British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an
ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. They are British citizens or residents of recent
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
heritage who further trace much of their ancestry to
West
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
and
Central Africa
Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...
. This includes multi-racial
Afro-Caribbean people
Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Africans (primarily from West and Central Africa) ta ...
.
The earliest generations of Afro-Caribbean people to migrate to Britain trace their ancestry to a wide range of Afro-Caribbean ethnic groups, who themselves descend from the disparate
African ethnic groups transported to the
colonial Caribbean as part of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade.
British African Caribbeans may also have ancestry from
European and
Asian settlers, as well as from various
Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean
At the time of first contact between Europe and the Americas, the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean included the Taíno of the northern Lesser Antilles, most of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas, the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles, the Cigua ...
.
The population includes those with origins in
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
,
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...
,
The Bahamas
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...
,
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...
,
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
,
Grenada
Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...
,
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...
,
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...
,
Dominica
Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...
,
Montserrat
Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...
,
British Virgin Islands
The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...
,
Turks and Caicos Islands
The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and no ...
,
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...
,
Anguilla
Anguilla is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Sa ...
,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...
,
Guyana
Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...
,
Belize
Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...
, and elsewhere.
Arriving in port cities in small numbers across England and Wales since the mid-18th century, the most significant wave of migration came after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, coinciding with the
decolonisation
Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...
era and the dissolution of the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
. The governments of the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands promoted immigration to address domestic labor shortages. Known as the Windrush generation, they had arrived as
citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
(CUKCs) in the 1950s and 1960s, owing to birth in the former
British colonies
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...
of the
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
. Those who settled in the UK prior to 1973 were granted either
right of abode
The right of abode is an individual's freedom from immigration control in a particular country. A person who has the right of abode in a country does not need permission from the government to enter the country and can live and work there witho ...
or
indefinite leave to remain by the
Immigration Act 1971
The Immigration Act 1971 (c. 77) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning immigration and nearly entirely remaking the field of British immigration law. The Act, as with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, and that of ...
, although a series of governmental policies in the 2000s and 2010s erroneously treated some as unlawfully residing in the UK. This subsequently became known as the
Windrush scandal
The Windrush scandal was a British political scandal that began in 2018 concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many o ...
.
In the 21st century, Afro-Caribbean communities are present throughout the United Kingdom's major cities. As there is no specific
UK census category which comprehensively covers the community, population numbers remain somewhat ambiguous. According to the
2011 United Kingdom census
A Census in the United Kingdom, census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Inter ...
, 594,825 Britons identified as "
Black Caribbean" and 426,715 identified as "
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean". Categories for other Caribbean heritages also exist.
Due to the complexities within African Caribbean peoplehood, some of those with a parent or grandparent of African-Caribbean ancestry may identify with, or be perceived as,
white people in the United Kingdom
White people in the United Kingdom are a multi-ethnic group consisting of European UK residents who identify as and are perceived to be 'white people'. White people constitute the historical and current majority of the people living in the Unite ...
.
Terminology
The ''
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health'' published a glossary in which it suggests a definition of ''Afro-Caribbean'' or ''African Caribbean'' as: "A person of African ancestral origins whose family settled in the Caribbean before emigrating and who self identifies, or is identified, as Afro-Caribbean (in terms of racial classifications, this population approximates to the group known as Negroid or similar terms)." A survey of terms used to describe people of African descent in medical research notes: "The term African Caribbean/Afro-Caribbean when used in Europe and North America usually refers to people with African ancestral origins who migrated via the Caribbean islands." It suggests that use of the term in the UK is inconsistent, with some researchers using it to describe people of both Black and Caribbean descent, whereas others use it to refer to those of ''either'' West African or Caribbean background.
The
British Sociological Association's guidelines on ethnicity and race state: "African-Caribbean has replaced the term Afro-Caribbean to refer to Caribbean peoples and those of Caribbean origin who are of African descent. There is now a view that the term should not be hyphenated and that indeed, the differences between such groups mean the people of African and Caribbean origins should be referred to separately." ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' and ''
Observer
An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment.
Observer may also refer to:
Fiction
* ''Observer'' (novel), a 2023 science fiction novel by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress
* ''Observer'' (video game), a cyberpunk horr ...
'' style guide prescribes the use of "African-Caribbean" for use in the two newspapers, specifically noting "not Afro-Caribbean".
Sociologist
Peter J. Aspinall argues that the term ''Black'' has gained increased currency among people of African and Caribbean origin in the UK. He notes that in a 1992 health survey, 17 per cent of 722 African Caribbeans surveyed, including 36 percent of those aged 16 to 29, described themselves as "
Black British
Black British people or Black Britons"Black Briton, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford UP. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1136579918. are a multi-ethnic group of British people of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Sub-Saharan ...
". He suggests this "appears to be a pragmatic and spontaneous (rather than politically led) response to the wish to describe an allegiance to a 'British' identity and the diminishing importance of ties with a homeland in the Caribbean".
Census
The
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible fo ...
does not use a singular "ethnic group" category to comprehensively describe or encompass persons who are part of, or identified with, the African-Caribbean community in the United Kingdom. The "Black Caribbean" category had the highest recorded population figures associated with African Caribbean heritage in the
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
and
2021 United Kingdom census
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...
es. "Black Caribbean" is under a "
Black or Black British" heading in the census. "Mixed: White and Black Caribbean" also had a significant recorded population within the country, denoting unquantified partial African Caribbean and "White" ancestry. This ethnic group category was listed under a "
Mixed" heading in the census.
Other "Mixed" subcategories which identify some form of Caribbean descent are "Mixed: Caribbean Asian" and "Mixed: White Caribbean".
Outside of censuses, there are notable examples of people with African Caribbean ancestry (often via a grandparent or great-grandparent) who are perceived as, or identify as,
white people in the United Kingdom
White people in the United Kingdom are a multi-ethnic group consisting of European UK residents who identify as and are perceived to be 'white people'. White people constitute the historical and current majority of the people living in the Unite ...
.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of England and Wales, 623,115 people classified themselves as "Black Caribbean", amounting to 1 per cent of the total population.
In the
2011 Census of England and Wales, 594,825 individuals specified their ethnicity as "Caribbean" under the "Black/African/Caribbean/Black British" heading, and 426,715 as "White and Black Caribbean" under the "Mixed/multiple ethnic group" heading.
In Scotland, 3,430 people classified themselves as "Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British" and 730 as "Other Caribbean or Black" under the broader "Caribbean or Black" heading.
In Northern Ireland, 372 people specified their ethnicity as "Caribbean".
The published results for the "Mixed" category are not broken down into sub-categories for Scotland and Northern Ireland as they are for England and Wales.
In the
UK Census of 2001, 565,876 people classified themselves in the category "Black Caribbean", amounting to around 1 per cent of the total population.
Of the "minority ethnic" population, which amounted to 7.9 per cent of the total UK population, Black Caribbean people accounted for 12.2 per cent.
In addition, 14.6 per cent of the minority ethnic population (equivalent to 1.2 per cent of the total population) identified as mixed race, of whom around one third stated that they were of mixed Black Caribbean and White descent.
Birthplace

The Census also records respondents' countries of birth and the 2001 Census recorded 146,401 people born in Jamaica, 21,601 from Barbados, 21,283 from Trinidad and Tobago, 20,872 from Guyana, 9,783 from Grenada, 8,265 from Saint Lucia, 7,983 from Montserrat, 7,091 from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 6,739 from Dominica, 6,519 from Saint Kitts and Nevis, 3,891 from Antigua and Barbuda and 498 from Anguilla.
Detailed country-of-birth data from the
2011 Census is published separately for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In England and Wales, 160,095 residents reported their country of birth as Jamaica, 22,872 Trinidad and Tobago, 18,672 Barbados, 9,274 Grenada, 9,096 St Lucia, 7,390 St Vincent and the Grenadines, 7,270 Montserrat, 6,359 Dominica, 5,629 St Kitts and Nevis, 3,697 Antigua and Barbuda, 2,355 Cuba, 1,812 The Bahamas and 1,303 Dominican Republic. 8,301 people reported being born elsewhere in the Caribbean, bringing the total Caribbean-born population of England and Wales to 264,125. Of this number, 262,092 were resident in England and 2,033 in Wales.
In Scotland, 2,054 Caribbean-born residents were recorded,
and in Northern Ireland 314.
Guyana is categorised as part of South America in the Census results, which show that 21,417 residents of England and Wales, 350 of Scotland and 56 of Northern Ireland were born in Guyana. Belize is categorised as part of Central America. 1,252 people born in Belize were recorded living in England and Wales, 79 in Scotland and 22 in Northern Ireland.
[
Based on a variety of official sources and extrapolating from figures for England alone, Ceri Peach estimated that the number of people in Britain born in the West Indies grew from 15,000 in 1951, to 172,000 in 1961 and 304,000 in 1971, and then fell slightly to 295,000 in 1981. He estimates the population of West Indian ethnicity in 1981 to be between 500,000 and 550,000.][
]
Education
Black Caribbeans are more likely than White Britons to have formal qualifications. In 2001, around 29% of White Britons had no qualifications, compared to 27% for Black Caribbeans. In 2011, 24% of White British had no qualifications, higher than the national average of 23%, compared to 20% for Black Caribbeans.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, a disproportionate number of Caribbean migrant children were (often wrongly) classified as " educationally subnormal" and placed in special schools and units. By the end of the 1980s, the chances of white school leavers finding employment were four times better than those of black pupils. In 2000–01, black pupils were three times more likely than white pupils and ten times more likely than Indian pupils to be officially excluded from school for disciplinary reasons.
In 2004, 23.2 per cent of Black Caribbean pupils in England achieved five or more GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
s or equivalent at grades A* to C including English and mathematics, compared with 41.6 per cent of White British pupils and 40.9 per cent of all pupils regardless of ethnicity. In 2013, the equivalent figures were 53.3 per cent for Black Caribbean pupils, 60.5 per cent for White British pupils and 60.6 per cent overall. Black Caribbean pupils from low income backgrounds tend to academically perform better than White British pupils from low income families. Amongst pupils eligible for free school meals (used as a measure of low family incomes), Black Caribbean pupils outperformed White British pupils by 36.9 to 27.9 per cent for boys and 47.7 to 36.8 per cent for girls in 2013. A report published by the Department for Education in 2015 notes that "Black Caribbean and Mixed White & Black Caribbean students have...shown very strong improvement, from being half as likely sWhite British students to achieve the benchmarks of educational success in the early 2000s to near parity in 2013, although stubborn gaps do remain".
Black Caribbean pupils have a higher university entry rate than White British students.
Socio-economics
Socio-economic status is based on the type of work a person does, or what they used to do if they are retired. According to data based on the 2011 Census, 40.7% of Black Caribbeans placed in the top 3 socio-economic groups (higher/lower managerial, professional and intermediate). This ranked as the fifth highest combined percentage out of the 18 ethnicities featured.
