A selection of images associated with the history of The Royal Docks in Canning Town, where a community of Black and White people lived during the early 20th Century referred to as ‘Draught Board Alley by local people. I photographed various locations where this community lived in Crown Street, Newham. I wrote a photographic learning resource based on the research entitled Connecting the Past to the Present – A Photographic Journey.
https://www.newhamheritagemonth.org/wp-content/uploads/Connecting-The-Past-to-the-Present-2021.pdf?x34682

The portrait is of Claude Mckay, a political writer and poet who migrated to London from Jamaica in 1919 and worked for the socialist publication ‘Dreadnaught’ edited by Sylvia Pankhurst of the East London Federation of Suffragettes. It is believed he was England’s first black reporter. He documented the lives of soldiers and seafarers from across the globe who were living and working in the East London Docks.