The foregoing history, though selective, gives a sense of the priorities of, and challenges facing, the first postwar generation of Caribbean artists in London. They all worked diligently to negotiate a meaningful place for themselves within the British cultural sphere—one that was commercially viable and that justified and naturalized the West Indian and colonial presence in Britain. The collective result was the formulation of a distinctive cultural politics shaped by, among other things, colonial independence, West Indian federation, mainstream success and struggle in London, white racism, and the cultural similarities between Great Britain and her imperial margins. By injecting this cultural politics into British television, radio, music, art, and drama (as well as literature), West Indian settler-artists redefined so-called “white” British culture after 1945, both progressive and mainstream.

Their historical obscurity, then, is partly a comment on the preoccupations— and blind spots—of both general accounts of postwar British culture and more specialized analyses of black British art. In the former, black artists appear in the nation's culture as destabilizing agents signifying the break-up of cultural consensus. The latter, until recently, have tended to begin their histories after the early postwar era. Further, these theory-rich and deeply political studies employ fundamentally conflictual frameworks that are perhaps not well-suited to the professional and artistic choices made by the subjects of this book.

This is because the careers of Ronald Moody, the Reckords, the Connors, Earl Cameron—and many other musicians, artists, writers, and actors who migrated from the Caribbean to London at this time—demonstrate the continued domestic currency of the British Empire well into the 1960s. Moreover, they demonstrate that imperial ties could be an integrative force; that, even after decolonization, the memory of the imperial past, combined with present-day collaboration and education, could render British culture both united and multicultural at the same time. They did not invent these ties or connections, but their work made them visible to British audiences.

In order to gain a professional foothold in London, these individuals exploited the intersections between their own skills and the preferences of native British audiences and institutions.