Postwar (1945–present)

In August 1976, a group of migrant workers led by Jayaben Desai took a historic stand against racism, low pay and limited workers’ rights.

This is the nationality certificate of Ambalavaner Sivanandan (1923–2018), the novelist, activist and former director of the Institute of Race Relations.

The 1951 Refugee Convention defined international obligations to refugees, but also exposed global tensions in a context of decolonisation and ongoing conflict.

The book Spycatcher sparked one of the most controversial courtroom battles of the 1980s, bringing questions around state secrecy to a global audience.

Over three days in April 1981, violence broke out in Brixton, London between young people and the Metropolitan Police. What did the inquiry about it find out?

Security Service files paint a vivid picture of what happened when Anthony Blunt – then employed in the royal household – admitted spying for the Soviet Union.

Records in our collection show how same-sex personal adverts published in the 1960s become part of a high-profile legal battle.

In the summer of 1948, neurologist Ludwig Guttmann set up a sporting competition between patients. It was the birth of the Paralympic Games.

Until 2021, the census did not ask for information about sexuality. One letter in our collection gives a personal perspective on why this data was needed.

In December 1978, Vietnamese refugees seeking asylum aboard the Huey Fong were refused entry to Hong Kong. Records we hold document the 34-day standoff.

This letter is an example of those in our collection detailing Indian and Pakistani Independence, but from a lesser-known voice, Sudhir Ghosh.

The founding years of Chiswick Women’s Aid saw the opening of the world's first women's refuge, disputes with local government, and creating change in the UK.

LGBT+ Switchboard is one of the oldest telephone helplines supporting queer communities in the UK. Its journey to register as a charity was not easy.

What was the everyday reality for LGBTQ+ people in the 80s and 90s living under the infamous Section 28, and how was it eventually repealed?

WÃSÙ was the journal produced by the West African Students’ Union (WASU) and distributed across Europe and Africa from 1926.

Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act negatively affected LGBTQ+ lives for decades. How did such a seismic piece of legislation come about?

These handwritten pages offer a window onto a Prime Minister’s thinking about the issues of the day. In 1978, they ranged from education to the environment.

Described by the Birmingham Post as the ‘queen of Jamaican theatre’, Louise Bennett-Coverley (1919–2006) was a poet, performer, folklorist, writer and educator.

These photographs, captured through police investigations, give a unique insight into the heart of the early British Black Panther movement.

Sir Learie Constantine (1901–1971) was a renowned cricketer, author, politician and persistent campaigner for racial equality and justice.

The Imperial Typewriters dispute in Leicester saw over 500 workers, largely from South Asia, go on strike over discrimination in 1974.

Ivor Cummings (1913–1992) greeted the iconic arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury in 1948. He became known as the 'gay father of the Windrush generation'.

Explore the foundations of the NHS, one of Britain's most well-known and loved institutions.

The National Archives has a wealth of documents, photographs and art work collected during the planning and running of the influential 1951 Festival of Britain.

Insaaf was a film made by the government, filmed partly in Urdu, to promote employment rights under the 1968 Race Relations Act.

Passenger lists for the ships that carried post-war migrants from the Caribbean to Britain can be crucial resources for people tracing their family history.

The trial of nine black protestors who were arrested while demonstrating in Notting Hill in the early 1970s became a public platform to criticise police racism.