Black British people, also referred to as Black Britons, are a group of people of Black African, Black Caribbean or other Black origins residing in the United Kingdom.
The term Black British developed in the 1950s, referring to the migrant populations from the former British colonies in the West Indies (sometimes referred to as the Windrush Generation) and West Africa, though it had been used to describe earlier populations from West Africa.
The term black has historically had a number of applications as a racial and political label. It may also be used in a wider sociopolitical context to encompass a broader range of non-European ethnic minority populations in Britain, though this usage has become less common over time. Black British is one of several self-designation entries used in official UK ethnicity classifications, though many people still choose to self identify as British Nigerian or British Jamaican for example.
Around 3.7 per cent of the United Kingdom's population in 2021 were Black. The figures have increased from the 1991 census when 1.63 per cent of the population were recorded as Black or Black British to 1.15 million residents in 2001, or 2 per cent of the population, this further increased to just over 1.9 million in 2011, representing 3 per cent. Almost 96 per cent of Black Britons live in England, particularly in England's larger urban areas, with close to 1.2 million living in Greater London. 47.8% of the total Black British population live in London.
Terminology The term Black British most commonly refers to Black people from the Commonwealth of Nations, such as from the British West Indies or British West Africa. In the 1970s, a time of rising activism against racial discrimination, the term Black was also applied to people from the Indian subcontinent. Black was used in this inclusive political sense to mean "non–white British". For example, Southall Black Sisters was established in 1979 "to meet the needs of black (Asian and Afro-Caribbean) women". Several organisations continue to use the term inclusively, such as the Black Arts Alliance,"New Black Arts Alliance Welcome" . Blackartists.org.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2011.The Black Arts Alliance encourages "a coming together of Black people from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean because our histories have parallels of oppression" who extend their use of the term to Latin Americans and all refugees,Their website intro states "Black Arts Alliance is 21 years old. Formed in 1985 it is the longest surviving network of Black artists representing the arts and culture drawn from ancestral heritages of South Asia, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean and, in more recent times, due to global conflict, our newly arrived compatriots known collectively as refugees." the Black Arts Alliance. and the National Black Police Association.National Black Police Association states that their "emphasis is on the common experience and determination of the people of African, African-Caribbean, and Asian origin to oppose the effects of racism."
The official UK census has separate self-designation entries for respondents to identify as "Asian British", "Black British" and "Other ethnic group". Due to the Indian diaspora and in particular Idi Amin's expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972, many British Asians are from families that had previously lived for several generations in the British West Indies or the Comoros."Multiculturalism the Wembley Way" , BBC News, 8 September 2005. Retrieved 17 March 2011. A number of British Asians, including celebrities such as Riz Ahmed, still use the term "Black" and "Asian" interchangeably.
Census classification The 1991 UK census was the first to include a question on ethnicity. As of the 2011 United Kingdom census, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) allow people in England and Wales and Northern Ireland who self-identify as "Black" to select "Black African", "Black Caribbean" or "Any other Black/African/Caribbean background" tick boxes. For the 2011 Scottish census, the General Register Office for Scotland (GOS) also established new, separate "African, African Scottish or African British" and "Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British" tick boxes for individuals in Scotland from Africa and the Caribbean, respectively, who do not identify as "Black, Black Scottish or Black British". The 2021 census in England and Wales maintained the African, Caribbean and any other Black, Black British, or Caribbean background options, adding a write-in response for the "Black African" group. In Northern Ireland, the 2021 census had "Black African" and "Black Other" tick-boxes. In Scotland, the options were "African", "Scottish African" or "British African", and "Caribbean or Black", each accompanied by a write-in response box.
In all of the UK censuses, persons with multiple familial ancestries can write in their respective ethnicities under a "Mixed or multiple ethnic groups" option, which includes additional "White and Black African" or "White and Black Caribbean" tick boxes in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Historical usage Black British or Black English was also a term for those Black and mixed-race people in Sierra Leone (known as the Creoles or the Krio(s)) who were descendants of migrants from England and Canada and identified as British.The Map Room: Africa: Sierra Leone , British Empire. Retrieved 17 March 2011. They are generally the descendants of black people who lived in England in the 18th century. In 1787, hundreds of London's black poor (a category that included the East Indian seamen known as lascars) agreed to go to this West African colony on the condition that they would retain the status of British subjects, live in freedom under the protection of the British Crown, and be defended by the Royal Navy. Making this fresh start with them were some white people (see also Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor), including lovers, wives, and widows of the black men.Exhibitions & Learning online | Black presence | Work and community , The National Archives. Retrieved 17 March 2011. In addition, nearly 1200 Black Loyalists, former American slaves who had been freed and resettled in Nova Scotia, and 550 Jamaican Maroons also chose to join the new colony.Ferguson, William Stenner. Why I Hate Canadians, 1997.
