The role of the seamen's boarding house in early black community formation in British port cities, 1894-1939

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The seamen's boarding house played a vital role in the formation of early black communities in late-Imperial Britain between 1894-1939. The boarding house went beyond a simple lodging. It acted as a social and compatriot network, a hub for organised activity and a support system for black seamen who found themselves unemployed or struggling to secure regular work. The boarding house keepers were important to the welfare of black colonial seamen. They had an alternative role acting as employment agents fundamental in assisting their tenants circumvent conventional employment channels rife with racial discrimination operated and maintained by the seamen's unions. By using the boarding house as a prism, this work will show how they were crucial to, and played an integral role in, not only the economy of port cities but provided a social structure that aided settlement and helped transform a disparate and culturally heterogenous group into a recognisable black community.