Black Welsh people facts for kids

Dame Shirley Bassey, singer

Black Welsh people are inhabitants of Wales who have an African or an Afro-Caribbean background and are black. Wales is home to one of the United Kingdom's oldest black communities, and Tiger Bay in Cardiff has housed a large Somali population since the development of the port in the 19th century. The 2011 census reported that there were more than 18,000 Welsh-African people in Wales (0.6% of the Welsh population).

The first recorded black person to live in North Wales, of whom historians have detailed knowledge, was John Ystumllyn (died 1786), a Gwynedd gardener whose origins are unrecorded.

Notable black Welsh people

Sports

Association football

• Ethan Ampadu
• Nathan Blake
• Ben Cabango
• Robert Earnshaw
• Danny Gabbidon
• Ryan Giggs
• Adam Henley
• Brennan Johnson
• Joel Lynch
• Rabbi Matondo
• Eddie Parris
• Jazz Richards
• Tyler Roberts
• Hal Robson-Kanu
• Sanchez Watt
• Sorba Thomas
• Ashley Williams

Athletics

• Jamie Baulch, sprint athlete
• Colin Jackson
• Christian Malcolm, track and field athlete
• Nigel Walker, former Welsh track and field athlete and Wales international rugby union player

Rugby League

• Billy Boston, represented Great Britain
• Regan Grace
• Clive Sullivan, the first black athlete to captain Great Britain in any sport

Rugby Union

Colin Charvis is the first Black Welsh person to captain the Wales rugby team

• Aled Brew
• Nathan Brew
• Leon Brown
• Mark Brown, became the first known player of black origin to represent Wales in 1983.
• Colin Charvis, the first black captain of the Wales national rugby union team
• Jason Forster
• Ashton Hewitt, Hewitt has also become known for speaking out against racial abuse.
• Martyn Madden
• Richard Parks, former Wales international rugby union player turned extreme endurance athlete and television presenter
• Anthony Sullivan
• Ben Thomas
• Gavin Thomas
• Christ Tshiunza, became the first African born black player to represent Wales in November 2021.
• Eli Walker
• Nigel Walker
• Glen Webbe, often stated to be the first black player to play for Wales, Webbe was the first black player to represent Wales at a World Cup, and is considered by many to be Wales' "first black icon".

Boxing

• Steve Robinson

Music

• Dame Shirley Bassey, singer
• Kizzy Crawford, singer-songwriter and producer
• Eädyth, producer and singer-songwriter
• Patti Flynn, jazz singer and founder and patron of Black History Wales
• Benji Webbe, musician, frontman of the alternative metal band Skindred

Film and television

• Josie d'Arby, TV presenter
• Rakie Ayola, actress
• Rungano Nyoni, film director and screenwriter
• Suzanne Packer, actress
• Jessica Sula, actress
• Tayce, RuPaul's Drag Race UK series 2 contestant
• Darragh Mortell, actor

Others

• Betty Campbell, headteacher
• Abdulrahim Abby Farah, diplomat
• Vaughan Gething, Minister for the Economy in the Welsh Government
• Uzo Iwobi, equalities practitioner and former Commissioner for the Commission for Racial Equality