History
Antiquity
According to the Augustan History, North African Roman emperor Septimius Severus visited Hadrian's Wall in 210 AD, where he was said to have been mocked by an Ethiopian soldier holding a garland of cypress-boughs. Severus ordered him away, reportedly being "frightened" by his dark skin colour and seeing his act and appearance as an omen: On another occasion, when he was returning to his nearest quarters from an inspection of the wall at Luguvallum in Britain, at a time when he had not only proved victorious but had concluded a perpetual peace, just as he was wondering what omen would present itself, an Ethiopian soldier, who was famous among buffoons and always a notable jester, met him with a garland of cypress-boughs. And when Severus in a rage ordered that the man be removed from his sight, troubled as he was by the man's ominous colour and the ominous nature of the garland, the Ethiopian by way of jest cried, it is said, "You have been all things, you have conquered all things, now, O conqueror, be a god". And when on reaching the town he wished to perform a sacrifice, in the first place, through a misunderstanding on the part of the rustic soothsayer, he was taken to the Temple of Bellona, and, in the second place, the victims provided him were black. And then, when he abandoned the sacrifice in disgust and betook himself to the Palace, through some carelessness on the part of the attendants the black victims followed him up to its very doors.
Anglo-Saxon England A girl buried at Updown, near Eastry in Kent in the early 7th century was found to have 33% of her DNA of West African type, most closely resembling Esan or Yoruba people.
In 2013, a skeleton was discovered in Fairford, Gloucestershire, which forensic anthropology suggested to be that of a Sub-Saharan African woman. Her remains have been dated between the years 896 and 1025. Local historians believe she was likely either a slave or a bonded servant.
16th century
An African musician is among the six trumpeters depicted in the royal retinue of Henry VIII in the Westminster Tournament Roll, an illuminated manuscript dating from 1511. He wears the royal livery and is mounted on horseback. The man is generally identified as "John Blanke, the blacke trumpeter," who is listed in the payment accounts of both Henry VIII and his father, Henry VII."John Blanke-A Trumpeter in the court of King Henry VIII", Blackpresence, 12 March 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2011. .Van Pelt, Nadia, "John Blanke's wages: No business like show business", Medieval English Theatre 44 (Boydell, 2023), pp. 3–35. . A group of Africans at the court of James IV of Scotland, included Ellen More and a drummer referred to as the "More taubronar." Both he and John Blanke were paid wages for their services. A small number of Africans worked as independent business owners in London in the late 1500s, including the silk weaver Reasonable Blackman.
When trade lines began to open between London and West Africa, people from this area began coming to Britain on board merchant and slaving ships. For example, merchant John Lok brought several captives to London in 1555 from Guinea. The voyage account in Hakluyt reports that they: "were tall and strong men, and could wel agree with our meates and drinkes. The colde and moyst aire doth somewhat offend them."
During the later 16th century as well as into the first two decades of the 17th century, 25 people named in the records of the small parish of St. Botolph's in Aldgate are identified as "blackamoors", a popular term at the time used to denote people of a Sub-Saharan African origin. In the period of the war with Spain, between 1588 and 1604, there was an increase in the number of people reaching England from Spanish colonial expeditions in parts of Africa. The English freed many of these captives from enslavement on Spanish ships. They arrived in England largely as a by-product of the slave trade; some were of mixed-race African and Spanish descent, and became interpreters or sailors. Slaver John Hawkins arrived in London with 300 captives from West Africa. However, the slave trade did not become entrenched until the 17th century and Hawkins only embarked on three expeditions.
Jacques Francis has been described as a slave by some historians, but described himself in Latin as a , meaning servant, slave or attendant. Francis was a West African born on an island off the coast of Guinea, likely Arguin Island, off the coast of Mauritania. He worked as a diver for Pietro Paulo Corsi in his salvage operations on the sunken St Mary and St Edward of Southampton and other ships, such as the Mary Rose, which had sunk in Portsmouth Harbour. When Corsi was accused of theft, Francis stood by him in an English court. With help from an interpreter, he supported his master's claims of innocence. Some of the depositions in the case displayed negative attitudes towards slaves or Black people as witnesses.