Mr Magic Feet
Enrico Stennett was First Generation Windrush and was born in Jamaica in 1926.
Enrico Stennett was mixed race and his experience of racism not only in his native Jamaica but also in the UK determined the course of his life as he worked to counter prejudice in all its forms.
He arrived in Britain, aged 21, in 1947. This was the year before the SS Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, but he and his fellow passengers were still part of that cohort of Caribbeans who moved eagerly to Britain to help with post-war reconstruction. Enrico soon learned that not everyone welcomed him and all too often he experienced personal and institutional racism.
Believing firmly that all forms of discrimination should be challenged immediately and head-on, Enrico joined the League for Coloured People, the Coloured Workers’ Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Trade Union and Labour Movement.
In 1950 Enrico along with his first wife Margaret and their friends, founded the Cosmopolitan Social Society. The society promoted wellbeing for Caribbean people living and arriving in Britain. For many who had arrived without their families, it was a vital source of companionship and comfort.
Two years later in 1952, he co-founded the African League and as chairman worked with activists in the liberation struggle for freedom from colonial rule. He went on to establish the African Voice, Britain’s first black newspaper. This is still available online today and is the UK’s most popular black news outlet.
Enrico was a renowned ballroom dancer, and he broke the colour bar at dancehalls when he turned up to dance professionally at venues across the country. So skilled was he that became known as Mr Magic Feet. On retirement, Enrico retired to Jamaica with his second wife Mary but, unable to settle, he returned to Britain and moved to North Wales, where he was active in the North Wales Race Equality Council until his death in 2011.
Roedd Enrico Stennett yn perthyn i Genhedlaeth Gyntaf Windrush ac fe’i ganed yn Jamaica yn 1926.
Gŵr hil gymysg oedd Enrico Stennett, a bu i’w brofiad o hiliaeth, nid yn unig yn ei famwlad Jamaica ond hefyd yn y Deyrnas Unedig, lywio cyfeiriad ei fywyd wrth iddo weithio i herio rhagfarn ar ei holl ffurfiau.
Cyrhaeddodd Brydain, yn 21 mlwydd oed, yn 1947. Roedd hyn flwyddyn cyn i’r SS Empire Windrush lanio yn nociau Tilbury, ond roedd ef a’i gyd-deithwyr yn rhan o’r garfan honno o bobl o’r Caribî a fudodd i Brydain yn awyddus i helpu i ailgodi’r wlad ar ôl y rhyfel. Buan y dysgodd Enrico nad oedd pawb yn ei groesawu, ac yn rhy aml o lawer, cafodd brofiad o hiliaeth bersonol a sefydliadol.
Credai’n gadarn y dylid herio pob math o wahaniaethu’n syth bin, ac yn uniongyrchol, ac ymunodd Enrico â’r League for Coloured People, Coloured Workers’ Association Prydain a Gogledd Iwerddon, a’r Mudiad Undebau Llafur.
Yn 1950, sefydlodd Enrico ynghyd â’i wraig gyntaf, Margaret, a’u ffrindiau, y Cosmopolitan Social Society. Roedd y gymdeithas yn hybu llesiant pobl Garibïaidd a oedd yn byw ym Mhrydain ac yn cyrraedd yma. I lawer a gyrhaeddodd heb eu teuluoedd, roedd yn ffynhonnell hollbwysig o gyfeillgarwch a chysur.
Ddwy flynedd yn ddiweddarach yn 1952, fe gydsefydlodd yr African League, ac fel cadeirydd, bu’n gweithio gydag ymgyrchwyr yn y frwydr dros ryddid o reolaeth drefedigaethol. Aeth yn ei flaen i sefydlu’r African Voice, papur newydd pobl dduon cyntaf Prydain. Mae’r papur yn dal i fod ar gael ar-lein heddiw, a dyma’r ffynhonnell newyddion fwyaf poblogaidd ar gyfer pobl dduon yn y Deyrnas Unedig.
Roedd Enrico yn ddawnsiwr o fri, ac fe dorrodd drwy’r ffin hil yn y neuaddau dawns wrth eu mynychu i ddawnsio’n broffesiynol mewn neuaddau ar hyd a lled y wlad. Roedd mor ddawnus, adwaenid ef yn Mr Magic Feet.
Ymddeolodd Enrico i Jamaica gyda’i ail wraig, Mary, ond methodd setlo yno a dychwelodd i Brydain a symud i Ogledd Cymru, ble bu’n weithgar gyda Chyngor Cydraddoldeb Hiliol Gogledd Cymru hyd ei farwolaeth yn 2011.