In terms of occupational class, research by Professor Yaojun Li finds that ''second-generation'' Black Caribbean men (i.e. those born in the UK or arrived before the age of 13) are more or less on par with White British men, while Black Caribbean women had a higher occupational class than White British women from the 1970s to the 1990s. Second-generation Black Caribbean women have now surpassed White British women. Further research by Dr Richard Norrie of ''Civitas
In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...
'' noted a growing Black middle class, with around 35.7% of Black Caribbean men in "middle class" jobs in 2020 (compared to only 7% in the 1970s/1980s). The corresponding 2020 figure for White British men is 35.8%. The report claims that this convergence is "testimony to the accomplishments of black Caribbean men, as well as the openness of British economic life".
In 2007, a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is a charity that conducts and funds research aimed at solving poverty in the UK. JRF's stated aim is to "inspire action and change that will create a prosperous UK without poverty."
Originally called the J ...
found that Black Caribbeans had one of the lowest poverty rates among the different main ethnic minority groups in Britain. Of the largest non-white ethnic minority groups, Bangladeshis (65%), Pakistanis (55%) and Black Africans (45%) had the highest poverty rates. Black Caribbeans (30%) and Indians (25%) had the lowest rates. For families where at least one adult was in paid work, Black Caribbeans and Indians again had the lowest poverty rates of 10-15%, compared to around 60% for Bangladeshis, 40% for Pakistanis and 30% for Black Africans. In 2011, a further comparison found that Black Caribbeans (with British Chinese and Indians) had lower child and adult poverty rates than Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Black Africans.
White Britons tend to have the highest net wealth. Estimates of Black Caribbean wealth vary, according to source. A 2020 report by the Resolution Foundation found Black Caribbeans have a median net family wealth per adult of £120,000 (higher than Chinese, Black African, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Other White), placing them in third place out of the major ethnic groups in the UK. Civitas's study found that Black Caribbeans have an individual median wealth of £85,000 - again placing them in third place out of the major ethnic groups in the UK:
Between 1972-2020, of the largest ethnic minority groups in Britain, Black Caribbeans (and Indians) had the highest employment rates overall. For much of the 1970s, Black Caribbeans had the highest employment rates - even higher than the White ethnic group.
Between 2004-2008 and 2013-2014, Black Caribbeans earned more than their White British counterparts. In 2015, the Equality and Human Rights Commission
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in Great Britain, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of e ...
conducted research into ethnic minority pay gaps between 1993-2014. The report found that UK born Black Caribbean men had closed much of the pay gap to White British males, while UK born Black Caribbean women consistently out-earned White British women.
In 2019, Black Caribbeans had a higher hourly median wage than Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Black Africans, White other and the other Asian ethnic group. Black Caribbean women continued to earn more on average than White British women.
Population distribution
According to the 2021 United Kingdom census
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...
, the ten local authorities with the largest proportion of Black Caribbean people were largely concentrated in Greater London: Lewisham
Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...
(10.61%), Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
(9.24%), Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...
(9.13%), Hackney (6.91%), Waltham Forest
The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an outer London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford.
The borough's administrative headquarters are at Waltham Forest Town Hall, wh ...
(6.32%), Brent (6.26%), Haringey (6.18%), Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
(5.90%), Enfield (5.15%) and Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
(3.91%). In Wales, the highest proportion was in Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
at 0.37%.
In the 2011 Census, the greatest concentration of 'Black Caribbean' people is found in London, where 344,597 residents classified themselves as Black Caribbean, accounting for 4.2 per cent of the city's population.[ Other significant concentrations were (not in order) ]Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,[Assessment for Afro-Caribbean people in the United Kingdom](_blank)
Minorities at Risk (MAR) Project. University of Maryland. 2004. Accessed ''6 October 2006'' Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, Bradford
Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
, Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
, Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
, Wolverhampton,Luton
Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census.
Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...
, Watford
Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne.
Initially a smal ...
, Slough
Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...
, Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
, Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...
, Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...
, Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
, Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
and Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
. In these cities, the community is traditionally associated with a particular area, such as Brixton
Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...
, Harlesden
Harlesden is a district in the London Borough of Brent, north-west London.
Located north of the Grand Union Canal and Wormwood Scrubs, the Harrow Road flows through the centre of the area which goes eastwards to Central London and west towar ...
, Stonebridge, Hackney, Lewisham
Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...
, Tottenham
Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
, Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
and Peckham
Peckham ( ) is a district in south-east London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720.
History
"Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vi ...
in London, West Bowling
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
and Heaton in Bradford, Chapeltown in Leeds, St. Pauls in Bristol, Handsworth, Aston
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...
and Ladywood in Birmingham, Moss Side
Moss Side is an Inner city, inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. It had a population of 20,745 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Cho ...
in Manchester, St Ann's in Nottingham, Pitsmoor in Sheffield and Toxteth
Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the county of Merseyside.
Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Liverpool, Canning, Dingle, Liverpool, Dingle, and Edge Hill, Merseyside, Edge Hill ...
in Liverpool. According to the 2011 UK Census
A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...
Birmingham was home to the largest Black Caribbean population, followed by Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
, Lewisham
Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...
, Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...
, Brent and Hackney.
Religion
History
Early pioneers
Beginning from the 16th century until the early 19th century, Africans were purchased by European slave traders and shipped across the Atlantic to work as slaves in the various European colonies in the Americas. Approximately 13 million Africans came to the Americas this way, to various locations such as Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...
, New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
, Colonial Brazil
Colonial Brazil (), sometimes referred to as Portuguese America, comprises the period from 1500, with the Discovery of Brazil, arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves ...
and the Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America.
The Thirteen C ...
. Historians estimated approximately two million Africans were shipped to various British colonies
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...
in the Caribbean and South America. These slaves would be given new names, adopt European dress and Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
, and be forced to work on plantation
Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
s which produced cash crop
A cash crop, also called profit crop, is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate a marketed crop from a staple crop ("subsi ...
s to be shipped back to Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, completing the last leg of the triangular trade
Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset ...
. Conditions on these plantations were harsh, and many escaped into the countryside or showed other forms of resistance.
One impact of the American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
was the differing historical development of African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
and African-Caribbeans. Whereas the American colonists had legalised slavery via their colonial assemblies, slavery was never legal under British common law
Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...
and was thus prohibited in Britain.
The much lauded black Briton Ignatius Sancho was among the leading British abolitionists in the 18th century, and in 1783 an abolitionist movement spread throughout Britain to end slavery throughout the British Empire, with the poet William Cowper
William Cowper ( ; – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter.
One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the Engli ...
writing in 1785: "We have no slaves at home – Then why abroad? Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs receive our air, that moment they are free. They touch our country, and their shackles fall. That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud. And jealous of the blessing. Spread it then, And let it circulate through every vein." There are records of small communities in the ports of Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
, Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...
dating back to the mid-18th century. These communities were formed by freed slaves following the abolition of slavery in 1833. Typical occupations of the early migrants were footmen or coachmen.
19th century
Prominent African-Caribbean people in Britain during the 19th century include:
* William Davidson (1781–1820), Cato Street Conspirator
* Rev. George Cosens (1805–1881), a Jamaican who became minister of Cradley Heath Baptist Church in 1837
* Mary Seacole
Mary Jane Seacole (;Anionwu, E. N. (2012), "Mary Seacole: nursing care in many lands". ''British Journal of Healthcare Assistants'' 6(5), pp. 244–248. 23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British Nursing, nurse and Women in business ...
(1805–1881), a nurse in the Crimean War
The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
. Voted the greatest ever Black Briton.
* Walter Tull
Walter Daniel John Tull (28 April 1888 – 25 March 1918) was an English professional footballer and British Army officer of Afro-Caribbean descent. He played as an inside forward and half back for Clapton, Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton ...
(1888–1918), footballer and soldier,
* Andrew Watson (1856–1921), footballer.
* Robert Wedderburn (1762–1835/6?), Spencean revolutionary
* Nathaniel Wells (1779–1852), landowner and yeomanry officer.
Early 20th century
The growing Caribbean presence in the British military
The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping e ...
led to approximately 15,000 Afro-Caribbean immigrants arriving in the north-west of England around the time of World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
to work in munitions factories.
During the First World War, Sergeant William Robinson Clarke travelled from his native Jamaica and became Britain's first black pilot.
The Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
n poet and communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
activist
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...
, Claude McKay
Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay OJ (September 15, 1890See Wayne F. Cooper, ''Claude McKay, Rebel Sojourner In The Harlem Renaissance'' (New York, Schocken, 1987) p. 377 n. 19. As Cooper's authoritative biography explains, McKay's family predate ...
came to England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
following the First World War and became the first Black British
Black British people or Black Britons"Black Briton, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford UP. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1136579918. are a multi-ethnic group of British people of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Sub-Saharan ...
journalist, writing for the '' Workers' Dreadnought''.
Bahamian Dr Allan Glaisyer Minns became the first black mayor in Britain when he was elected Mayor of Thetford
Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...
, Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
, in 1904.
World War II
In February 1941, 345 West Indian workers were brought to work in and around Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
. They were generally better skilled than the local Black British
Black British people or Black Britons"Black Briton, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford UP. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1136579918. are a multi-ethnic group of British people of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Sub-Saharan ...
population. There was some tension between them and West African
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ma ...
s who had settled in the area.
The "Windrush generation"
After World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, many Caribbean people migrated to North America and Europe, especially to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands. As a result of the losses during the war, the British government began to encourage mass immigration from mainland Europe to fill shortages in the labour market. Citizens from the former countries of the British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
and Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
also began to seek work in the UK, though the government's preference was for European workers to fill shortages. Kenneth Lunn writes that, "By promoting employment schemes for white European workers to fill existing labour shortages and by choosing to discourage, albeit in an informal manner, black workers from the Commonwealth, a clear set of preferences were displayed". The Ministry of Labour was particularly opposed to recruiting labour from the Caribbean, arguing that "previously advertised shortages no longer existed. In labor sectors where shortages could not be denied, the ministry concentrated on demonstrating that colonial citizens would make unsuitable workers". Nonetheless, the British Nationality Act 1948
The British Nationality Act 1948 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 56) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on British nationality law which defined British nationality by creating the status of "Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies" (C ...
gave Citizenship of the UK and Colonies to all people living in the United Kingdom and its colonies, and the right of entry and settlement in the UK.[National Archives](_blank)
Citizenship 1906–2003. Retrieved 6 November 2006. Many West Indians were attracted by better prospects in what was often referred to as the mother country.
The first ships to carry large groups of West Indian people from Jamaica to the United Kingdom were the SS ''Ormonde'', which docked at Liverpool on 31 March 1947 with 241 passengers, and the SS ''Almanzora'', which arrived at Southampton on 21 December that same year, with 200 passengers. However, it was the voyage of in June the following year that was to become well-known.
''Empire Windrush'' arrived with a group of 802 migrants at the port of Tilbury
The Port of Tilbury is a port located on the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex, England. It serves as the principal port for London, as well as being the main United Kingdom port for handling the importation of paper. There are extensive facili ...
