Discrimination Against Coloured Immigrants in the British Housing Sector in the 1960s

The place you live in, where your accommodation is set, is a determinant factor for
the integration of coloured people in the society today and was one in the 1960s. It does
not only determine the education of the children and the employment of the
adolescent1, but the surrounding also has a deep impact on the social development.
Therefore it is easier for coloured immigrants to be integrated into British society, when
they are living in a rather middle-class area than in a run-down ‘immigration quarter’.
Wole Soyinka’s poem “Telephone Conversation” describes the attempt of a coloured
man to break out of the normally poor housing situation of blacks, but instead of getting
a fair chance to improve his living conditions, he is only discriminated against. This
paper will first have a close look on the poem and afterwards examine the reasons of
discrimination in the housing sector and how they worked in the daily search for a
better accommodation.