16th century

The population density of Africans in 16th-century London is poorly understood. Due to the proliferation of documentation in the Tudor and Stuart periods, we know that Africans were present in most of the noble courts of this century. For example, Catherine of Aragon's most trusted Lady-in-waiting Catalina des Cardones was Ethiopian and in a Morganatic marriage with an African bow-maker named Oviedo.

17th–18th centuries

By the middle of the eighteenth century, African people comprised somewhere between one and three percent of the London populace. British merchants became involved with the transatlantic slave trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Many of those involved in British colonial activities, such as ship's captains, colonial officials, merchants, slave traders and plantation owners brought enslaved Africans as servants back to Britain with them. This marked the growing black presence in the northern, eastern and southern areas of London. There were also small numbers of freed slaves and seamen from West Africa and South Asia. Many of these emigrants were forced into beggary due to the lack of jobs and their low social status.

Whereas the vast majority of black people in Britain in the eighteenth century were employed as servants there were notable individuals – people such as Francis Barber, Dr Johnson's servant and friend, Olaudah Equiano, and Ignatius Sancho – who rose from inauspicious beginnings to comparative fame, and about whom we know considerably more.

19th century

Coming into the early 19th century, more groups of black soldiers and seaman were discharged after the Napoleonic Wars and some settled in London. These emigrants suffered and faced many challenges as did many black people in London. The slave trade was abolished completely in the British Empire by 1833. The number of black people in London was steadily declining with these new laws. Fewer black people were brought into London from the West Indies and parts of Africa.

During the mid-19th century, there were restrictions on foreign immigration. In the later part of the 19th century, there was a buildup of small groups of black dockside communities in towns such as Canning Town, Liverpool, and Cardiff. This was a direct effect of new shipping links that were established with the Caribbean and West Africa.

Despite facing social prejudice, some 19th-century black people living in England achieved exceptional success. One of the leaders in 19th-century chartism was William Cuffay, who was born on a merchant ship in the West Indies in 1788, and whose father, had been a slave in St Kitts.

Post-war period

In 1950, it was estimated there were no more than 20,000 non-White residents in the United Kingdom, mainly in England; almost all born overseas.

From the 1950s into the 1960s, there was a continuous influx of African students, sportsmen, and businessmen mixed within British society. They are widely viewed as having been a major contributing factor to the rebuilding of the post-war urban London economy.

In 1962, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed in by the government, along with a succession of other laws in 1968, 1971, and 1981 that severely restricted the entry of Black Caribbean immigrants into the United Kingdom. In 1975, a new voice emerged for the Black population of London; his name was David Pitt and he brought a new voice to the House of Lords. He spoke against racism and for equality in regards to all residents of Britain.

By the end of the 20th century, the number of Black Londoners numbered half a million, according to the 1991 UK Census. An increasing number of these Black Londoners were London, or British-born. Even with this growing population and the first black peoples elected to the UK Parliament, many argue that there was still discrimination and a socio-economic imbalance in London among the Black community. In 1992, the number of Black members in Parliament increased to six and in 1997, they increased their numbers to nine. There are still many problems that Black Londoners face; the new global and high-tech information revolution is changing the urban economy and some argue that it is driving unemployment rates among Blacks up relative to non-Blacks, something which, it is argued, threatens to erode the progress made thus far.

As of June 2007, the Black population of London was 802,300, equivalent to 10.6% of the population of London; 4.3% of Londoners are Caribbean, 5.5% of Londoners are African and a further 0.8% are from other black backgrounds including American and Latin American. There are also 117,400 people who are mixed black and white. At the 2011 UK Census, the total Black population of London stood at 1,088,640 or 13.3% of the population.

20th century

One black Londoner, Learie Constantine, a cricketer from Trinidad and welfare officer in the RAF, was refused service at the Imperial Hotel in London in July 1943. He stood up for his rights and later was awarded compensation.

That particular example is used by some to illustrate the slow change toward acceptance and equality of all citizens in London.