Black British History Timeline
20th century Black British history includes the first and second world wars and the mass immigration boom spurned on by the arrival of Empire Windrush in 1948 which help create the modern Britain of today.
1900 to 1999
1900
The First Pan African conference was held in London. It was set up to end colonial rule and racial discrimination, and demand human rights and equality of economic opportunity for Africans across the globe.
1914-18
Almost 3 million soldiers and labourers from across the British Empire served alongside the British Army in the First World War. Walter Tull was the first person of African-Caribbean heritage to become an officer in the British Army despite a ban on Black officers and dies in action in 1918.
1919
After World War 1 there was a jobs boom in the UK and Empire soldiers and seamen began settling in UK port cities such as Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. The competition for jobs lead to trade unions setting up a ‘colour bar’ to prevent the employment of BAME workers. This was a key contributor to the 1919 Race Riots which lead to the death of Caribbean seaman Charles Wotton and the forced deportation of Empire citizens back to their homelands.
1927
Grenada-born singer and musician, Leslie Arthur Hutchinson aka ‘Hutch’, arrived in London and became one of the biggest cabaret stars in the world during the 1920s and 1930s.
1939-45
The second World War brought thousands of American GI soldiers to the UK. The troops were racial segregated and American servicemen tried to implement their Jim Crow laws in the UK. But the majority of the British population didn’t share the US Army’s segregation attitudes and Black serviceman were welcomed into British homes, pubs and clubs. There were frequent clashes between Black and White servicemen which cumulated in the Park Street Riots of 1944.
1945
Black Trinidadian cricketeer, Lee Constantine OBE, sued the Imperial Hotel in London after it refused to fulfil his hotel reservation. The hotel cancelled his reservation after receiving a complaint from American servicemen about his presence in the hotel. Constantine won the landmark case and was awarded damages, but the ruling didn’t end the colour bar in some British hotels and other establishments.
1948
The Empire Windrush arrives in Tilbury Docks, Essex on 21 June 1948 carrying hundreds of passengers from the Caribbean and Latin America who wished to start a new life in the UK.
1958
Human Rights activist and journalist Claudia Jones founded Britain’s first major Black newspaper, West Indian Gazette. Just over twenty years later ,The Voice newspaper is launched in 1988 and a decade later the New Nation newspaper joins it on the newsstands.
1959
Claudia Jones creates the ‘Caribbean Carnival’ to ‘’wash the taste of Notting Hill and Nottingham (race riots) out of our mouths’’. She went on to organise five more indoor carnivals which are thought to be a precursor to the Notting Hill Carnival.
1962
The Commonwealth Immigrants Act is passed and ends the automatic right of people of the British Commonwealth and Colonies to settle in the UK
1963
John La Rose and Sarah White founded New Beacon Books - the UK’s first Black bookshop and publishing house.
1963
Roy Hackett, Paul Stephenson, Audley Evans and Guy Bailey joined together to organise the Bristol Bus Boycott to force the Bristol Omnibus Company to change its racist policies that stopped Black and Asian people from working on the buses. The protest attracted national attention and ultimately lead to the passing of the Race Relations Act in 1965 that banned all discrimination in the workplace.
Dec 1966
The influential Caribbean Arts Movement was founded. It was a diverse collection of writers, critics and artists who were interested in developing a modern Caribbean – an a aesthetic that explored colonial histories as well as defining a newly formed Black British identity.
Sep 1966
The Notting Hill Festival is started and later evolves into Europe’s largest street party – the Notting Hill Carnival.
1967
Margaret Busby became Britain’s youngest and first Black female book publisher, when she co-founded the publishing company Allison & Busby.
1970
The Mangrove Nine, a group of British Black activists including members of the British Black Panthers were tried for inciting a riot at a protest, in 1970, against the police targeting of the Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill. After 55 days in the dock, they were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trail became the first judicial acknowledgement of racial prejudice and wrongdoing in the Metropolitan Police’s operations.
1974-76
Black Britons create a new musical genre called ‘Lovers Rock’ and one of its rising stars, Janet Kay, hits the top ten of the UK charts with her single ‘Silly Games’. Two years later, they create ‘Brit Funk’ and it goes mainstream when Brit Funk band Hi Tension scored a top ten hit single.
