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Oral history recording with Dorothy Johnson, born in 1953 in the Parish of St Thomas, Jamaica. Recorded as part of Race Council Cymru’s Windrush Cymru Heritage Project.

“If you try and you fail, that’s OK. But if you don’t try, then there’s always ‘what if?’”

Dorothy Johnson was born an only child in the Parish of St Thomas, Jamaica in 1953. She was four years old when she came to live in the UK. Her mother came first, then her grandfather and then Dorothy herself came with her grandmother.

“I was dressed in summer clothes, little white dress, ankle socks, little white shoes… the braids around the wrists were pretty and on the lapels of this jacket… maybe it was a member of the cabin crew… him wrapping me up in this jacket and carrying me into a building… I can remember thinking as we were coming down, how pretty it was, around Christmas time as I came here on 27th December.”

“We didn’t go straight to Newport, we flew into Birmingham. We came to Wales in 1959…”

“A slower way of life, but there were still issues even then, coming to Wales. I was about six – in Pill there were more Black faces… it was a comfort zone to see another one like me!… Even as a child I could feel the vibe was different to what it was living in the city…”

“I started off life as an industrial chemist, I used to work for British Steel in the labs, analysing steel. After I left school, I applied to BS on Corporation Road… I got the job…”

“When people ask I count myself as a Black, British, Jamaican, Welsh woman! For me, it’s not about any one place, this is where I live… I’ve lived here since I was a child, I’ve been in the Civil Service, I’ve been in lots of organisations and that. Never ever forget where you come from and where your roots are.”