Mixed White and Black African people in the United Kingdom are a multi-ethnic and biracial group of UK-residents who identify with, or are perceived to have, both White and Black African ancestry.[2][3][4]
They constitute a growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 165,974 (0.3% of the population) persons identifying as 'Mixed White and Black African' in the 2011 United Kingdom census. This represented a national demographic increase of 54% from the 107,700 persons (0.2% of the population) in 2001.
In the United Kingdom censuses, 'Mixed White and Black African' is one of four subcategories of self-reported mixed ethnicity. The others are 'Mixed White and Black Caribbean', 'Mixed White and Asian', and 'Other Mixed'. Outside of the census, academics have studied the grouping, and resources regarding self-identity have explored emerging versions of mixed, white, black, and African identities in the United Kingdom.
Terminology
Mixed White and Black African people are referenced and categorised across a multitude of areas of media, journalism and academia, as well as in relation to perceptions of personhood and self-identity. At times informally, they have been referred to as Mixed or Mixed-race White and Black African persons, people, and other variants,[2][3] in the study and reporting of the group in the United Kingdom.[4][5][6]
Within government-derived naming conventions, such as within the corresponding Office for National Statistics 'ethnic group' census category ('Mixed White and Black African'); the grouping is also widely referenced in relation to demographics of the country. This census category has been utilised by government, policing, the NHS, as well as non-governmental agencies, including charities, universities and other organisations.
Census
The option for the 'Mixed White and Black African' ethnic group was first introduced in the 2001 United Kingdom census. The category was listed alongside, and distinct from, various 'Mixed' subcategories, including 'Mixed White and Asian', 'Mixed White and Black Caribbean', and 'Mixed Other'.
Other organisations and government
Kirklees Council uses the abbreviated 'Ethnicity Code' of MWBA for Mixed White and Black African persons.[7] The Equality and Human Rights Commission use it to study ethnic groups in the United Kingdoms.[8] In the country's education system, UCAS and HESA collect statistics on the grouping, providing analysis to improve participation in higher education for person who identify with both white and black African ancestry.[9]NHS in Central Bedfordshire defines members of the group as an ethnic minority.[10] The Welsh Government has used the category to analyse different ethnic minority groups and population compositions in the UK.[11]
Use in academia
Ethnicity expert Peter J. Aspinall has made use of the category to evaluate changing perceptions of self-identity within the grouping between UK censuses.[12] Professor of infectious disease epidemiology Ibrahim Abubakar has co-authored research in relation to COVID-19 which uses the grouping to analysis health outcomes of people with white and black African heritage within Britain.[13]
Demographics
Population and distribution
The population of persons of Mixed White and Black African ancestry rose from 107,700 to 165,974 between the 2001 and 2011 censuses. This represented a national demographic rise from 0.2% to 0.3% for the whole UK population.
In England, the share of the population of persons identifying as Mixed White and Black African declined from 0.4% to 0.3%.[14] With regards census-based identity, according to research by academic Peter J. Aspinall, 56.8 percent of those identifying with the category, chose the same ethnic group in the following UK census.[12][15]
Education
In 2016 data, Mixed White and Black African pupils had a 20% eligibility rate for free school meals. Of those eligible, 43% achieved 5 or more A* to C grade GCSEs, while those uneligible had a 60% rate, representing an 18% achievement gap. Chinese Britons had the smallest gap at 3% and White British had the highest at 33%.[2] In contrast with other mixed groupings in the local authority, Mixed White and Black African pupils performed near to the group's national average in Lambeth.[3]
In 2020 research on COVID-19-related deaths on different ethnic groups in the UK, data for standardised mortality ratios and confidence intervals showed that, while White British persons were at lower risk than the national average, and Black African persons were at higher risk; persons identifying as Mixed White and Black African demonstrated neither increased or reduced risk of mortality.[13] A 2010 study also found the group demonstrating a median data position between the same two other census categories. They were found to be less likely to consume alcohol than White British persons, and more likely than Black African persons.[5]
Representations
Many public figures from various fields and professions in the United Kingdom have spoken about their experiences as mixed race persons who possess what they, or various media, have defined as white and black African ancestry. Raised in Wales by an English mother and Nigerian father, singer Shirley Bassey's upbringing as a "mixed-race child brought up by a white mother" has been described as "highly unusual" for 1930s Britain.[19] Also a singer, Emeli Sandé has referred to "the Talk" as a conversation that parents are faced with when black and mixed-race children first experience racism. Sandé, who has a white mother and black Zimbabwean father, was responding to the George Floyd protests in 2020.[20] Fellow singer Raye, who has English, Swiss and Ghanaian heritage, believes that being mixed race has contributed to her ability to span music genres.[21]
Actress Ashley Madekwe has stated "I'm mixed race, and I'm very proud of that fact." Madwekwe suggested that "I don't look white. I can't really play white" characters.[22] Also relating to casting in the film industry, Carmen Ejogo, who has Scottish and Nigerian ancestry, has proposed that her mixed-race heritage made her susceptible to a form of exoticism-based typecasting.[23] With English, German Jewish, and Ghanaian ancestry, journalist Afua Hirsch concurs that the perceived exoticism of mixed race people has been exploited in media and advertising:[24]
And where as a child I longed for the normality of seeing a physical resemblance in others, now images of mixed-race people are everywhere. The trademark look; curly hair, brown skin, features that are a touch exotic but not so different as to be threatening to the mainstream, is used to sell sofas, house insurance, gym memberships and mobile phones. It's as if we have become the new, acceptable face of blackness.