1976
The Race Relations Act is passed, and the Commission for Racial Equality is formed to enforce it. The law banned racial discrimination in public places and made the promotion of hatred on the grounds of ‘colour, race, or ethnic or national origins’ an offence.
1976
First black TV show ‘The Fosters’ is broadcast on London Weekend Television (LWT), now part of ITV London. The show was a remake of the hit American sitcom ‘Good Times’ and starred a young Lenny Henry.
1977-1981
A group of Lewisham mums led by Mavis Best, campaigned to stop the SUS laws in the UK with the support of Paul Boateng (future Home Secretary and Labour Peer). The 'sus law' was repealed on 27 August 1981.
1980s
The April 1981 Brixton uprisings or riots were a series of violent clashes between mainly Black youths and the Metropolitan Police in Brixton, London. It resulted from racist discrimination against the Black community by the mainly white police, especially the police's increased use of stop-and-search in the area, and ongoing tensions resulting from the deaths of 13 black teenagers and young adults in the suspicious New Cross house fire that January. Rioting spread to other English cities and towns including Southall, Liverpool and Birmingham.
Mar 1981
The New Cross Fire kills thirteen young Black people aged between 14 and 22 years. Protests follow after perceived indifference of the police investigating the cause of the blaze cumulating in the Black People’s Day of Action march on 2nd March 1981.
Aug 1981
A group of Lewisham mums headed up by Mavis Best, campaign to stop SUS laws in the UK with the support of MP Paul Boateng. The law was abolished on 27 August 1981 but three years later the government introduce the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 which reintroduces stop and search.
1981
Len Garrison and others founded the Black Cultural Archives to record, preserve and celebrate the history of people of African descent in Britain. In June 2013, it moved to its now permanent address in Windrush Square, Brixton to become the UK’s first national Black heritage centre.
Jun 1987
MPs Bernie Grant, Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Keith Vaz are elected to parliament.
Oct 1987
Black History Month UK is started by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, Linda Bellos and Ansel Wong.
1990
Choice FM is launched and becomes the first ever licensed Black radio station in the UK.
1988
Naomi Campbell becomes the first Black British female model to grace the cover of Vogue.
1980s-90s
This period is marked by the re-emergence of the British Soul scene with artists Soul II Soul, Loose Ends and Sade breaking the American music market.
Aug 1977
On 13 August 1977, under the pretext of demonstrating against street crime, the far-right National Front (NF) marched through multicultural Lewisham despite several attempts to ban it by the All Lewisham Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (ALCARAF). Locals organised a peaceful counter-march to take place on the same day. Violent clashes broke out between the two groups when the police tried to reroute NF marchers. Forcing the NF marchers to abandon the march and be escorted out of the are by the police. The events of 13 August 1977 became known as the ‘Battle of Lewisham'.
Oct 1991
Ben Okri becomes the youngest ever winner of the Booker Prize with his novel The Famished Road.
1991
The Black female lifestyle magazine ‘Pride’ is launched.
1992
Bill Morris becomes General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union - the first Black leader of a trade union in the UK.
1992
Victor Headley’s book ‘Yardie’ becomes the first Black British best-seller and in 2018 was adapted as a feature film of the same name by Idris Elba.
1992
Black Britons create another musical genre – Jungle music which later morphs into Drum and Bass.
1993
British teenager, Stephen Lawrence, was stabbed to death by a group of white, racist youths as he waited at a bus stop with a friend in Eltham on the 22nd April 1993. His killing and the subsequent failure of the London Metropolitan Police Service to properly investigate the crime sparked a national outcry. It culminated in a landmark official inquiry that concluded the force was institutionally racist. It took nearly 20 years for two of the 18-year-old’s killers to be brought to justice, with three named suspects never prosecuted.
1994
Rinse FM starts as a pirate radio station and is a key player in the promotion of the new Black music genres of Jungle, Drum and Bass, UK garage and Grime.
Nov 1996
Kanya King CBE founded the MOBO awards to honour achievements in ‘music of Black origin’.
Jul 1996
Operation Black Vote (OBV) is created to encourage Black British and other ethnic minority groups to register to vote and use their voting power to tackle racial equality in the UK.
1997
Mathematician Kate Okikiolu wins the Sloan Research Fellowship award.