Lillian Rosetta Thompson
“Wi belly bruk when pickney gwaan, but wi heart keep dem light.”
Translation:
“Our bellies break when a child goes, but our hearts keep their light.”
Place of Origin: St James
Arrival: 1961
A story of resilience, managing grief and endurance.
Lillian Rosetta Thompson came from St James, Jamaica to England in 1961, leaving her children behind to build a better life.
Life was extremely hard: she, her husband, and young daughter lived in a single room, with children sleeping in a cot in one corner and cooking downstairs in a shared kitchen.
Racism was constant, from housing discrimination to daily encounters on buses. Yet Lillian persevered, saving for years to buy her own home and reunite her family.
Despite hardship, she remained proud of her heritage, determined to secure education and opportunities for the next generation, leaving a legacy of resilience.
Listen to Lillian’s Oral Stories
Lost Children
-
The brother gets a letter, and we see him sitting around the table reading the letter. But I see him start to cry. My husband asked him what happened. Four children had burned in a house fire. The house burned down, and that got me off my brains. That bothered me.
God, they all burned, the house burn down. They couldn't even get them out of there. So they took a long stick and had to pull them out of there because they couldn't go in the fire. My Mother just left them. Because, you know, Jamaica houses are not made like how these are made. The Mother left them—just to go up to the top yard to get something—leaving them in the house, and I don't know what happened. And the door was locked outside. She said she never locked the house. If the house wasn’t locked outside, shut outside, because they find three at the door, and the last little baby, they found him under the bed, you see.
And anyway, I beared it out. And sometimes [my husband] he says to me, if you saw me going in the wine, leave long, but you normally overcome bit by bit, just like how we lost Ray and Roger. He can't get over it. We got over it. Well not to say, I got over it. But it keeps on coming back to me.
Wages Incident
-
Them was all right with me. It's when I find out now, that then getting more money because I'm black they're getting more money than me, and that was the problem.
That's why I wanted to come off the table? There was resist, because they say "no vacancy". As they say to your face "no vacancy", and the vacancy is put up there... [but they still say] "no vacancy". As them say, you know, vacancy, that's the trouble.
I go to the market on one of the Saturday and I'm in the queue until the man served this man. And I never know, say, a lady, they stand there. They watch when my time come, she's there, you know, and I never know, is when the man served that gentleman and me go, a new man came; the gentleman says to him, "she was here before you", and he turned on me, you see! You joking! How I left my country because of it. We 'took away' there jobs, we 'took away their house'. And I tell you, she really went on and she really went on. So, yeah, it was racist.
It Was Cold And I'm Crying
-
It was cold, and I'm crying. I cry and miss my country. I always cry. I did really miss I said, I don't know what I come here for, you know, you know, I really cry because it cold. I'm not used to the cold. And you know, Jamaica is a warm country, and it really made me cry. But after a time meeting friends and getting used to everybody, you know it was all right
