Bristol-based social entrepreneur, broadcaster and writer Roger Griffith has launched his first book My American Odyssey – From the Windrush to the White House.
Part memoir, part cultural history and part political essay, the book charts the life of a London-born, Bristol-raised boy of West Indian parents encountering overt racial prejudice and violence in the 1970s and 1980s and his travels in the Deep South of America to gain a different perspective on Black identity. 
In the book, which was launched with a reading and signing yesterday at Foyles bookshop in Cabot Circus, Roger documents the experiences of his parents’ generation, known as the Windrush Generation – arriving from the Caribbean to help rebuild the ‘motherland’ after World War II – and his generation, the first generation of Black-Britons born in the UK.
He reflects on growing up within two cultures through Thatcher’s turbulent 1980s to the present day – with a black man as the US president.
Roger, pictured, a director of Bristol community radio station Ujima, explores the influence of Black British and African-American culture through the prism of the US civil rights struggle as he travels through the famed Deep South and is inspired by the life and work of Dr Martin Luther King. The book details the special relationship between America and Britain, as seen through a black man’s eyes.
Roger says he wanted to tell the story from unheard voices from the first generation to be born Black and British post-World War II.
Roger, who is now working on a second volume, said: “Part of my youth was spent in schools in Easton and Lawrence Weston. School life was not easy for me and for many years I felt ‘on the outside’ and had no real sense of my identity, I asked myself over and over ‘who am I?’
“My West Indian mother raised me and my inspiration for the book comes from her generation’s influences and from what I witnessed first-hand growing up in Bristol at a time when there were few black people living on the estates.”
After leaving school with no qualifications, Roger worked in the building trade before re-discovering the purpose of education through understanding his heritage which changed his life. He joined Bristol City Council through a positive action scheme as a trainee with no previous experience and rose to become a senior manager.
Since leaving the council in 2009 he worked tirelessly to promote those from disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds who consider themselves without a voice or opportunity through his community consultancy 2morrow 2day!, through his work with Ujima Radio and BBC Bristol and through regular blogs.
The public launch yesterday was attended by the Lord Mayor of Bristol Cllr Alistair Watson and Dr Paul Stephenson OBE, civil rights campaigner and author of Memoirs of a Black Englishman, who spoke about his own experiences in the racially-intolerant Bristol of the 1960s, when he led the bus boycott, and his fears that racism is far from defeated in the city today.
My American Odyssey – From the Windrush to the White House is available from Foyle’s Booksellers Cabot Circus (£10), Amazon, other online retailers and direct from the author on rogergriffithwriter@gmail.com 07770-26311.
