Patricia Haughton
“Yuh cyaah forget weh yuh come from—tree weh lose him root cyaah stand tall.”
Translation:
“This captures the idea that forgetting your history weakens your identity, just like a tree without roots can’t survive.”
Place of Origin: Hanover,
Jamaica
Arrival: 1961
A story about staying true to your roots
Patricia remembers the struggles of coming to Britain and always tells her family to never forget their roots.
Her daughter, Gene, recalls growing up as a second-generation Windrush child — living in one room with paraffin heating, families sharing kitchens, and learning to make do. As a child, she faced racism at school, being called names that hurt deeply. While her mother spoke less of it, Gene remembers clearly how hard life was for their parents and how strong they had to be.
Patricia’s message endures: no matter what happens, always remember where you come from and the journey that shaped you.
Listen to Patricia’s Oral Stories
Never Forget
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You should never forget where we're coming from, yeah, our roots, yes, never forget your roots. Whatever happened. Never forget that.
Second Generation
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We spent a lot of time as we're the second generation. So what mom and Aunty was talking about I lived every single one of it, and I remember it all like it was yesterday.
I remember the one bedroom thing where we lived in one room, and the paraffin heater and all this sort of stuff there before hubs and they have different pots from different families, all cooking different stuff, even like the bathroom and stuff the pale and I remember it all in as a child, coming through all of that, we just think it was the way of life.
And when we went to school, the names we were called—racism!
Mom says she didn't face too much of that, but my dad would give it [his own account] of how the men were treating him, but we as children, the names they called us at school: “Blackie”, “black dog”!
Proud of Our Family
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Well, I have six children. I've got a minister [son] in Jamaica. My son and Gene is a Christian, and a daughter lives in London. So not all of them accept the Lord yet into their life, but my daughter in Canada, they go to church. Though they haven't, you know, accept the Lord, but I've got no problem with my children.
That's a good thing when you know you have kids. They grow teenage and your parents have problems with them. I have no problem with my daughters, and especially one named Sharon.
At Christmas. I go to Sharon. Yeah, always, she and her husband always invite us to come for Christmas dinner. We go and have Christmas dinner with them and their other family, [Sharon’s husband] Allan's family. So I've got no problem with my children. Sometimes me and Sharon, we go to Wales. Yeah. Yes. So, yeah, yeah, beautiful.
Patricia Haughton pictured on the left, with her daughter Gene (middle) and sister Daphne May Clarke (on the right).