Yusef:
My name is Yusef, I am ten years old and my family comes from Pakistan. I live in Bradford, and I've come to see my uncle Moey who is an actor and a musician and also lives in Bradford. Uncle Moey is going to tell me about the journey his family made to Britain when he was a young child. India and Pakistan used to be part of the same country known as British India,because it was ruled by Britain.
In August 1947, British India split into 2 new countries, India and Pakistan. This was known as a partition. From the late 1940s onwards,many Indian and Pakistani people travelled to the UK because they heard there were opportunities to workand to have a better future there. Of all the South Asian communities in Britain, today the largest is that of the Pakistanisfrom the Punjab region who found work in the mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire in the 1960s.
So, Moey tell me how you first came to live in Bradford.
Moey:
I came here in 1970, but my father came here in the early sixties to work in the mills, because back then there was a shortage of mill workers and labourers, people like weavers and spinners, all these kind of people. There wasn't enough money in Pakistan for him to earn.So that's why he came over here to work in these mills. He worked extra time, weekends, and he did that so he could save up enough moneyto invite myself and my two brothers and my mother over. At the time I took it for granted, but my parents worked very hard.
Yusef:
So why do so many people from Pakistan ended up settling into Bradford?
Moey:
In the Punjab and Mirpur areas of Pakistan, there was a lot of instability because it was only, 15-20 years earlier that Pakistan and India divided. A lot of people were displaced in parts of Mirpur. Most of us live 3 or 4 mile radius around the Mangla Dam. That flooded a lot of the villages. A lot of people were displaced, nearly a hundred thousand people. People had to find different places to live, not just in Pakistan, but there was also an opportunity came about in places like Bradford where there's a shortage of labour workersin the mills and the transport industry.
So about 5000 people from Mirpur decided to come into Bradford to work in these mills and settle in Bradford. So that's why today, 70% of British Pakistanis originate from the Mirpur area.
Yusef:
So Moey, what was it like growing up in Bradford?
Moey:
It was strange because we were living with different communities of people. The area was quite white. There was only me and your dad and a few others who were from the Mirpuri Pakistani community. There were racial issues, but I can't remember that many, but there were a few but we managed to keep away from those. Some of the white children in the area were, you know, I was quite friendly with them. I had a nice experience living around here and I've been here for 50 years. Yeah, we knew we were a little bit different, but we actually got along.
My parents used to think of us as guests, believe it or not, that we would just here for a few years and we would go back and we shouldn't cause any trouble with the white kids in the area. Living in that environment at the time was interesting because I was influenced by all, all the music around us, like disco pop, Abba, and my parents were like, you know, they didn't want me involved in any of that, and when they used to find anything to do with music in my room while I'm in the house, they'd just throw it away in the bins.
So when I was about 17, 18, I started going to Bradford College and I noticed that young English kids used to go to the nightclubs, or the discos, but people from my community didn't really have anything that they had, you know, events that they could go to. So I started organizing what are known as 'Daytimers' which are events between 12 and 2. We played bits of Bhangra music, Bollywood tunes. It started off small with just 30, 40 people turning up, but within a few months, these numbers became 2 to 300.
Yusef:
How has Bradford changed since you first arrived?
Moey:
Bradford was the textile capital of the world, or the wool capital of the world. In the seventies, some of these mills are closed downbecause the demand for wool, it subsided. You know, there wasn't so much demand. A lot of Pakistanis at the time were made redundant, so they had to find other jobs. The received payments, which were known as redundancy packages from the textile mills and the government, and these allowed some of these people to actually open other businesses. One or two of them decided to open corner shops. And believe it or not, the corner shop phenomenon just went crazy because all of a sudden, different parts of Bradford corner shops are opening upbecause Pakistani communities needed goods like daal and javal, all these sort of things that you couldn't at the time buy from normal supermarkets.
Now we've got third and fourth generations of Asians, large Hindu community, the Sikh community, the Bangladeshi community in Bradford. We live and work alongside each other, we are an integral part of the community. We're here to stay now.
Yusef:
Talking to Moey about the history of the Pakistani community here in Bradford was fascinating. Despite facing hardship and discrimination, people here have created a happy and thriving community, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
Video summary
Actor and musician Moey Hassan talks to his nephew, 10 year-old Yusef, about Pakistani migration to the UK.
In August 1947, British India split into two new countries, India and Pakistan. From the late 1940s onwards, many Indian and Pakistani people travelled to the UK in search of greater job opportunities.
Of all the South Asian communities in Britain, the largest is that of the Pakistanis from the Punjab region who found work in the mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire in the 1960s.
Moey talks about organising 'day-timers' for the local South Asian community, where they played bits of bhangra music and Bollywood tunes. It started off small with just 30 to 40 people turning up, but within a few months, the numbers increased and there were 200 to 300 people coming to Moey's events.
When the mills closed down a lot of Pakistanis at the time were made redundant, so they used their redundancy money to open other businesses, including corner shops. Moey explains that these shops were successful because they provided somewhere that the Pakistani communities could buy goods, like daal and javal, that were not available in British supermarkets at the time.
This short film is from the BBC Teach series British Asian History.
