In the Shadow of Enoch Powell

Fifty years ago Enoch Powell made national headlines with his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, warning of an immigrant invasion in the once respectable streets of Wolverhampton. This local fixation brought the Black Country town into the national spotlight, yet Powell’s unstable relationship with Wolverhampton has since been overlooked. Drawing from oral history and archival material, this book offers a rich local history through which to investigate the speech, bringing to life the racialised dynamics of space during a critical moment in British history.

What was going on beneath the surface in Wolverhampton and how did Powell’s constituents respond to this dramatic moment? The research traces the ways in which Powell’s words reinvented the town and uncovers highly contested local responses. While Powell left Wolverhampton in 1974, the book returns to the city to explore the collective memories of the speech that continue to reverberate. In a contemporary period of new crisis and division, examining the shadow of Powell allows us to reflect on racism and resistance from 1968 to the present day.