ABSTRACT
Following the Second World War, Britain's demographics began to change as migrants from colonial and former colonial countries came to Britain for new opportunities in the ‘Mother Country’ of the empire. Many of these migrants were Black, from countries in the Caribbean and Africa. Although they came hoping to contribute as much as they gained from Britain, many white Britons saw them as burdens that had to be borne. White British people looked at Black people with African or Caribbean heritage as being the receivers of British bounty but having nothing (good) to give in return, and this is reflected in the children's literature written by white authors about Black people. The Black British children of post-war immigrants from former colonies in the Caribbean and Africa were by 1970 demanding that books represent their families and their cultures accurately and sensitively. In the last 20 years, more and more Black British authors have been broadening definitions of the (Black) family in British children's literature. This chapter will look at the changing representation of Black British, Caribbean, and African families in post-1970 British children's literature, comparing authors through time and across racial and ethnic categories.
