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

1894年至1939年期间，海员寄宿处在帝国晚期英国早期黑人社区的形成中发挥了至关重要的作用。这所寄宿公寓不仅仅是一个简单的住处。它是一个社会和非营利组织网络，一个有组织活动的中心，也是一个为失业或难以获得正常工作的黑人海员提供支持的系统。寄宿公寓的管理员对殖民地黑人海员的福利很重要。他们还有另一种作用，即充当就业代理人，协助其租户绕过海员工会经营和维持的充满种族歧视的传统就业渠道。通过使用公寓作为一个棱镜，这项工作将显示他们是如何至关重要的，并发挥了不可或缺的作用，不仅是港口城市的经济，但提供了一个社会结构，帮助解决，并帮助转变为一个不同的和文化异质群体到一个可识别的黑人社区。

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.