, near London, on 22 June 1948. ''Empire Windrush'' was a troopship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typic ...
en route from Australia to England via the Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
, docking in Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...
, in order to pick up servicemen who were on leave. An advertisement had appeared in a Jamaican newspaper offering cheap transport on the ship for anybody who wanted to travel to the United Kingdom. Many former servicemen took this opportunity to return to Britain with the hopes of rejoining the RAF, while others decided to make the journey just to see what England was like. Unlike the previous two ships, the arrival of the ''Windrush'' received a great deal of media attention and was reported by newspaper reporters and newsreel
A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...
cameras.
The arrivals were temporarily housed in the Clapham South deep shelter in southwest London, about away from Coldharbour Lane in Brixton
Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...
. Many intended to stay in Britain for less than a few years, and some did return to the Caribbean, but the majority remained to settle permanently in Britain. The arrival of the passengers became an important landmark in the history of modern Britain, and the image of West Indians filing off the ship's gangplank has come to symbolise the beginning of modern British multicultural
Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''ethnic'' or cultural pluralism in which various e ...
society.
The arrival of West Indian immigrants on the ''Empire Windrush'' was not expected or approved of by the British government. George Isaacs, the Minister of Labour and National Service stated in Parliament that there would be no encouragement for others to follow their example. In June 1948, 11 Labour Members wrote to British Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...
complaining about excessive immigration. In the same month, Arthur Creech Jones, the Secretary of State for the Colonies
The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire.
The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...
noted in a Cabinet memorandum that the Jamaican government could not legally prevent people from departing, and the British government could not legally prevent them from landing. However, he also stated that the government was opposed to this immigration, the Colonial Office
The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...
and the Jamaican government would take all possible steps to discourage it.
In June 1950, a Cabinet committee was established to find "ways which might be adopted to check the immigration into this country of coloured people from British colonial territories." In February 1951, the committee reported that no restrictions were required.
There was plenty of work in post-war Britain, and industries such as British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...
, the National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
and public transport recruited almost exclusively from Jamaica and Barbados. Though African-Caribbean people were encouraged to journey to Britain through immigration campaigns created by successive British governments, many new arrivals endured prejudice, intolerance and racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
from sectors of white society. This experience marked African-Caribbean people's relations with the wider community over a long period. Early African-Caribbean immigrants found private employment and housing denied to them on the basis of race. Trade unions would often not help African-Caribbean workers and some pubs, clubs, dance halls and churches would bar black people from entering. Housing was in short supply following the wartime bombing, and the shortage led to some of the first clashes with the established white community. Clashes continued and worsened into the 1950s, and riots erupted in cities including London, Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
and Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
. In 1958, attacks in the London area of Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...
by white youths marred relations with West Indian residents, and the following year as a positive response by the Caribbean community an indoor carnival event organised by '' West Indian Gazette'' editor Claudia Jones
Claudia Vera Jones (; 21 February 1915 – 24 December 1964) was a Trinidad and Tobago-born journalist and activist. As a child, she migrated with her family to the United States, where she became a Communist political activist, feminist and bla ...
took place in St Pancras Town Hall, and would be a precursor to what became the annual Notting Hill Carnival
The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean Carnival event that has taken place in London since 1966 . Some of the racism and intolerance was stoked by explicitly fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
or anti-immigration
Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...
movements including Oswald Mosley's Union Movement, the League of Empire Loyalists, the White Defence League, the National Labour Party and others. Influenced by this kind of propaganda, gangs of Teddy Boy
The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly United Kingdom, British youth subculture originating in the early 1950s to mid-1960s and then revived in the 1970s who were interested in rock and roll and Rhythm and blues, R&B music, wearing clothes part ...
s would sometimes attack black people in London. Historian Winston James argues that the experience of suffering racism was a major factor in the development of a shared Caribbean identity among immigrants from a range of different island and class backgrounds. The shared experience of employment by organisations such as London Transport and the National Health Service also played a role in the building of a British African-Caribbean identity.
Social Geographer Ceri Peach estimates that the number of people in Britain born in the West Indies grew from 15,000 in 1951 to 172,000 in 1961. In 1962, the UK enacted the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, restricting the entry of immigrants, and by 1972 only holders of work permits, or people with parents or grandparents born in the United Kingdom, could gain entry – effectively stemming most Caribbean immigration. Despite the restrictive measures, an entire generation of Britons with African-Caribbean heritage now existed, contributing to British society in virtually every field, a generation celebrated in the "Windrush 75 1948–2023 Souvenir Edition" of '' The Voice'' published in June 2023.
Recession and turbulence, 1970s and 1980s
The 1970s and 1980s were decades of comparative turbulence in wider British society; industrial disputes preceded a period of deep recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...
and widespread unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...
which seriously affected the economically less prosperous African-Caribbean community. During the decades of the 1970s and 1980s, unemployment among the children of Caribbean migrants ran at three to four times that of white school leavers. By 1982 the number of all people out of work in Britain had risen above three million for the first time since the 1930s. Societal racism, discrimination, poverty
Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...
, powerlessness and oppressive policing sparked a series of riots in areas with substantial African-Caribbean populations.[Q&A: The Scarman Report 27](_blank)
BBC Online. April 2004. Retrieved 6 October 2006. These "uprisings" (as they were described by some in the community) took place in St Pauls in 1980, Brixton
Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...
, Toxteth
Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the county of Merseyside.
Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Liverpool, Canning, Dingle, Liverpool, Dingle, and Edge Hill, Merseyside, Edge Hill ...
and Moss Side
Moss Side is an Inner city, inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. It had a population of 20,745 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Cho ...
in 1981, St Pauls again in 1982, Notting Hill Gate in 1982, Toxteth in 1982, and Handsworth, Brixton
Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...
and Tottenham
Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
in 1985.
The riots had a profoundly unsettling effect on local residents, and led the then Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
William Whitelaw
William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as '' de fac ...
to commission the Scarman report
The Scarman report was commissioned by the UK Government following the 1981 Brixton riots. Lord Scarman was appointed by then Home Secretary William Whitelaw on 14 April 1981 (two days after the rioting ended) to hold the enquiry into the riot ...
to address the root causes of the disturbances. The report identified both "racial discrimination" and a "racial disadvantage" in Britain, concluding that urgent action was needed to prevent these issues becoming an "endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society". The era saw an increase in attacks on black people by white people. The ''Joint Campaign Against Racism'' committee reported that there had been more than 20,000 attacks on non-white Britons including Britons of Asian origin during 1985.
1990s and 21st century
The police response to the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence led to outcry and calls to investigate police conduct. The ensuing government inquiry, the Macpherson Report, concluded that there was institutional racism
Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organizati ...
in London's Metropolitan Police Service.
In 2009, 1.2% of British children under 16 were Black Caribbean and 1.1% were mixed white and black Caribbean. Among those children who were living with at least one Caribbean parent, only one in five was living with two Caribbean parents.
In 2015 Catherine Ross, who came to the UK from Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...
as a child, founded the SKN (Skills, Knowledge and Networks) Heritage Museum, which became Museumand: The National Caribbean Heritage Museum, a "museum without walls" based in Nottingham.
Windrush scandal
From November 2017 British newspapers reported that the Home Office
The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
had threatened Commonwealth immigrants who arrived before 1973 with deportation if they could not prove their right to remain in the UK. In April 2018, Prime Minister Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
apologised to leaders of Caribbean countries about the way immigrants had been treated, promising compensation to those affected. In what has become known as the "Windrush scandal
The Windrush scandal was a British political scandal that began in 2018 concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many o ...
", Home Secretary Amber Rudd
Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Pa ...
initially denied the existence of, and later denied being aware of aggressive departmental deportation targets, but eventually resigned on 29 April 2018 after news outlets published documents indicating that she knew of the targets. Prior to Rudd's resignation, Sajid Javid
Sir Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the ...
, her successor as Home Secretary, had expressed sympathy for the victims of the scandal, telling the ''Sunday Telegraph'' that "I thought, 'That could be my mum ... my dad ... my uncle ... it could be me.'" Landing cards relating to earlier passenger arrivals in the United Kingdom had been destroyed in October 2010. A public inquiry ordered by the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
, titled the ''Windrush Lessons Learned Review'', was published in March 2020.
Genetics
Genome-wide studies
Genome-wide research of Afro-Caribbean people
Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Africans (primarily from West and Central Africa) ta ...
have shown that the grouping, on average, have 77.4% African, 15.9% European, and 6.7% Asian DNA. This 2010 study represented African Caribbeans living within the Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
. Within the United Kingdom, men and women of African Caribbean origin or ancestry were also found to have around 13 percent of their DNA from sources other than Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. In the research, only volunteers who had all four grandparents of Afro-Caribbean origin were sampled. Researchers have been able to attribute this partly to historic European males' sexual exploitation of enslaved African women.
Notable contributions
Academia
There are a number of African-Caribbean academics who are especially prominent in the arts and humanities. Professor Paul Gilroy, of Afro-Guyanese and English heritage, is one of Britain's leading academics, having taught sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
at Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
as well as Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...
and the London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
. The Jamaican-born cultural theorist Professor Stuart Hall has also been a highly influential British intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
since the 1960s. Dr. Robert Beckford has presented several national television and radio documentaries exploring African-Caribbean history, culture and religion.
Other prominent academics include Guyanese born Professor Gus John, who has been active in education, schooling and political radicalism in Britain's inner cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and London since the 1960s. He was involved in the organising the "Black people's day of action", a response to the 1981 New Cross Fire. In 1989 he was appointed Director of Education in Hackney and was the first black person to hold such a position. He has also worked as an education consultant in Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. John was the co-ordinator of the Black Parents Movement in Manchester, founded the Education for Liberation book service and helped to organise the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books in Manchester, London and Bradford. He has worked in a number of University settings, including a visiting Faculty Professor of Education at the University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...
in Glasgow and is currently an associate professor of the Institute of Education at the University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
. Dr "William" Lez Henry works with young people, particularly black boys. He is the founder of Black Liberation Afrikan Knowledge (BLK Friday) a platform for people to give presentations to the community. In 2005, he received an Excellence in Education Award at the Challenging The Genius: Excellent Education for Children: "Our Future is Not a dream", Conference in Chicago, USA. He is one of the founding members of the National Independent Education Coalition (NIEC). Henry previously hosted a fortnightly talk show on popular London pirate radio station Galaxy 102.5FM (formerly 99.5 FM) and who is also a former lecturer of Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...
. Prof. Harry Goldbourne is a former member of the radical group the Black Unity and Freedom Party who went on to teach at the University of the South Bank.
Acting and entertainment
The 1970s saw the emergence of independent filmmakers such as Trinidadian-born Horace Ové, the director of ''Pressure
Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and eve ...