Politicians Chuka Umunna and Helen Grant self-identify as mixed race; both being of English and Nigerian extraction.[25] Actress Tupele Dorgu believes that her black Nigerian father and white English mother's marriage was judged in a discriminatory manner by members of her community growing up in Manchester, England.[26]
Notable contributions
Arts and entertainment
Notable actors and actresses who are from or based in the UK have been described as being mixed race, and either referenced in media with or identify themselves as having both white and black African ancestry. Thandie Newton has English and Zimbabwean ancestry.[27]Nimmy March,[28] and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are of South African and English ancestry.[29]Sophie Okonedo has maternal Polish Jewish and Russian Jewish heritage, and paternal Nigerian ancestry.[30]
Many notable musicians and singers based in or originating from the United Kingdom have been identified as having both white and black African ancestry. Sade[39] and Shirley Bassey are of English and Nigerian extraction.[19]Emeli Sandé has English and Zimbabwean ancestry.[40][20]Raye is of English, Swiss and Ghanaian descent,[21] and MC Harvey has English and Sierra Leonean heritage.[41]
^ abRavinder Barn; Vicki Harman (2006). "A Contested Identity: An Exploration of the Competing Social and Political Discourse Concerning the Identification and Positioning of Young People of Inter-Racial Parentage". The British Journal of Social Work. Vol. 36. Oxford University Press. Mixed white and black African people accounted for 78,911 people (11.9 per cent of the mixed population).
^ abPeter J. Aspinall (2018). "What kind of mixed race/ethnicity data is needed for the 2020/21 global population census round: the cases of the UK, USA, and Canada". Ethnic and Racial Studies. Vol. 41. Routledge. Only modest proportions stayed in the same "mixed" group from one census to the next: Mixed white and black Caribbean, 76.4 per cent; Mixed white and Asian, 58.8 per cent; Mixed white and black African, 56.8 per cent
^Ludi Simpson (May 2014). "How have people's ethnic identities changed in England and Wales?". Dynamics of Diversity: Evidence From The 2011 Census(PDF). Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The Mixed categories were asked only from 2001, and so their stability in the census can only be measured for the period 2001-2011. It is lower than the 'non-mixed' groups, with over 40% of those choosing 'Mixed White and Asian' or 'Mixed White and Black African' in 2001 moving to a different category in 2011.
^ abTP O’Mahony (23 October 2010). "Brassy side of Bassey". Irish Examiner. When she was born, in the late 1930s, to be a mixed-race child brought up by a white mother in Britain was highly unusual ... Her father was Henry Bassey, a merchant seaman from Calabar, in Nigeria.
^ abLiz Hoggard (15 March 2016). "The Ballsy Move That Scored Ashley Madekwe Her Acting Career". Elle. As mixed race woman, there were times she felt too black or not black enough. "There's an archaic view of what it means to be a black woman sometimes in TV and film," says Madekwe. "I'm mixed race, and I'm very proud of that fact. I don't hide it. I don't look white. I can't really play white.
^ abAlexis Soloski (18 January 2019). "Carmen Ejogo of 'True Detective' Dangles in a Circus". New York Times. Though Ms. Ejogo usually plays American characters, she was born in London, the daughter of a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father ... looking for roles that wouldn't typecast her as the "mixed-race sort of 'exotic' pretty girl"
^Victoria Young (2 April 2003). "March to the top". Evening Standard. Yet life as a mixed-race girl in a white family was never going to be a bed of roses ... She was born the illegitimate daughter of a white mother and a black father in the Sixties.
^Megan Conner (18 March 2018). "Gugu Mbatha-Raw: on Oprah, race and Hollywood". The Guardian. Born in 1983, Mbatha-Raw would have been just a year old when Prince picked up his Academy Award for Purple Rain. At this peak in his career, her mother, a white British nurse, and father, a black South African doctor, would more likely have been fans.
^Liz Hoggard (20 February 2005). "'I guess I'm up for grabs now'". The Guardian. Okonedo was born in 1969. Her father, a government worker, left the marital home to return to Nigeria when she was five, leaving her mother to raise Sophie. ... All the usual tabloid elements are there: errant black father, brave white single mother and, of course, the plucky young actress who defies the odds to win through.
^In the 1950s Norah was waitressing in a cafe in Plymouth's Union Street when a young merchant seaman from Sierra Leone called in. ... Norah's father was against the multiracial relationship, but they married anyway ... Eventually they moved to multiracial Tiger Bay in Wales and raised four more children, making six in total ... Norah moved back to her beloved Devonport, bringing with her daughter Jennifer. And Jennifer gave birth to Harvey or 'Junior' (27 January 2003). "So Solid Crew". BBC.((cite news)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Patrick Barkham (29 August 2008). "'I always knew I was different'". The Guardian. Perhaps most formative was the fact that she was virtually the only non-white person in Carlisle - her mother was white, and her father was black. "I was always noticeable and I always knew I was different," says Grant.
^Katharine Hibbert (25 February 2007). "Best of Times, Worst of Times: Linda Bellos". The Times. Now a racial-equality consultant, Bellos, 56, is best remembered as an activist and leader of Lambeth council in the 1980s. Here she recalls the constant racism she experienced as the child of a white Jewish mother and a Nigerian father growing up in south London.