A Jamaican-rooted community that now has its own monument in the heart of the city.
From The 1940s
People from the Caribbean, in particular from Jamaica, settled in Wolverhampton from the 1940s onwards. Their work helped the Midlands through the Second World War and in the decades after, in Wolverhampton, Bilston and the towns around them.
Their own words are on the record. At the turn of the century, 108 interviews were recorded with people who came, covering their home countries, arrival, housing, work, education, religion and their fight against racism. They are held at Wolverhampton City Archives, and the Black and Ethnic Minority Experience Foundation has been digitising them.
Mel Chevannes
In 1981 Mel Chevannes became Wolverhampton's first African-Caribbean councillor, and she served Graiseley ward for 11 years. She went on to become the first African-Caribbean chair of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of Wolverhampton. A bronze bust of her, unveiled at the Art Gallery on Windrush Day 2025, now stands near the main entrance of the Civic Centre.
On The Gallery Walls
Wolverhampton Art Gallery's collection includes Tam Joseph's Spirit of the Carnival from around 1983, a large painting about the uneasy relationship between the police and African-Caribbean communities in the 1970s and early 1980s. The gallery has shown it alongside the Windrush interviews.
The Windrush Monument
On National Windrush Day, 22 June 2026, the city unveiled its Windrush Monument in St Patrick's Park in front of a packed crowd. Made by the artist Luke Perry, it shows the bow of the ship, an anchor and rising chains, with a poem by Casey Bailey cut into the steel and painted family stories by Victoria Murrain. It was shaped with the council, Wolverhampton Wanderers and community groups including Black History and Heritage Wolverhampton.
Black Wolverhampton Today
The families of the Windrush generation are part of every part of city life, from the council chamber to the hospital wards, and Black-owned food spots, barbers, salons and brands are part of everyday Wolverhampton.
Shop Black-owned businesses in Wolverhampton on CashBlack.
Photo Credits
Wolverhampton Art Gallery on Lichfield Street. Photo: Elliott Brown from Birmingham, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons The Windrush Monument in St Patrick's Park, Wolverhampton. Photo: Elliott Brown, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons