphis to London to assist Mother McLachlan, and together, the two women grew the church, moving it from Mother McLachlan’s home to a rented hall in Sussex Gardens in Brixton, South London. In 1954, Mother McLachlan’s husband, Bishop McLachlan, joined her in Britain, and together they opened two more branches of the church in Camden Town and Luton. During the 1950s and ’60s, COGIC was the most famous Black Caribbean church in Britain. It was quite a significant religious organisation that flourished for many years. However, things began to change when Mother and Bishop McLachlan decided to return to Jamaica due to Bishop McLachlan’s ill health. Bishop Bell became the leader, but the church’s popularity was already declining. In 1971, the church moved to its premises in Northumberland Park in Tottenham, North London, and continued there. Unfortunately, the emergence of the Church of God of Prophecy and the New Testament Church of God – two well-established churches in Jamaica – led to the creation of local branches in Britain, and this, along with changes in the socio-economic position of Caribbeans, contributed to the lack of growth of COGIC. fatigue, she visited my father’s church. I was amazed. I had seen white Salvation Army women in uniform before, but never any Black ones – or any like Bishop Walters and her ladies. They caused a mild stir when they entered the church and sat in the seats reserved for them. When a chorus started, they swung into action, clapping their hands, exaggeratedly stomping their feet, and moaning and groaning as jazz musicians do when they hit an unusual note or strike an unfamiliar chord. Although I was used to Black Pentecostal worship, I’d never seen anything like this. I couldn’t wait to hear Bishop Walters speak, and when she was ‘called’ to do so, all I can remember is that she “turned the church over”! I was captivated and enthralled. I didn’t know Bishop Walters belonged to the City Mission Church in Jamaica, where women traditionally were in leadership. Apart from this, it is one of the pioneers of hand clapping, moaning and feet stomping in Pentecostal churches, and here, in its purest form, was the real thing, on display right before my eyes, and I was captivated.

Leyton, East London, Pastor Smith set up several community initiatives, which included youth projects, Christian training institutes, a senior citizens’ club, summer schools and a youth hostel. She was the first Black woman within the Pentecostal Church to work actively and consistently within the wider community. For her, the church’s role was not to be confined to the four walls of a building, but to be out into the ‘highways and hedges’. She portrayed this in her ministry, so the British religious establishment liked her for the work she was doing. They invited her to participate in the annual Remembrance Day Service in the presence of the Queen at the Cenotaph in London. No other Black Pentecostal minister has been accorded this accolade.

Bishop Delrose Walters was a remarkable and recognisable presence among the strong-willed, determined male preachers of this time. Dressed in military

Pastor Io Smith, or ‘Sister Smith’, as I warmly remember her, was no less formidable than Bishop Walters. She was a woman who wasn’t prepared to play a peripheral role or let any male church leader dictate to her and try to “keep her in her place”. Her vision and calling were far too wide-ranging for that, and she was far too wise to let that get in her way. Despite this, she was a Jamaican woman who knew when to strike and when to hold back to fight another day. She knew the barriers she faced as a Black woman within the Church and society, and her pragmatic approach endeared her to many church leaders. Moreover, her brother, Bishop Melvin Powell, the founder of the New Testament Assembly (NTA), fully supported her. As he was well-liked and respected, it gave her the courage to stand her ground and stick to her beliefs.

Apart from pastoring an NTA church in www.royfrancis.co.uk

In 1983, Pastor Smith was awarded an MBE for her community work; later, she retired to Jamaica, where in 2008, she died. Today, we remember her as a remarkable, fearless, courageous and dynamic woman, with a deep sense of community. Her life exemplified what every Black woman should aspire to: a belief that with drive and determination, despite the odds, anything is possible.

Unfortunately, the woman’s role today in Caribbean Pentecostal churches in Britain is still limited. Unlike the Anglican Church, they largely cannot become bishops in the mainstream Black Pentecostal churches. Men still perform traditional roles, including serving communion, baptising, blessing babies, conducting marriages, inducting new members (giving the ‘right hand of fellowship’), or performing burial rights. Caribbean women have broken down many barriers. They have challenged stereotypes and discrimination; they have penetrated British society’s administrative and professional sectors at a time when these positions were limited to white women. They have paved the way for future generations of Black women to contribute to British society, and above all, they kept the family intact, which is no mean feat. There is so much to learn from these women, and we salute them in this Black History Month.