Members of the Toxteth community and Liverpool’s Black communities, explored their own family history, as well as the stories of black servicemen and their families from this period.

Volunteering on this project has been an educational and edifying experience.

Project participant

Writing on the Wall acquired rare documents from the period, which highlighted the plight of Black servicemen, workers and seafarers 'abandoned' in Liverpool after the war.

The experiences of men who originated from the West Indies, the Caribbean and other British colonies have been captured in letters and testimonies that were explored during the project. Other documents included correspondence between the Lord Mayor, the Secretary of State and the Presbytarian Church of England, who considered how to repatriate 600 Black men to their home countries and discussed the troubles which escalated into the riots.

During the project volunteers and participants carried out research and cataloguing tasks and created an exhibition, a book and a documentary about the project.

Find out more on the Great War to Race Riots website.