Race, sexuality and identity in Britain and Jamaica : the biography of Patrick Nelson, 1916-1963 / Gemma Romain.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Romain, Gemma, author.

Contributor:

Nelson, Patrick, 1916-1963, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Black people--England--London--Biography.

Black people.

Black people--Jamaica--Biography.

Minority gay people--England--London--Biography.

Minority gay people.

Minority gay people--Jamaica--Biography.

Jamaica--Biography.

Jamaica.

London (England)--Biography.

London (England).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (281 pages)

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.

Summary:

"This is the first biography of the extraordinary, but ordinary life of, Patrick Nelson. His experiences touched on some of the most important and intriguing historical themes of the twentieth century. He was a black migrant to interwar Britain; an aristocrat's valet in rural Wales; a Black queer man in 1930s London; an artist's model; a law student, a recruit to the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps and Prisoner of War during the Second World War. Through his return to Jamaica after the war and his re-migrations to London in the late 1940s and the early 1960s, he was also witness to post-war Jamaican struggles and the independence movement as well as the development of London's post-war multi-ethnic migrations. Drawing on a range of archival materials including letters sent to individuals such as Bloomsbury group artist Duncan Grant (his former boyfriend and life-long friend), as well as paintings and newspaper articles, Gemma Romain explores the intersections of these diverse aspects of Nelson's life and demonstrates how such marginalized histories shed light on our understanding of broader historical themes such as Black LGBTQ history, Black British history in relation to the London artworld, the history of the Second World War, and histories of racism, colonialism and empire."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Contents:

Introduction: archival discoveries and life histories

Jamaican beginnings: class, race and identity in colonial Jamaica

Patrick in 1920s and 1930s Jamaica: cultural, political, social and sexual identities and histories

Patrick in interwar Wales: race, sexuality, and employment

Queer black spaces and cosmopolitan interwar London

A Jamaican serviceman in the British Expeditionary Force in 1940 France

Imprisonment and survival in the German prisoner of war camps

Life after captivity: Patrick, politics and life in post-1945 London and Jamaica

Resuming life: identity, community and belonging

The lonely Londoners: Patrick in early 1960s London

Epilogue: Patrick's life story and its historical and contemporary context.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781474295949

1474295940

9781472588654

1472588657

OCLC:

994005972