Teacher Notes
Learning points:
- To learn about the reasons why people have emigrated to Britain from Asia over time, and in the post-war years.
- To learn about the effects of the Partition of India in 1947 on post-war Britain.
Key Vocabulary
This film gives you the chance to explore and learn this vocabulary in the context of a personal story.
Vocabulary used in the film:
- British Empire
- Govern
- Ruled
- Migrated
- Dam
- Partition of India
- Mills and mill towns
- Labourer
- Made redundant
- Weavers-Instability
- Displaced
- Community
- Generations
- Opportunity
- Clubbing (Nightclubs)
Vocabulary useful for discussing the film:
- Immigration and immigrants - coming to live permanently in another country.
- Emigration - leaving one's own country in order to settle permanently in another.
- Asia/Asian - the largest and most populous continent on earth.
- Britain/ British - "Great Britain" is often used to refer to England, Scotland and Wales, including their component adjoining islands.Great Britain and Northern Ireland now constitute the United Kingdom.
- Community - a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
- Culture - a pattern of behaviour shared by a society, or group of people.
- Discrimination - the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people.
- Diversity - differences in racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, geographic and academic backgrounds.
- Equality - when people are treated the same, regardless of what they look like or where they come from.
- Inclusion - being a part of what everyone else is, being welcomed and embraced as a member who belongs.
- _Legacy - something we inherit from past generations and pass to our future generations.
- Prejudice - a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.
- Racism - the belief that people of different races or ethnic groups have different value in society, and using this against them.
Before watching the film
You may want to discuss what your pupils understand by the word ‘immigrant’ and what they already know about people who have come to live in the UK, over time. Pupils could discuss what they understand by the term ‘community’ and whether they identify as being part of any communities.
Moey talks about people being ‘displaced’ after the Mangla Dam flooded lots of villages, and he also sets this in the context of happening just two decades after the Partition of India. Our interviewer, Yusuf, describes the Partition at the start of the film too, supported by maps and a timeline. He talks about the connection between the Partition and the British Empire in the Victorian Era. You could make links between the pupils’ prior history knowledge of this time.
Please note, you should consider the needs of any children in your class with Pakistani or Indian heritage, or who have lived experience of being displaced, or having to leave a country under distressing circumstances, as part of your preparation.
Questions to consider
Depending on the focus of your lesson, you may wish to pause the short film at certain points to check for understanding, asking questions such as:
- Why did some people emigrate from Pakistan to settle in the UK? Why did Moey’s father come to live in Bradford?
- What do you think it was like for Moey and his family when they moved to Bradford? Think about what he says about the other people and children.
- Why does Moey think so many Pakistani people came to live in Bradford?
- Moey says his parents thought of themselves as ‘guests’ who shouldn’t cause trouble. How do you think it made him feel?
- What opportunity did Moey notice when he saw people from different communities enjoying music and going to nightclubs?
- What role did corner shops play in helping Asian communities? Why does Moey say corner shops ‘took off’ and many are still run by people of Asian heritage?
Activities to further explore learning
- Pupils could compare and contrast this episode with the Marigin Opiala episode.
- Pupils could write a biography of Moey, including a fact file about the Partition.
- In music lessons, pupils could listen to the music Moey describes, comparing this with the music they listen to.
- Pupils could discuss how our British Values were or were not enacted in Moey’s story. For example, how was tolerance or intolerance a part of this film?
- Pupils could compare and contrast this episode with the Rupal Rajani episode.
- Having watched the film, pupils could write down any questions they would ask Moey if they had the opportunity.
How this film meets the aims of the National Curriculum in England:
- History
This film will help you to ensure your pupils understand the history of these places as a coherent, chronological narrative, focusing on the 19th Century to the present day. Through this personal story, pupils will learn about the diversity of people who have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
Pupils will develop deeper understanding of historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, and frame historically-valid questions.
They will also gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
How this film meets the aims of the Scottish Curriculum:
Social Studies
This film will enable pupils to compare and contrast communities and the lives of people in the past with their own, and to contribute to a discussion of the similarities and differences.They will find out why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence.
Health and Welbeing Across the Curriculum
This film will help pupils to develop self-awareness, self-worth and respect for others, understanding diversity and that it is everyone’s responsibility to challenge discrimination.
How this film meets the aims of the The Northern Ireland Curriculum:
- The World Around Us
This film will enable pupils to learn about how people and places have changed over time, the causes and effects of people moving from one place to another, and the positive and negative impacts of people on places. Exploring the lives and memories of people from the past is part of the history non-statutory guidance and this film provides an ideal starting point for this.
- Personal Development
This film will enable pupils to appreciate the similarities and differences between themselves and others by providing a starting point for discussing cultural heritage, community and the diversity of people living in Britain.
How this film meets the aims of the National Curriculum in Wales:
History
This film will enable pupils to place events chronologically, identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different places during the 20th Century, and to discuss the consequences to people of historic events.Personal and Social Education Framework
This film will help pupils to see people who have been active citizen and help them to develop respect for others. Through personal stories, pupils will learn the value of diversity and recognise the importance of equality of opportunity.
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