'', among others. London's Talawa Theatre Company was founded in the 1985 by Jamaican-born Yvonne Brewster
Yvonne Jones Brewster (; born 7 October 1938) is a Jamaican actress, theatre director and writer. She co-founded the theatre companies Talawa in the UK and the Barn in Jamaica. From 2000 to 2001, she portrayed Ruth Harding in the BBC televis ...
, their first production being based on C. L. R. James's historical account of the Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution ( or ; ) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known Slave rebellion, slave up ...
, '' The Black Jacobins''. Since the 1980s, the Blue Mountain Theatre's productions have offered a more earthy style of populist comedy, often bringing over Jamaican artists such as Oliver Samuels.
While Guyanese actor Robert Adams became the first African-Caribbean dramatic actor to appear on British television on 11 May 1938 (in a production of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of Realism (theatre), realism, earlier associated with ...
's play '' The Emperor Jones''), African-Caribbean entertainers were first widely popularised on British television broadcasts with the postwar resumption of BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
television in 1946 (pre-war Black entertainers on the BBC – the first in the world – had primarily been African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
stars). The profile of African-Caribbean actors on television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
, such as Lennie James, Judith Jacob
Judith Jacob (born 13 December 1961) is a British actress best known for her role as the health visitor Carmel Roberts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', a role she played from 1986 to 1989.[Diane Parish
Diane Carol Richards (born 6 November 1969), known professionally as Diane Parish, is an English actress, who has been portraying the character Denise Fox on the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' since 2006.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of D ...]
, has widened substantially since 1970s programmes such as: ''Love Thy Neighbour Love Thy Neighbor or Love Thy Neighbour may also refer to:
Film
* Love Thy Neighbor (1940 film), ''Love Thy Neighbor'' (1940 film), an American film
* Love Thy Neighbour (1967 film), ''Love Thy Neighbour'' (1967 film), a Danish-German comedy fil ...
'' ( Rudolph Walker) and '' Rising Damp'' ( Don Warrington) when their role was often to act simply as either the butt of, or foil to, racist jokes made by White characters. The most influential programme in moving away from this formula was the 1989–94 Channel Four barbershop sitcom '' Desmond's'', starring Norman Beaton and Carmen Munroe. In 1982, Peter Davison
Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan Farnon in the BBC's television adaptation of Jame ...
, who is of Afro-Guyanese and English descent, was the then-youngest-ever actor to play the Doctor in ''Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
''.[*
* ]
One of the biggest African-Caribbean names in comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
is Lenny Henry
Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British Jamaicans, British-Jamaican comedian, actor and writer. He gained success as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ' ...
, who began his career as a stand-up comedian but whose television sketch shows, where he often caricatured Caribbean émigré
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate".
French Huguenots
Many French Hugueno ...
s, made him popular enough to headline numerous primetime comedy shows from, for instance, ''Lenny Henry'' in 1984 to ''The Lenny Henry Show'' in 2004. Becoming a prominent television personality between 2002 and 2009 after appearing on series '' Big Brother'', Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (5 June 1981 – 22 March 2009) was an English media personality. She was a contestant on the Big Brother (British TV series) series 3, third series of the Channel 4 reality show ''Big Brother (British TV series) ...
was of Afro-Jamaican and English descent.[*
* ] Another ''Big Brother'' contestant'','' Alison Hammond, has appeared on many television programmes and in 2020, ITV announced a shake-up of '' This Morning'' presenters, with Hammond replacing Eamonn Holmes
Eamonn Holmes (; born 3 December 1959) is a Northern Irish broadcaster and journalist. He co-presented the breakfast television show ''GMTV'' (1993–2005) for ITV, before presenting ''Sunrise'' (2005–2016) for Sky News. Holmes co-presente ...
and Ruth Langsford
Ruth Wendy Langsford (born 17 March 1960) formerly known as Ruth Holmes is an English television presenter. She has presented various television shows, including ''This Morning (TV programme), This Morning'' (1999–2022), of which she is the ...
on a Friday, presenting alongside Dermot O'Leary
Seán Dermot O'Leary (born 24 May 1973) is a British-Irish broadcaster. He presented the television talent show ''The X Factor'' on ITV from 2007 until its final series in 2018, with the exception of 2015. Since 2021, O'Leary has presented ITV' ...
. Hammond is of Afro-Jamaican descent.
Another big African-Caribbean name is Ainsley Harriott, who has appeared in several shows including ''Ready Steady Cook
''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley ...
, Can't Cook, Won't Cook, City Hospital, Red Dwarf
A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...
'' and ''Strictly Come Dancing
''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...
.'' In September 2008, Harriott explored his Caribbean heritage, taking part in the genealogy documentary series, Who Do You Think You Are?.
Other television personalities and presenters include Angellica Bell
Angellica Bell (born 24 March 1976) is a British television presenter, television and radio presenter, best known for her presenting on CBBC between 2000 and 2006. She is also known for providing occasional cover on ''The One Show'' and for c ...
, Andi Oliver, Alesha Dixon, Josie d'Arby, Diane-Louise Jordan
Diane Johnson (born 28 June 1960), better known by her stage name Diane-Louise Jordan, is a British television presenter. She was the first black presenter of the children's television programme '' Blue Peter'', being involved in the programme fr ...
, Floella Benjamin
Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin (born 23 September 1949), is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as ''Play School (British TV series), ...
, Margherita Taylor, Trisha Goddard
Patricia Gloria Goddard (born 23 December 1957) is a British television presenter. From 1998 to 2010, she presented the talk show '' Trisha'', which was broadcast in a mid-morning slot on ITV, before later being moved to Channel 5. She also h ...
, Shaun Wallace, Mr Motivator, Alex Scott, Marvin and Rochelle Humes.
The highest professional achievement by a British African-Caribbean actor was Marianne Jean-Baptiste's 1996 nominations for an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
(Oscar), Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...
and British Academy Award (bafta) for her feature-film debut role in '' Secrets & Lies''. Naomie Harris replicated this in 2017, with nominations for a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar for her performance in ''Moonlight
Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes.
History
The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras was aware that "''the sun provides the moon with its ...
''. Numerous British African-Caribbean actors have become successful in US film and television. In 2009 portraying Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort ( , in the films) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the ''Harry Potter'' series of novels by J. K. Rowling. He first appears in ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997) and returns either in pers ...
– one of the most famous characters in cinematic history – Frank Dillane has Afro-Jamaican and English heritage. Oxfordshire-born Wentworth Miller of ''Prison Break
''Prison Break'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series revolves around two brothers: Lincoln Burrows (Dominic P ...
'' fame is also of partial Jamaican descent. Miller earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for his ''Prison Break'' role and won a Saturn Award for his guest appearance in the critically acclaimed ''The Flash
The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...
.'' Actor Stephen Graham, who has featured in three Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...
directed productions, has Afro-Jamaican, Swedish and English ancestry.[*
* ] Delroy Lindo earned a Satellite Award
The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...
for his role in American docudrama
Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...
'' Glory & Honor and'' won numerous accolades for his role as Paul, in Spike Lee's highly praised '' Da 5 Bloods.'' Lindo is of Jamaican heritage''.'' Colin Salmon, who is also of Jamaican descent, is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films
James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David ...
and James "One" Shade in the ''Resident Evil'' film series. Marsha Thomason
Marsha Lisa Thomason Sykes (born 19 January 1976) is an English actress who is best known for playing Sara Evers in Disney's ''The Haunted Mansion'', Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series ''Las Vegas'', Naomi Dorrit on the ABC ...
, who is of mixed Jamaican and English heritage, has appeared in Disney's ''The Haunted Mansion
The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride, dark-ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called “Doom Buggies”, and a walk-through s ...
,'' opposite Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...
, and US television series ''Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
,'' ''Lost'' and '' White Collar''. Ashley Walters, of Jamaican ancestry, played the role as Antoine in '' Get Rich or Die Tryin''' David Harewood, who is Barbadian descent, played David Estes, Director of the CIA's Counter-terrorism Centre in the highly successful television series ''Homeland
A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic natio ...
.'' He also played a lead role in the popular American superhero TV series ''Supergirl
Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...
.'' Harewood was honoured with the '' Variety'' Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of his work and success in both the U.K. and U.S. Lashana Lynch featured opposite Brie Larson in 2019's '' Captain Marvel'' and played the role of Nomi, the secret agent who replaces Craig's retired Bond ''in No Time to Die
''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy thriller film and the twenty-fifth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series, and the fifth and final to star Daniel Craig as fictional British MI6 agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bon ...
.'' Lynch won a BAFTA for her role in ''No Time to Die,'' thanking her Jamaican parents while accepting the award. Adrian Lester
Adrian Anthony Lester (born Anthony Harvey on 14 August 1968) is a British actor. He is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award, an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for his work on the London stage, an ...
, who is of Jamaican descent, featured in the political blockbuster ''Primary Colors
Primary colors are colorants or colored lights that can be mixed in varying amounts to produce a gamut of colors. This is the essential method used to create the perception of a broad range of colors in, e.g., electronic displays, color printin ...
,'' directed by Mike Nicholls and co-starring John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...
, Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress. Kathy Bates filmography, Her work spans over five decades, and List of awards and nominations received by Kathy Bates, her accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, t ...
, Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker, singer and songwriter. He received international attention after writing, directing and starring in the independent film, independent Drama (film and television), drama f ...
and Emma Thompson
Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. Emma Thompson on screen and stage, Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Emma Thompson, her accola ...
. This part earned Lester a Chicago Film Critics Association
The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) is an association of professional film criticism, film critics, who work in print, broadcast and online media, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The organization was founded in 1990 by film cri ...
award nomination for "Most Promising Actor".
Art and design
One of the most influential African-Caribbean people in the British art world has been Prof. Eddie Chambers. Chambers, along with Donald Rodney, Marlene Smith and curator, artist, critic and academic Keith Piper, founded the BLK Art Group in 1982, when they were initially based in the West Midlands. According to Chambers, significant artists such as the Guyanese-born painters Aubrey Williams
Aubrey Williams (8 May 1926 – 27 April 1990) was a Guyanese artist. He was best known for his large, oil-on-canvas paintings, which combine elements of abstract expressionism with forms, images and symbols inspired by the pre-Columbian art o ...
and Frank Bowling and the Jamaican sculptor Ronald Moody initially found that, despite achieving worldwide renown, it was difficult to find acceptance in the highest echelons of the art establishment. Chambers worked with Donald Rodney and Sonia Boyce, both of whose work is represented in the permanent collections of the London's Tate Britain museum. In 1986 the Hayward Gallery
The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal ...
presented the exhibition '' The Other Story'', which provided a survey of African-Caribbean, African and Asian artists working in the UK.
Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now, Tate Britain
From December 1, 2021 to April3, 2022 the Tate Britain museum presented the exposition, ''Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now'' co-curated by David A. Bailey, Director of the International Curators Forum, and Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain''.'' This exhibition was also presented at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada from December 6, 2023 to April 1, 2024. The exhibition featured over 40 artists and scholars with ties to Caribbean-British history including Aubrey Williams
Aubrey Williams (8 May 1926 – 27 April 1990) was a Guyanese artist. He was best known for his large, oil-on-canvas paintings, which combine elements of abstract expressionism with forms, images and symbols inspired by the pre-Columbian art o ...
