Tiger Bay, one of the UK's first multicultural communities, and the women and men it gave the world.
Tiger Bay
Butetown, known to the world as Tiger Bay and to locals as the Docks, grew up around Cardiff's docks in the 19th century. Seafarers from more than 50 maritime nations, Sierra Leone, Somaliland and Yemen among them, settled in its streets, and it became one of the UK's first multicultural communities.
In 1919 it was one of the centres of the South Wales race riots. The families of the Bay stayed.
Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey was born on 8 January 1937 on Bute Street in Tiger Bay, to a Nigerian father and an English mother from North Yorkshire. She became a star around the world, known for the James Bond themes she recorded, Goldfinger in 1964 among them, and she was made a Dame for services to the performing arts.
Betty Campbell
Betty Campbell was born Rachel Elizabeth Johnson in Butetown in 1934. She taught at Mount Stuart Primary School for 28 years and became Wales's first Black head teacher, and as head she taught her pupils about slavery and Black history.
On 29 September 2021 a statue of her by the sculptor Eve Shepherd was unveiled in Central Square. Until then, the only statue in Cardiff of a woman who actually lived was Boudicca in City Hall.
Colin Jackson
Colin Jackson was born in Cardiff, of Jamaican descent through his parents. He won the 110 metres hurdles at the World Championships in 1993 and 1999, and in Stuttgart on 20 August 1993 he ran 12.91 seconds, a world record that stood for nearly thirteen years.
Black Cardiff Today
Butetown still carries the Bay's history while Cardiff Bay's new waterfront has grown up around it. Families with roots in Somaliland, Yemen, West Africa and beyond are part of what makes the Welsh capital what it is, and Black-owned food spots, barbers, salons and brands are part of everyday Cardiff.
Shop Black-owned businesses in Cardiff on CashBlack.
Photo Credits
The Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay. Photo: Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons The statue of Betty Campbell in Central Square, Cardiff. Photo: 14GTR, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons Loudoun Square, Butetown. Photo: Alan Hughes, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons