On 22 June 1948, the steamship Empire Windrush brought 492 Jamaican immigrants to Britain to work in agriculture and other manual jobs. This marked the beginning of the migration of thousands of young, non-whites from the Imperial colonies and Commonwealth states and the eventual permanent change of British society and identity.

The Black African Caribbean population of Wolverhampton has been growing steadily since the 1950s. In the 1931 census, Wolverhampton had a total population of 2,461 who were born in Commonwealth countries and Colonial Territories - this equated to 0.17% of the population. According to the recent 2001 census the black African Caribbean population in Wolverhampton is now 4.6%,  the majority of these Caribbean and Caribbean descent; this figure is higher than the national average.

Going to the archive at Wolverhampton and researching the local newspaper, the Express and Star primarily from the 1950s up to the 1960s, it is interesting to see the reaction towards the new immigrants.

The first article found relating to Caribbean immigration to the West Midlands was from the Express and Star, 10 September 1952 and discussed West Indians, mainly Jamaicans  coming to work in the area  ‘Jamaicans join West Midlands ‘U.N.’ of Workers’. This article was before immigration began in large numbers and states that ‘about 100 (Jamaicans were) living and working in the Wolverhampton district.’

Although Wolverhampton had a positive attitude to refugees during the war, allowing Belgian refugees a place to stay and accepting Polish immigrants and letting them settle in a camp, things were markedly different for the Caribbean immigrants. It is interesting to note that when the Polish first arrived in Wolverhampton, they found initially found it difficult to settle and be accepted. When migration from the Caribbean began, the first people to help were the Polish, this most probably because they knew what it was like to be an outsider.