, David Scott
David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the List of Apollo astronauts#People who have walked on the Moon, seventh person to walk on the Moon. Selected as part of the NASA Astronaut ...
, Frank Bowling, Donald Locke, Horace Ové, Sonia Boyce, Chris Ofili, Claudette Johnson, Peter Doig, Hurvin Anderson
Hurvin Anderson (born 1965) is a British painter.
Early life and education
Anderson was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, United Kingdom in 1965. His parents, Elsade and Stedford Anderson, migrated to the UK from Jamaica as a part of the Win ...
, Michael McMillan, Grace Wales Bonner, Barbara Walker, Alberta Whittle and others. the relationship between the Caribbean and Britain and reconsiders British art history in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries from a Caribbean perspective. ''Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s – Now'' explored Caribbean-British history and cultural contributions from a Caribbean viewpoint. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue.
African-Caribbean artists
Other African-Caribbean artists of note include Faisal Abdu'allah of Jamaican heritage, Guyanese-born Ingrid Pollard, British-based Jamaican painter Eugene Palmer, the sculptor George "Fowokan" Kelly, and Tam Joseph, whose 1983 work ''Spirit of Carnival'' was a vivid depiction of the Notting Hill Carnival
The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean Carnival event that has taken place in London since 1966 . The movement was also part of the impetus that led to the founding of the Association of Black Photographers by Mark Sealy and others. In 1999 the filmmaker Steve McQueen
Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late ...
(not to be confused with the Hollywood filmstar) won Britain's most prestigious art prize, the Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...
, for his video ''Deadpan''. The artist and producer Pogus Caesar was commissioned by Artangel to direct a film based on McQueen's work. ''Forward Ever – Backward Never'' was premiered at the Lumiere in London in 2002. Caesar has also established the OOM Gallery Archives, based in Birmingham, which has in excess of 14,000 images including photographs of contemporary Black British
Black British people or Black Britons"Black Briton, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford UP. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1136579918. are a multi-ethnic group of British people of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Sub-Saharan ...
culture.
Music
Edmundo Ros OBE, FRAM was a Trinidadian musician, vocalist, arranger and bandleader who made his career in Britain since 1940. He directed a highly popular Latin American orchestra, had an extensive recording career and owned one of London's leading nightclubs.
In 1983, Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Hitching; 28 October 1927) is an English singer and actress known for her scat singing. She is the widow of jazz composer and musician Sir John Dankworth and the mother of bassist Alec D ...
won the Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for Best Female Jazz Vocal Performance for '' Cleo at Carnegie: The 10th Anniversary Concert''. Laine has Jamaican heritage. ''Caribbean Quee''n scored Billy Ocean two Grammy Award nominations and won him the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 1985 Grammy Awards. Ocean was born in Trinidad but has lived in Sunningdale
Sunningdale is a village and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England and is adjoined by green buffers including Sunningdale Golf Club and Wentworth Golf ...
, Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
since 1978. In 1987, Steel Pulse won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, ''Babylon the Bandit, Babylon The Bandit.'' Original band members (David Hinds, Basil Gabbidon and Ronald McQueen) are all of Jamaican descent. Formed in 1988, Soul II Soul gained significant popularity in the United States, U.S. and achieved two Grammy Awards. Founding member Jazzie B is of Antiguan descent, while lead singer, Caron Wheeler, has Jamaican ancestry. With worldwide record sales of more than 70 million, Grammy Award-nominated UB40 has various members of Caribbean heritage. With multiple UK number-one achievements between 1999 and 2001, S Club 7 had two members of African-Caribbean heritage. Bradley McIntosh was born to Afro-Jamaican, African-Jamaican parents, who had been members of funk group The Cool Notes, and Tina Barrett, who has Afro-Guyanese, African-Guyanese and English ancestry. Mel B, Melanie Brown was an integral part of the 90s girl group Spice Girls, The Spice Girls, reportedly the List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling female group of all time. Brown was born to a father from Saint Kitts and Nevis. Leigh-Anne Pinnock is a member of Little Mix, one of the List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling girl groups of all time. Pinnock has Barbadians, Barbadian and Jamaicans, Jamaican ancestry.
4hero, are a rotating musical collective founded in 1989 in Dollis Hill, London, UK. The group currently consists of members Marc Mac (aka Mark Anthony Clair) and Dego (Dennis McFarlane). 4hero are known for pioneering electronic music sounds of the rave scene including breakbeat hardcore, darkcore, Jungle music, jungle, drum and bass, broken beat and nu jazz music.
Estelle (musician), Estelle, who has a Grenadian father, picked up a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2009. Corinne Bailey Rae, achieved Grammy Awards in 2008 and 2012. Her father is from Saint Kitts and Nevis. Part-Jamaican, Ella Mai, won Grammy Award for Best R&B Song, the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 2019. A Mercury Prize and 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, Grammy Awards-nominated artist, rapper Slowthai has Afro-Barbadian, English and Irish people, Irish ancestry. Nilüfer Yanya has the same background, and also Turkish people, Turkish heritage. Other Grammy nominated British-Caribbean artists include Joan Armatrading, Aswad, Craig David, Eddy Grant, Lianne La Havas, Leona Lewis, Mahalia (singer), Mahalia, Julian Marley, Musical Youth, Nao (singer), Nao, Maxi Priest and Jorja Smith.
Politics
African-Caribbeans have made significant contributions to British politics and trade unionism. Labour MP Diane Abbott became the first black female to be elected to the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
in 1987 United Kingdom general election, 1987. Elected alongside her was one other African-Caribbean Labour MP, Bernie Grant, who had Afro-Guyanese, Guyanese heritage. Linda C. Douglas was the first black member of the party's National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, National Executive Committee, representing the later expelled Militant tendency. Jamaican-born Bill Morris, Baron Morris of Handsworth, Bill Morris was General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1992 to 2003, and became the first black leader of a major British trade union. Jamaican-born Lurline Champagnie became the first black woman to stand as a parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party in 1992. Guyana-born Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, Valerie Amos became the first black woman to serve as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in 2003 Dawn Butler, who has Jamaican ancestry, became the first black female to speak from the despatch box in the House of Commons in 2009. Dominican-born Patricia Scotland was elected the first female Commonwealth Secretary-General in 2015. Marvin Rees, who has partial Jamaican heritage, is the UK's first directly elected black mayor. In 2022, Paulette Hamilton won the Erdington by-election to become Birmingham, Birmingham's first Black MP. Hamilton has Jamaican ancestry.
Other notable contributors include David Lammy, Jennette Arnold, Jocelyn Barrow, Doreen Lawrence, Alison Lowe, Brenda Dacres, Shakira Martin (NUS president), Shakira Martin, Lydia Simmons, Henry Gunter, Sam Beaver King, Harold Moody and Stuart Hall.
Sport
British African-Caribbean people are well represented in traditional British sports such as football (soccer), football and rugby football, rugby, and have also represented the nation at the highest level in sports where Caribbean people typically excel in the home countries such as cricket and sport of athletics, athletics. Some British African-Caribbean people have gone on to become international sports stars and top global earners in their chosen sporting field.
Athletics
Britain's first Olympic Games, Olympic sprint medals came from Harry Edward, born in Guyana, who won two individual bronze medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics, 1920 games in Antwerp.["Fast and loose"](_blank)
''The Guardian''. Retrieved 14 November 2006. Many years later, sprinter Linford Christie, born in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica, won 23 major championship medals, more than any other British male athlete to date. Christie's career highlight was winning a gold medal in the immensely competitive 100 metres event in the 1992 Summer Olympics, 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Welsh people, Welsh hurdler Colin Jackson, who went to considerable lengths to explore his Jamaican heritage in a BBC documentary, held the 110 metres hurdles world record for 11 years between 1993 and 2004.
Ethel Scott (1907–84), who had a Jamaican father and an English mother, was the first black woman to represent Great Britain in an international athletics competition. She was a sprinter active in international competitions for a brief period in the 1930s. Jamaican-born Tessa Sanderson became the first British African-Caribbean woman to win Olympic gold, receiving the medal for her javelin throw, javelin performance in the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Denise Lewis, of Jamaican heritage, won heptathlon gold in the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000 Sydney Olympics,["Yardies who built Britain"](_blank)
Guardian Online. 6 August 2002. Retrieved 6 October 2006. a games where 13 of Britain's 18 track and field representatives had Afro-Caribbean roots. Four years later in the 2004 Summer Olympics, Athens Olympics, Kelly Holmes, the daughter of a Jamaican-born car mechanic, achieved the rare feat of taking gold in both the 800 metres, 800 and 1500 metres races. In the same games, Britain's Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay, men's 4 × 100-metre relay team of Marlon Devonish, Darren Campbell, Mark Lewis-Francis and Jason Gardener, all of African-Caribbean heritage, beat the favoured United States quartet to claim Olympic gold. Jessica Ennis-Hill, the daughter of a Jamaican self-employed painter and decorator, won heptathlon gold in the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 London Olympics.
Boxing
British boxing, boxers of a Caribbean background have played a prominent role in the national boxing scene since the early 1980s. In 1995 Frank Bruno, whose mother was a Pentecostalism, Pentecostal lay preacher from Jamaica, became Britain's first List of heavyweight boxing champions, world heavyweight boxing champion in the 20th century. Bruno's reign was shortly followed by British-born Jamaican Lennox Lewis, who defeated Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson to become the world's premier heavyweight during the late 1990s. Middleweights Chris Eubank, who spent his early years in Jamaica, and Nigel Benn, of Barbadian descent, both claimed world titles and fought a series of brutal battles in the early 1990s. In the 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney Olympics of 2000, Audley Harrison (who has Jamaican heritage) became Britain's first Boxing at the 2000 Summer Olympics, heavyweight gold medalist. Other boxing champions from the British African-Caribbean community include the welterweight Lloyd Honeyghan, nicknamed "Ragga, Ragamuffin Man" by boxing superstar Donald Curry in 1986, in reference to his (in comparison to Curry's extravagance) normal appearance; Honeyghan subsequently spectacularly defeated Curry. James DeGale, who is of Afro-Grenadians, Afro-Grenadian and English descent, represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics as an Amateur boxing, amateur, winning a gold medal in the middleweight division. He became the first British boxer in history to win both an Olympic gold medal and a professional world title after landing the IBF super-middleweight crown in April 2015. David Haye, who has English and Jamaican heritage, was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Amateur Boxing Championships. Haye is one of only three boxers in history to have unified the cruiserweight world titles and become a world heavyweight champion. Jamaican-born Dillian Whyte, has held the World Boxing Council, WBC Interim championship, interim heavyweight title since March 2021.
