The Strangers’ Home: A New Film on East London’s Multiracial History

The area around London’s Royal Docks transformed rapidly from the 1850s onwards to handle the trade from Britain’s global empire. Men who worked in the docks came from all over the world, with many settling in Newham and raising children with local women. The Strangers Home – a new documentary telling the story of what became one of Britian’s most ethnically diverse places in the early twentieth century – draws on personal family memories of many of the settlers’ descendants, as well as academic voices.

Our Director, Dr Chamion Caballero, is one of the film’s main academic contributors, sharing aspects of her research into interwar multiracial dockland communities with The Mixed Museum’s co-founder, Dr Peter Aspinall, as well as the pair’s work with TMM collaborative partner Professor Lucy Bland.

Migration, Multiracial Families, and Community Life in Historic Canning Town

“Sure there was racism, but there was also a lot of people kind of getting along with each other, playing with each other, regardless of background. None of them really had much money and they kind of got on with their lives.”

This is Amanda Graham talking about her family's life growing up in Canning Town in the 1920s and 1930s – which by then had become one of the most culturally diverse places anywhere in Britain.

Amanda is one of the contributors to a new documentary, The ‘Strangers’ Home, which explore the huge changes that came about in the Newham neighbourhood, four miles east of the City of London in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries.

The opening of the Victoria Dock in 1855 brought ships carrying goods from across the British Empire and beyond, attracting sailors from across Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Asia and the Caribbean. Most would stay temporarily in lodging houses and missions, making use of local clubs, shops and markets. Others settled in the area – whether by choice or not – found jobs and built families with local women, creating what would later become known as ‘Draughtboard Alley’, the nickname apparently given to Crown Street because of the number of mixed race families who resided there.

"The Strangers' Home" project

The Strangers' Home film emerged from a project led by James King at the Thames Festival Trust. Part of the Trust's 'Places of Change' programme, James worked with Newham residents and volunteers to trace the history of migration in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The project sought to better understand the reaction to migration in the area from government and the press at the time, and how they were treated by authorities and the press, including the systemic racism they faced. The result was a fascinating banner exhibition that toured Newham libraries, and was also displayed at the University of East London. The university also hosted the premiere of the film, which is directed by Fotis Begklis and supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Royal Docks Team.

 

Images: 'The Strangers' Home' film premiere and exhibition at UCL, August 2024.

The project also explored why certain voices don’t appear in records, archives or museums. It explores those absences by including interviews with people who, like Amanda, grew up in or have family connections to the areas around the docks. Our Director, Dr Chamion Caballero, was also invited to take part in the film to reflect on the wider history, particularly in relation to Canning Town’s interwar mixed race families, which she is continuing to explore in her current project with Professor Lucy Bland. The pair were also working on the project with Dr Peter Aspinall before he passed away in January 2022.

James King, the project lead commented:

It has been a privilege to work on a film that explores this incredibly important aspect of our nation's past that has a huge bearing on the make-up of Britain today and is, unfortunately, known by few. I'm so grateful for the contributions of The Mixed Museum to the film. Dr Chamion Caballero offered insights into how mixed race communities were treated and scapegoated by press and authorities, adding invaluable context to the personal reflections of other contributors. Chamion also spoke about the importance and power of people and communities being able to tell their own stories. It was a pleasure to work with the museum and I hope I am able to again in the future.

The Mixed Museum’s work on interwar mixed race families

During their research - which would go on to form the foundations of The Mixed Museum - our academic co-founders, Chamion and Peter uncovered a wealth of material relating to Canning Town’s multiracial community. Crown Street has always played a special part in the museum’s history: the photo of the children of Crown Street has become our lead image across most of our social media.

The photo and its accompanying history have been used by Chamion in particular over the years to illustrate how official representations of historical mixedness have obscured real life experiences.

Slideshow images: 1) 'The Street of Hopeless Children', Daily Express, 1930. Courtesy of Daily Express Newspapers/N&S Syndication 2) Children posing in Crown Street. © Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans Picture Library 3) Map showing location of Crown Street, Canning Town in the 1930s.

Chamion discovered that the infamous ‘Street of Hopeless Children’ article published by the Daily Express in 1930 had grossly misrepresented the families in the article. The editors had cropped the photo of the mixed race children of Crown Street to cut out the white children. In contrast to the article, the original photos show a positive multiracial community, with all the children happily smiling and interacting with each other. This is also supported by memories of local residents of the area, including Amanda.

We have been thrilled to discover that Amanda’s uncle, who she talks about in the film, is one of the children in the Crown Street photograph. Chamion and Amanda were thrilled to meet each other at the premiere of The Strangers’ Home, and we are looking forward to discussing further with Amanda how we might share more of her family history with TMM’s audiences, along with those of others who appeared in the film.

The Strangers’ Home is part of the Places of Change project, delivered by Thames Festival Trust and supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Royal Docks Team.

Find out more about the project at the Thames Festival Trust’s Places of Change digital resource

Watch The ‘Strangers’ Home on YouTube

Read more about Canning Town’s Crown Street at our Association of Mixed Race Irish exhibition.