1834
 Parliament abolishes slavery throughout the British Empire. Steady decline in numbers and visibility of London's black population as fewer blacks were brought by West Indian planters and restrictions on immigrants from Africa.

1880s
New build up of small black dockside Communities in London's Canning Town, and in Liverpool and Cardiff.
 

20th century

London-born Black people begin to make a mark in London life. Continuous influx of African students, sportsmen, students, and businessmen.  Caribbean professionals gain positions as doctors,politicans and activists.

World War I

Black communities grow with arrival of black merchant seamen and soldiers.   They survive as the oldest black communities. Continuous presence of small groups of students from Africa and the Caribbean.

World War II
Caribbean and West Africans arrive in small numbers as wartime workers, merchant seamen and servicemen in the army, navy and air forces. Perhaps 20,000 blacks in Britain concentrated in dockside  areas of London,  Liverpool and Cardiff. Learie Constantine, welfare officer in the RAF, refused service in a London Hotel and later wins damages.

 Post-war period
 1948
 Britain's first group of post-war Caribbean immigrants come to London on the SS Empire Windrush. Many of the 492 passengers settle in Brixton now a prominent black district.

 1950s to 1960s

Mass migration of workers from all over the  English-speaking Caribbean, particularly  Jamiaca They are "invited" to fill labour requirements in hospitals, transport and railways and  contribute to rebuilding the post-war urban economy.

 1962
Commonwealth Immigrants Act and a succession of laws in 1968, 1971, and 1981severely  restrict Black entry to Britain, and brings this period to an end.  Emergent Black and Asian struggle against race prejudice and intolerance.

 1975 

David Pitt brings a new popular voice to the House of Lords as one of the first black Peers.

1987

Black population, workers, and community  activists aid election of four Black Members of Parliament.

1991-97
Black Londoners numbered half a million  people in the 1991 census, of which an  increasing roportion were London- or British-born. Despite modest socio-economic gains,  discrimination remained a problem, even where skill deficiencies were being overcome.  Black Parliamentarians increase to six in  1992 and nine in 1997 elections.

 

Further reading:   Sources

                      Banton, Michael (1955), The Coloured Quarter. Jonathan Cape. London.

                      Collicott, Sylvia L. (1986), Connections. Haringey. Local-National-World
                      Links. Haringey Community Information Service, London.

                      File, Nigel and Chris Power (1981), Black Settlers in Britain 1555-1958.
                      Heinnemann Educational.

                      Gundara, Jagdish S. and Ian Duffield, eds. (1992), Essays on the History
                          of Blacks in Britain. Avebury, Aldershot.

                      Merriman, Nick ed. (1993), The Peopling of London: Fifteen Thousand
                      Years of Settlement from Overseas. Museum of London, London.

                      Scobie, Edward (1972) Black Brittania: A History of Blacks in Britain.
                      Johnson Publishing. Chicago.

                      Shyllon, F.Q. (1977), Black People in Britain 1555-1833. Oxford University
                      Press.

                      Shyllon, Folarin, "The Black Presence and Experience in Britain: An
                      Analytical Overview," in Gundara and Duffield eds. (1992), Essays on the
                      History of Blacks in Britain. Avebury, Aldershot.

                      Walvin, James (1971), The Black Presence: A Documentary History of the
              Negro in England, 1555-1860. Orbach and Chambers.

              Walvin, James (1973), Black and White: The Negro and English Society
              1555-1945. Penguin, London.
 

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