Cricket
Cricket has long been a popular pastime among African-Caribbean people in both the West Indies and the United Kingdom, though this has waned somewhat since its peak during the 1960s–1980s.[Not-cricket cricket](_blank)
''Catalyst'' magazine. "Test match ticket prices have risen beyond most working class pockets and, some years ago, the ground authorities banned the drums, whistles and klaxons that once created an atmosphere of Caribbean carnival at the Kennington Oval, particularly. The ban has since been slightly relaxed, but probably too late. First, and even some second, generation Caribbean immigrants went to cheer the all-conquering West Indies team, now in decline." Accessed 21 November 2006. After the period of widespread immigration, tours of England by the combined West Indian cricket team became cultural celebrations of Caribbean culture in Britain, particularly at cricket grounds such as The Oval in South London. Almost all the great List of West Indian Test cricketers, West Indian cricketers became regular features of the County Championship, domestic county game, including Garfield Sobers, Vivian Richards and Michael Holding. In turn, British cricketers of Caribbean origin also began to make an impact in English cricket. In the 1980s–1990s, players including Gladstone Small (born in Barbados), Devon Malcolm (born in Jamaica) and Phillip DeFreitas (born in Dominica
Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...
) represented English cricket team, England, making significant contributions to the side. Phillip DeFreitas, Devon Malcolm and Gladstone Small made 44, 40 and 17 test cricket, test match appearances for England respectively. DeFreitas also played 103 One Day Internationals for England. Malcolm made 10 appearances and Small made 53 appearances in the shorter format. Small and DeFreitas also represented England in the final of the 1987 Cricket World Cup against Australia.
Football
The inaugural West Indian-born football (soccer), footballer to play football at a high level in Britain was Andrew Watson, who played for Queen's Park F.C., Queen's Park (Glasgow) and went on to play for Scotland national football team, Scotland. Born in May 1857 in British Guiana, Watson lived and worked in Scotland and came to be known as one of the best players of his generation. He played in 36 games for Queen's Park and also appeared for the London Swifts in the English FA Cup championship of 1882, making him the first Black player in English Cup history. Watson earned two Scottish Cup medals and four Charity Cup medals during his career; ''Who's Who'' also acknowledged his performances in international matches. Watson's place in football history included a spell in management as Club Secretary for Queen's Park – making Watson the first Afro-Caribbean man to reach the boardroom.
Other early Caribbean footballers included Walter Tull
Walter Daniel John Tull (28 April 1888 – 25 March 1918) was an English professional footballer and British Army officer of Afro-Caribbean descent. He played as an inside forward and half back for Clapton, Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton ...
, of Barbadian descent, who played for the north London club Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur in the early 20th century. Some years later, Jamaican-born Lindy Delapenha, Lloyd "Lindy" Delapenha made an impact playing for Middlesbrough Football Club, Middlesbrough between 1950 and 1957, becoming a leading goal scorer and the first Black player to win a championship medal. However, it was not until the 1970s that African-Caribbean players began to make a major impact on the game. Clyde Best (West Ham United F.C., West Ham United 1969–1976), born in Bermuda, paved the way for players such as Cyrille Regis (born in French Guiana),[Football Unites, Racism Divides](_blank)
Cyril Regis. Retrieved 6 October 2006. and Luther Blissett (footballer), Luther Blissett (born in Jamaica). Blissett and Regis joined Viv Anderson to form the first wave of Black footballers to play for the England national football team, England national team. Although the number of players of African-Caribbean origin in the English league was increasing far beyond proportions in wider society, when Black players represented the England national team, they still had to endure racial attacks at home and abroad. When selected to play for England, Regis received a bullet through the mail with the threat: "You'll get one of these through your knees if you step on our Wembley Stadium, Wembley turf."
By the 1980s the British African-Caribbean community was well represented at all playing levels of the game. John Barnes, born in Jamaica, was one of the most talented players of his generation and one of the few footballers to win every honour in the domestic English game including the PFA Players' Player of the Year.[Society has to change – Barnes](_blank)
''Alan Green (broadcaster), Alan Green talks to John Barnes.'' BBC Online. 4 November 2002. Retrieved 6 October 2006. Although Barnes played for England on 78 occasions between 1983 and 1991, his performances rarely matched his club standard.[John Barnes profile. Football-England](_blank)
"His international career began when there was a definite hooligan element among England's support. There was also a definite racist element. Famously, a group of travelling supporters was heard remarking, after Barnes had scored his wonderful goal in Brazil, that England had only won 1–0 because his goal didn't count. It is true that the consistent brilliance he showed for Liverpool always eluded him in an England Shirt but for everybody who thought the problem lay with him there was as many again who felt it was the inadequacy of his teammates." Accessed 21 November 2006. Subsequently, Barnes identified a culture of racism in football during his era as a player. Players of African-Caribbean origin continued to excel in English football, in the 1990s Paul Ince – whose parents were from Trinidad – went on to captain Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, Liverpool F.C., Liverpool and the England national team. The contribution was reciprocated when a number of British born footballers including Robbie Earle, Frank Sinclair and Darryl Powell represented the Jamaica national football team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, 1998 World Cup finals.
At the turn of the millennium, British-born Black footballers constituted about 13% of the FA Premier League, English league, and a number of groups including "Kick It Out" were highlighting issues of racism still in the game. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, 2006 World Cup finals, Theo Walcott, a striker of English and Jamaican parents, became the youngest ever player to join an 2006 FIFA World Cup squads#England, England World Cup squad – a side that included African-Caribbean players in every department, goal-keeping, defence, midfield and attack. The England football squad for the 2006 world cup also contained Ashley Cole (Barbadian father), Rio Ferdinand (father from Saint Lucia, St. Lucia) Sol Campbell (Jamaican parents) alongside goalkeeper David James (footballer, born 1970), David James, Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon, all with ancestors from the Caribbean. Tyrone Mings, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker are some of the British African-Caribbeans who represented England in 2021.
Motorsports
Lewis Hamilton, whose paternal grandparents immigrated from Grenada
Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...
, won the 2008 Formula One World Championship, in only his second season in the sport; and, after narrowly finishing second in his debut season. He won the Drivers' Championship again in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 becoming the most successful British driver in the history of Formula One. Hamilton is of Afro-Grenadian and English descent.
Rugby league and union
Clive Sullivan, who had both Jamaican and Antiguan heritage, captained the Great Britain team which won the 1972 Rugby League World Cup. Sullivan was the first black captain for a Great Britain team, in ''any'' sport. Part of the 2003 Rugby World Cup victory, Jason Robinson (rugby), Jason Robinson was the first African-Caribbean to captain the England rugby union side. He is of Afro-Jamaican and Scottish people, Scottish descent, and his biological son Lewis Tierney has the same background with also English ancestry. Ellery Hanley, who has Jamaican heritage, became the first man to captain his side to three consecutive Challenge Cup victories. Hanley is the only player to win the coveted Man of Steel Awards, Man of Steel award on three occasions and is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in rugby league history.
Jimmy Peters (rugby), Jimmy Peters, who was of partial Jamaican descent, was the first black man to play rugby union for England national rugby union team, England. Another England international rugby union player, Danny Cipriani is of Afro-Trinidadian and Tobagonian, Afro-Trinidadian, Italian people, Italian and English ancestry. Jeremy Guscott, who is of Afro-Jamaican and English descent, played for Bath Rugby, Bath, England national rugby union team, England and the British and Irish Lions. Other professional players of Afro-Jamaican heritage include Ashton Golding, Michael Lawrence (rugby league), Michael Lawrence, Umyla Hanley, Anthony Sullivan (rugby), Anthony Sullivan, Des Drummond and Ben Jones-Bishop.
Cultural influence
Carnivals and celebrations
African-Caribbean communities organise and participate in Caribbean Carnivals (Caribbean-style carnivals) throughout the UK. The best known of these is the annual Notting Hill Carnival
The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean Carnival event that has taken place in London since 1966 , attracting up to 1.5 million people from Britain and around the world, making it the largest street festival in Europe. The carnival began in 1964 as a small procession of Trinidadians in memory of festivals in their home country, and today is regarded as a significant event in British culture.[Professor David Dabydeen, "Notting Hill Carnival"](_blank)
, Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies, Warwick. In 2006 the carnival was voted onto the list of icons of England.
Luton Carnival, which has taken place since 1976, is the largest one day carnival in the U.K. (it is second only to Notting Hill carnival, which takes place over two days). Leeds West Indian Carnival is Europe's oldest West Indian carnival and now attracts around 130,000 people. Other carnivals include the Leicester Caribbean Carnival and the Birmingham International Carnival.
In 2018, following campaigns and a petition started by Patrick Vernon for 22 June to be recognized as a national day to commemorate and celebrate migration and migrant communities in Britain, and at the height of the Windrush scandal, it was announced by the British government that an annual Windrush Day would be held, supported by a grant of up to £500,000, to recognise and honour the contribution of those who arrived between 1948 and 1971 and to "keep their legacy alive for future generations, ensuring that we all celebrate the diversity of Britain's history."
Th
Windrush Festival
in London was created in 2018 as a way for home-grown Black businesses and Caribbean-British born Windrush Generation performers to have a platform to celebrate their culture and presence in Britain. The main event Radiate Windrush Festival is always held on the last weekend of June to follow on from National Windrush Day, other festivals across the country are held generally in the month of June or July.
Cuisine
The earliest Caribbean immigrants to post-war Britain found differences in diet and availability of food an uncomfortable challenge. and many people longed for a "taste of home". In later years, as the community developed and food imports became more accessible to all, grocers specialising in Caribbean produce opened in British High Street, high streets. Caribbean restaurants can now also be found in most areas of Britain where West Indian communities reside, serving traditional Caribbean cuisine, Caribbean dishes such as curried goat, fried dumplings, ackee and Dried and salted cod, salt fish (the national dish of Jamaica), Pelau (the national dish of Trinidad and Tobago), Cou-Cou and Flying fish, Flying Fish (the national dish of Barbados), Pudding and Souse, as well as Fish Cakes from Barbados, the spices known as "Jamaican jerk spice, jerk", and the traditional Sunday West Indian meal of rice and peas.
The best-known Caribbean food brands in the UK are Jamaican Sun, Tropical Sun, Dunn's River and Grace (food company), Grace. In March 2007, Grace foods bought ENCO Products, owners of the Dunn's River Brand, as well as Nurishment, and the Encona Sauce Range. Tropical Sun products have been widely available in the UK for more than two decades and there is a sister brand, Jamaica Sun, with products sourced exclusively from Jamaica. The most popular brands can now often be found in the large supermarkets; although the full range continues to be offered only by the local ethnic stores, the interest by the mainstream supermarkets reflects the wider population's interest in ethnic and more lately Afro-Caribbean foods. Caribbean food topped a (2015) list of the types of cuisine British diners would like to see more of on menus.
According to a report by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), the number of Caribbean restaurants in the UK tripled in the 12 months leading up to August 2019.
