Britain's first Black magistrate, the first Black footballer to play for England and a community that stood its ground.
From The RAF To The Bench
Eric Irons was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica and joined the RAF there in 1944. A visit to RAF Syerston in 1945 made up his mind: he wanted to live in Nottingham. He married a Nottingham woman, settled on Pennyfoot Street and went to work in the offices at Chilwell Ordnance Depot.
In 1962 he was appointed Britain's first Black magistrate, and he sat on the Nottingham bench for 29 years. Nottingham Civic Society put up a plaque to him at the National Justice Museum in 2019, and the National Portrait Gallery holds his portrait.
St Ann's, 1958
From 23 August to 6 September 1958, St Ann's saw racist violence aimed at its West Indian residents, a week before the Notting Hill riots in London. The trouble pushed Caribbean governments and the UK government into talks. The families who had made St Ann's home stayed, and built their lives in the city.
Viv Anderson
Viv Anderson was born in Clifton, Nottingham to parents from Jamaica. He played ten years at Nottingham Forest and won the European Cup with them in 1979 and 1980.
In November 1978, in a friendly against Czechoslovakia, he became the first Black footballer to play for England's senior men's team.
Lenton And The Marcus Garvey Centre
From the middle of the 20th century, Lenton took in many people from the West Indies and, more and more, from Africa. On Lenton Boulevard, the Marcus Garvey Centre has been a meeting place for Nottingham's Black community for more than forty years, with live music, celebrations, training, business support and day care for Black elders.
Black Nottingham Today
Nottingham's Black community now spans Caribbean families who have been here since the 1950s and newer arrivals from across Africa. Black-owned food spots, barbers, salons and creative studios are part of the city's everyday life.
Shop Black-owned businesses in Nottingham on CashBlack.
Photo Credits
Sycamore Park, St Ann's. Photo: Alan Murray-Rust, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons The City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest. Photo: Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Wikimedia Commons The Howitt Building on Lenton Boulevard. Photo: Bryn Holmes, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons