This activity was used with pupils in key stage 3, year 9.

This activity took place with a year 9 class in a mixed 11-16 comprehensive school in East London. The school has 620 pupils from a wide variety of ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

The activity was part of a five-lesson unit on the Second World War.

Aims

• To understand the role played in the Second World War by members of the armed forces from Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent.
• To appreciate the diversity of these soldiers' experiences and motivations.
• To counteract nationalistic myth-making about the Second World War.

Activity objectives

• To learn that large numbers of people in colonised India, Africa and the Caribbean joined the British armed forces during the Second World War.
• To understand that their reasons for joining up were many and varied.
• To recognise that black servicemen and servicewomen were real people making a range of decisions for different reasons, and to appreciate the diversity of their experiences.

This activity relates to unit 18, 'Hot war, cold war: why did the major twentieth-century conflicts affect so many people' from the QCA/DfES key stage 3 scheme of work for history.

It also relates to the following references from the key stage 3 programme of study for history:

• describe and analyse the relationship between the characteristic features of the periods and societies studied, including the experiences and range of ideas, beliefs and attitudes of men, women and children in the past (2a)
• learn about the social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of the societies studied, both in Britain and the wider world (2b)
• identify, select and use a range of appropriate sources of information (4a)
• communicate their knowledge and understanding of history using a range of techniques (5c).

Activity description

Before the activity began, the class read a section from Man you've mixed: a Jamaican comes to Britain, a memoir by Eric Ferron that describes how he came to the UK to serve in the RAF during the Second World War. The section the pupils read describes a racist murder in London at the end of the war, and explores the complexity of his feelings about how black soldiers were received.

The teacher divided the pupils into groups and gave each group a set of extracts from autobiographical accounts by African, Caribbean and Indian personnel in the Second World War. The extracts recounted each person's reasons for joining the British armed forces. There were four different sets:

• set A - all accounts that showed positive identification with or support for Britain
• set B - all accounts that showed political or ideological commitment, for example a desire to fight fascism or to prove the equality of black people
• set C - all accounts that showed personal reasons for joining up, for example to get a job, to gain access to education or to see the world
• set D - all accounts that showed the effectiveness of British propaganda and recruiting drives.

Each group discussed the question 'Why did they join up?' and constructed mind maps from the sources provided. After the group work, pupils discussed the topic in a whole-class plenary. Differences between the sets emerged and the pupils attempted to come to overall conclusions about people's reasons for joining up.

Commentary

Eventually the pupils concluded that there were so many different and varied reasons for joining the British armed forces that it was impossible to generalise about it.

At one point the pupils were finding it difficult to identify with the people quoted in the sources, so the teacher asked them to act out in role-play scenes the moment when each of the various characters announced, to their family and friends, their decision to join up.

This activity was followed by several more lessons looking at the contribution of black and Asian soldiers to the overall war effort and their difficult experiences during and after the war. During these lessons, pupils also discussed the impact that these soldiers’ experiences might have had on subsequent developments such as independence and immigration. Pupils also looked at how the contribution of these soldiers is commemorated in the UK. The pupils found it useful and important to discuss and learn about the contributions and impact of black and Asian soldiers during the Second World War.

Resources

'Whose freedom?' - a photocopiable teaching pack available from Savannah Press. For further information write to the publisher at 13 Church Road, Oare, Faversham, Kent, ME13 0QA.

'Memorial Gates: We also served' - a section of the Birmingham grid for learning website with stories, facts and resources about soldiers from India, Africa and the Caribbean.

'Together' - a pack of extracts, biographies and information on black and Asian Soldiers in the war. The pack is available from the Imperial War Museum shop (020 7416 5327) for £30.

'We also served' - a project pack developed by the Birmingham Advisory and Support Service (ISBN 1-898244-66-9). The pack contains 16 veteran stories from Black and Asian soldiers in the First and Second World Wars. It includes a teacher's pack and resources. The project pack can be ordered for £35 from the Birmingham Advisory and Support Service (BASS) on 0121 303 8118, Fax: 0121 039 8555 or email: bass.publications@birmingham.gov.uk.