Community centres
In many parts of Britain, African-Caribbean people have been recognised as being part of a distinct community. In the 1950s and 1960s, community centres and associations sprung up in some British towns and cities with an aim to serve African-Caribbean populations. One such example was the African Caribbean Self Help Organisation (ACSHO), founded in 1994 in the district of Handsworth in Birmingham. Responsibilities included arranging social events, such as festivals, carnivals and coach trips, which helped bring the communities together. Large centres presently operating include the Leeds West Indian centre and the Manchester West Indian centre. Typical of present-day centres is the Afro Caribbean Millennium Centre in Birmingham, which was established with National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lottery funding to support principally Caribbean people in areas such as employment, housing, education, immigration, and cultural issues.
Religious activity
The influx of African-Caribbean people to the United Kingdom was accompanied by religious practices more common to the North American continent. In Britain, many African-Caribbean people continued to practise Nonconformist (Protestantism), Non-conformist Protestantism, Protestant denominations with an Evangelicalism, Evangelical influence such as Pentecostalism and Seventh Day Baptist, Seventh Day Baptism. African-Caribbean people have supported new churches in many areas of the country, which have grown to act as social centres for the community. Mike Phillips (writer), Mike Phillips, writing for the UK national archive project, described the influences of the new churches thus; "[they] gave the entire Caribbean community a sense of stability. At a time when migrants were under severe psychological pressure and distrusted the official services, or were misunderstood when they went to them, the Black church groups offered invaluable advice and comfort." In 2005, ''The Economist'' magazine discussed the growth of evangelical churches in London and Birmingham; "Another reason is that Britain's most prominent Afro-Caribbean institutionsthe Black evangelical churchesare dominated by the urban poor. That has to do with the way the Caribbean was missionised: the hotter brand of Christianity gained most converts among the dispossessed, who then re-exported it to Britain." The manner of worship in some of these churches is more akin to that of African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
practices than to traditional Roman Catholicism in Great Britain, English Catholic or Church of England, Anglican liturgy. Gospel music also came to play a part in British cultural life. African-Caribbean people played a central role establishing British gospel choirs, most notably the London Community Gospel Choir.
Some British African-Caribbean people continue to practise other religious beliefs such as Rastafari, which developed in Jamaica. The Rastafarian belief system, associated personal symbols such as dreadlocks and cultural practices concerning cannabis (drug), cannabis have influenced British society far beyond the African-Caribbean community, being adopted by both white British and others.
Language and dialect
English language, English is the English-speaking world, official language of the former British West Indies, therefore African-Caribbean immigrants had few communication difficulties upon arrival in the UK compared to immigrants from other regions. As integration continued, African-West Indians born in Britain instinctively adopted hybrid dialects combining Caribbean and local List of dialects of the English language, British dialects.[British Afro-Caribbean English: A bibliography](_blank)
Compiled by Peter L. Patrick. Retrieved 6 October 2006. These dialects and accents gradually entered mainstream British vernacular, and shades of Caribbean dialects can be heard among Britons regardless of cultural origin. A Lancaster University study has identified an emergence in certain areas of Britain of a distinctive accent which borrows heavily from Jamaican creole.
Literature
Jamaican poet James Berry (poet), James Berry was one of the first Caribbean writers to come to Britain after the 1948 British Nationality Act. He was followed by writers including Barbadians George Lamming and Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Trinidadians Samuel Selvon and C. L. R. James, Jamaican Andrew Salkey and the Guyanese writer Wilson Harris. These writers viewed London as the centre of the English literary scene, and took advantage of the BBC Radio show ''Caribbean Voices'' to gain attention and be published. By relocating to Britain, these writers also gave Caribbean literature an international readership for the first time and established Caribbean writing as an important perspective within English literature.[Onyekachi Wambu]
Black British Literature since Windrush
BBC Online. Retrieved 24 November 2006.
Some Caribbean writers also began writing about the hardships faced by settlers in post-war Britain. Lamming addressed these issues in his 1954 novel ''The Emigrants (Lamming novel), The Emigrants'', which traced the journey of migrants from Barbados as they struggled to integrate into British life. Selvon's novel ''The Lonely Londoners'' (1956) details the life of West Indians in post-World War II London. Writing much later, Ferdinand Dennis both in his journalism and novels, such as ''The Sleepless Summer'' (1989) and ''The Last Blues Dance'' (1996), deals with "an older generation of Caribbean immigrants, whose narratives, stoical and unpolemical, rarely find expression".
By the mid-1980s, a more Extremism, radical wave of writers and poets were addressing the African-Caribbean experience in Britain, promoted by a group of new mainly black-led publishing houses such as Akira, Karia Press (founded by Buzz Johnson), Dangaroo Press, and Karnak House (founded by Amon Saba Saakana), alongside the older established New Beacon Books (founded in 1966 by John La Rose), Allison & Busby (founded in 1967 by Margaret Busby) and Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications (founded in 1969 by Jessica Huntley), and the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books (1982–95).
In 1984, the poet Fred D'Aguiar (born in London to Guyanese parents) won the T. S. Eliot Prize, and in 1994 won the Costa Book Awards, Whitbread First Novel Award for ''The Longest Memory''. Linton Kwesi Johnson's rhyming and socio-political commentary over dub music, dub beats – including such favourites as "Dread Beat An' Blood" and "Inglan Is A Bitch" – made him the unofficial poet laureate of the British African-Caribbean community. Another dub poetry, dub poet, Benjamin Zephaniah, born in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
to Jamaican parents, overcame a spell in prison to become a well-known writer and public figure. In 2003 he declined an Order of the British Empire, OBE, stating that it reminded him of "thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised".
African-Caribbean British writers have achieved recent literary acclaim. In 2004, Andrea Levy's novel ''Small Island'' won the Whitbread Book of the Year and the Orange Prize for Fiction, one of Britain's highest literary honours. The book also earned her the 2005 Commonwealth Writers' Prize''.'' Levy, born in London to Jamaican parents, is the author of four novels, each exploring the problems faced by Black British-born children of Jamaican emigrants.[Author Profile Andrea Levy](_blank)
. Retrieved 6 October 2006. In 2005, Dreda Say Mitchell became the first black British writer to be awarded the CWA New Blood Dagger, Crime Writers Association's John Creasey Dagger for her debut book ''Running Hot''. The book drew upon Mitchell's experiences of working with prisoners and is a chase thriller about a young man trying to break the cycle of going to prison. Mitchell is of Grenadian extraction. In 2006 Zadie Smith won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize#Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book (1987–2011), Commonwealth Writers' Best Book Award (Eurasia Section) and the Orange Prize for ''On Beauty''. Smith's acclaimed first novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), was a portrait of contemporary multicultural London, drawing from her own upbringing with an English father and a Jamaican mother.[Author Profile](_blank)
Zadie Smith. Retrieved 6 October 2006. ''White Teeth'' was an international best seller and won multiple accolades, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, the Costa Book Awards, Whitbread Book Award in category best first novel, the Guardian First Book Award and the Betty Trask Award. ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine included the novel in its Time's List of the 100 Best Novels, list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.
The UK also has a modest output of African-Caribbean popular fiction. A widely known example is ''Yardie'', a work of Urban fiction written by Victor Headley in 1992, describing the life of a Jamaican courier carrying cocaine from Jamaica to London. The book was published by Steve Pope and Dotun Adebayo of Xpress books. ''Spare Room was'' Dedra Say Mitchell's first psychological thriller. Published in 2019, the book became a critically acclaimed international best seller. At the 2020 British Book Awards, Candice Carty-Williams became the first black woman to win the "Book of the Year" accolade, for her novel ''Queenie (Carty-Williams novel), Queenie.'' The novel, which describes the life and loves of Queenie Jenkins, a vibrant, young British-Jamaican, received positive reviews and was marketed as "a black Bridget Jones". ''Queenie'' entered the ''Sunday Times'' Bestseller hardback chart at number two and went on to win numerous accolades.
Media
'' The Voice'' newspaper was the primary African-Caribbean newspaper in Britain, and was founded in the early 1980s by Val McCalla. However, today it is owned by a Jamaican publisher and has a Caribbean focus. ''Pride magazine'', which has been going for 21 years, is the largest lifestyle magazine for the community and was described by ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' newspaper as the dominant lifestyle magazine for the black community in the UK for more than 15 years. Its owner Pride Media also specialises in helping organisations target the community through a range of media. Other publications have included the ''Gleaner Company, Gleaner'', ''Black Voice'', ''New Editor'' and ''The Caribbean Times''. The growth of such media is a response to the perceived imbalances of "mainstream" media. In 2006, Sir Ian Blair, Chief Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, joined a long list of commentators in branding the mainstream media as Institutional racism, "institutionally racist" for its alleged failure to offer a proper balance in reporting affairs related to the community.
Trinidad-born Sir Trevor McDonald is one of the community's best-known journalists, having been the main presenter (newscaster) for the national ITV network for more than 20 years. Other notable media figures include Gary Younge, ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' columnist, Clive Myrie, Gillian Joseph, Charlene White, Darren Jordon and Moira Stuart, the veteran BBC news presenter. Trinidadian-born Darcus Howe wrote regularly in the ''New Statesman'' and fronted a number of documentary series, including the Channel 4 current affairs programme ''Devil's Advocate''. Much of Howe's work related to the experiences of British African-Caribbean people and racism faced by the Black community. Other notable producer/directors are Terry Jervis (Jervis Media) and Pogus Caesar (Windrush Productions); both have made multicultural, entertainment and sports programmes for Carlton TV, BBC TV and Channel 4.
The community has a strong tradition of "underground" pirate radio broadcasters. Among the most established are London's Lightning Radio, Genesis Radio and Galaxy Radio, which play a mix of ragga, reggae, dancehall, bashment, hip hop music, hip hop and rhythm and blues, R&B. Pirate radio stations such as Supreme Radio, Galaxy Radio (which calls itself "the only de-brainwashing station"), Genesis Radio (known as "the people's station" or "the black power station") and the more recently emerged radio station Omega FM Radio are particularly highly regarded in the Afro Caribbean community for not only playing a variety of music such as soca, soul, dancehall, jazz, hip hop, Reveail and Funky House, but also for dedicating time to have "talk shows" and "information shows" often taking an uncompromising stance in view. Thus giving the community the opportunity to phone in and participate in an array of subjects that mainstream radio, wider media and even other pirate radio stations refuse to address.
In 2002, the BBC established its digital broadcasting strand, BBC Radio 1Xtra, to focus on new Black music – which in effect means catering to the tastes of the country's African-Caribbean youth. The Internet has afforded the community the opportunity to publish en-masse, and there are now thousands of websites and blogs produced by or for African-Caribbean people in the UK such as the BBC's Family History page, and The African-Caribbean Network, Blacknet UK, launched in 1996.
Award-winning Myrna Loy, a female poet and published writer who has recited poetry alongside Linton Kwesi Johnson is a poet in her own right. Her poetry radiates passion for political situations, rages against hypocrisy and abuse and balances it with appreciation and gratitude. She came second in the Bridport Prize, which is one of the UK's notable and prestigious poetry competitions; and came second for her poem "The Last Poem", performed at the Castillo Centre in Manhattan. Loy is three-times published, her book ''The Other Side of Tourism'' shares her conflict between her British and Jamaican roots, and her two poetry books ''Poetry's Teacher'' and ''Poetry's Promise'' share her person and professional life experiences. As a Black Briton, she says: "British culture teaches us to conform, to hide our light under a bushel, to not sing our praises, so as a result I reveal "my light" through my poetry, paintings and my quarterly magazine called ''Blackbright News'', which celebrates the wonderful works Black People (not only in Britain) have done. I may eventually be relegated to the area where tyrants and revolutions belong, but in the meantime, I intend to shout from the roof-tops what I feel and why I feel it!" Myrna (aka Lady Loy) is a radio presenter on Jamrock Radio, and uses this arena to promote black music and black talent.
Musical impact
The period of large-scale immigration brought many new musical styles to the United Kingdom. These styles gained popularity amongst Britons of all cultural origins, and aided Caribbean music in gaining international recognition. The earliest of these exponents was the calypso music, calypso artist Lord Kitchener (calypsonian), Lord Kitchener, who arrived in Britain on the ''Empire Windrush, Windrush'' in 1948 accompanied by fellow musician Lord Beginner.[Hall, Stuart]
"Calypso kings"
''The Guardian'', 28 June 2002. Retrieved 6 October 2006. Already a star in his native Trinidad, Lord Kitchener got an immediate booking at the only West Indian club in London. Six months later, he was appearing in three clubs nightly, and his popularity extended beyond the West Indian and African nightclub audiences, to include music hall and variety show audiences. Kitchener's recording "London is the place for me" exemplified the experience of the ''Windrush generation''.[London is the place for me](_blank)
Review by Ian Simmons. NthPosition.com. Retrieved 6 October 2006. Other calypso musicians began to collaborate with African Kwela musicians and British jazz players in London clubs.
Jamaican music styles reached Britain in the 1960s, becoming the staple music for young British African-Caribbean people. Tours by ska artists such as Prince Buster and the Skatalites fed the growing British-Caribbean music scene, and the success of Jamaican artists Millie (singer), Millie Small, Desmond Dekker and Marcia Griffiths, Bob and Marcia propelled Caribbean music and people into mainstream cultural life. British African-Caribbean people followed the changing styles of Jamaican music and began to produce homegrown music appealing to both Black and White communities. In 1968, The Cats (reggae band), The Cats released a cover of Swan Lake, which became the first Top 50 by a British reggae group and the following year, the British African-Caribbean ska band Symarip recorded "Skinhead Moonstomp" – a cover of the Derrick Morgan song Moon Hop – which had a huge effect on the British ska scene. The ska sound and rude boy imagery inspired a generation of White working-class youths (especially mod (subculture), mods and skinheads), and later helped spawn Britain's Multiculturalism, multi-cultural 2 Tone (music genre), 2 Tone movement in the late-1970s.
As Jamaican ska gave way to the slower styles of rocksteady and the more politicised reggae, British African-Caribbean people followed suit. Reggae sound system, Sound systems to rival those in Jamaica sprung up throughout communities, and "Blues parties" – parties in private houses, where one paid at the door – became an institution. The arrival of Bob Marley to London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 1971 helped spawn a Black British music industry based on reggae. His association with the Rastafari movement, Rastafarian movement influenced waves of young people, reared in Britain, to discover their Caribbean roots. Barbadian British, British Barbadian Dennis Bovell became Britain's prominent reggae band leader and producer, working with many international reggae stars, and introducing a reggae flavour to the British pop charts with non-reggae acts such as: Dexys Midnight Runners and Bananarama. Bovell also worked extensively with London-based dub poetry, dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.
British music with reggae roots prospered in the 1980s and early-1990s. British African-Caribbean artists Musical Youth, Aswad (band), Aswad, Maxi Priest and Eddy Grant had major commercial successes, and the multicultural band UB40 helped promote reggae to an international audience. Birmingham-based Steel Pulse became one of the world's foremost exponents of roots reggae and accompanying Black Power, black consciousness, their 1978 debut album ''Handsworth Revolution'' becoming a seminal release.
British African-Caribbean music had been generally synonymous with Caribbean styles until the 1990s, although some artists had been drawing on British and American musical forms for several decades. In the 1970s and 1980s, British African-Caribbean artists such as Hot Chocolate (band), Hot Chocolate and Imagination (band), Imagination became leaders of the British disco, soul music, soul and R&B scenes. By the mid-1980s, British African-Caribbean people were also incorporating American hip hop music, hip-hop and House music, House styles, becoming leading figures in Britain's developing dance music culture. This led to an explosion of musical forms. British artists created musical hybrids combining many elements including European techno music, techno, Jamaican dancehall, dub, breakbeats and contemporary American R&B. These unique blends began to gain international acclaim through the success of Soul II Soul and the multi-racial Massive Attack.
British African-Caribbean people were at the leading edge of the Oldschool jungle, jungle and drum and bass movements of the 1990s. Although the fast-tempo drums and loud intricate bass lines sounded fresh, Caribbean roots could still be detected. Pioneers in the electronic dance music scene of the early 90s include producers 4hero, 4 hero, Goldie and Roni Size, all of whom are of Jamaican heritage. British African-Caribbean musicians and DJs were at the forefront of the UK garage and Grime (music), Grime scenes.
Social and political issues
Discrimination and racism
Historically, community centres have sought to address issues that arise within the community, including problems of Sus law, police harassment and concerns about the housing of African Caribbeans, which was viewed as discriminatory during the early decades of mass immigration. One such community centre was the Gloucestershire West Indian Association, which was formed in 1962. The formation of this group was in response to a number of issues that arose within the community at this time. These included problems around police harassment and concerns about the housing of Black people on certain council estates in the city, which was viewed as discrimination and segregation. The centres also allowed African-Caribbean peoples to socialise without risking the potential racial discrimination and aggression of "unfriendly public house, pubs". Many of these associations appointed a Community Relations Officer, whose role was to liaise between the community and wider British society, including the The Establishment, establishment.
Although the community does not face any official or informal restrictions on participation (decision making), political participation, Britons of Caribbean origin are under-represented in local and Politics of the United Kingdom, national politics. British African-West Indians have long asserted that they encounter discriminatory barriers to most middle- and higher-status occupations, as well as discrimination in hiring practices at all levels of employment. There is also considerable evidence that African-Caribbean people experience differential treatment at the hands of public officials, the Courts of the United Kingdom, British courts and penal system, and the Policing in the United Kingdom, police. Studies have proposed that the isolation of certain regional urban areas by financial institutions such as insurance brokers disproportionately affects the community to its detriment.
Britain's Education in the United Kingdom, school system, despite efforts to address issues of discrimination, has often been accused of being racially biased to a perceived lack of representation of Black history and culture in the cirricula. Grenadian author Bernard Coard published ''How the West Indian Child Is Made Educationally Sub-normal in the British School System'' in May 1971. For example, the distinct Caribbean English, Caribbean dialects, English-based creole languages, creoles and patois (''patwah'') spoken by many African-Caribbean immigrants and their descendants, have been problematic in the field of education. In a study by language and education specialist professor Viv Edwards, ''The West Indian language issue in British schools'', language – the Creole spoken by the students – was singled out as an important factor disadvantaging Caribbean children in British schools. The study cited negative attitudes of teachers towards any non-standard variety, noting that:
Although there are hundreds of African-Caribbean teachers in the UK, it has been suggested that their under-representation in inner-city schools is a major factor in the failure, particularly of secondary-level schools, to achieve a satisfactory average of achievement for the community's children (see Bernard Coard and the Swann Report of 1985).
Business
In 2004, Greater London Authority Economics produced a report to examine the economic contribution black businesses made to London's economy. The report found that black businesses made up 4% of all London's businesses, provided more than 70,000 jobs and had a total turnover of almost £4.5 billion. Of this total, 42% of the businesses were owned by Black Caribbeans or those of partial Black Caribbean origin.
Businesses owned by Africans and Caribbeans generate more than £10bn for the UK each year, according to the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME).
Notable high profile Black Caribbean business successes include Levi Roots, whose Reggae Reggae Sauce, ''Reggae Reggae sauce'' and ''Levi Roots brand'' has grown into a multi-million pound enterprise. Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones' ''The Black Farmer'' range of food products has annual revenues of more than £7m. Pat McGrath (make-up artist), Pat McGrath Labs has an estimated value of $1 billion.
See also
* African and Caribbean War Memorial
* Americans in the United Kingdom#African Americans, African American British
* Afro-Caribbean people
Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Africans (primarily from West and Central Africa) ta ...
* Belizean British
* British Indo-Caribbean people
* Identity Cards Act 2006#Ethnic minorities, British national identity card
* Museumand: The National Caribbean Heritage Museum
* ''New Nation'', an Afro-Caribbean newspaper
Notes
References
Further reading
* Hakim Adi, Adi, Hakim, ''The History of African and Caribbean Communities in Britain'', London: Wayland, 1995.
* Bygott, David, ''Black and British'', Oxford University Press (18 April 1996).
* Palmer, Ransford W., ''In Search of a Better Life: Perspectives on Migration from the Caribbean'', Praeger Publishers (21 May 1990).
* Mike Phillips (writer), Phillips, Mike, & Trevor Phillips, ''Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain'', HarperCollins Publishers, 1998.
* Taylor, Simon
''A Land of Dreams: A Study of Jewish and Afro-Caribbean Migrant Communities in England''
Routledge (April 1993).
* Waters, Rob. ''Colonized by Humanity: Caribbean London and the Politics of Integration at the End of Empire'' (Oxford University Press, 2023
online scholarly review
"Young Blacks, Political Groups and the Police in Handsworth"
An examination of police attempts to isolate young Blacks and attempts by leftist political groups to attract Black youth into their political orbit that preceded the Handsworth protests of 1985.
External links
The Black Presence in Britain
The Voice Newspaper
Digital Handsworth
Black Youth Empowerment UK
Reassessing what we collect website – The Caribbean Community in London
History of Caribbean London with objects and images
Windrush settlers arrive in Britain, 1948 – treasures of The National Archives (UK).
Windrush settlers arrive in Britain, 1948 – Transcript
Windrush Foundation
Carnivals and celebrations
Leeds Carnival
London Notting Hill Carnival
Luton Carnival
Radiate Windrush Festival
Community sites
UK Black Community website
itzcaribbean.com
Afro Caribbean Millennium Centre
Website for the Birmingham-based community centre
Community Action Project
Sandwel based community centre website
African and Caribbean Black Community Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:British African-Caribbean People
African diaspora in the Caribbean
Black British people,
British people of West Indian descent,
Caribbean diaspora in the United Kingdom,
African secondary diaspora
Black British history