Does your road lead to London? The magic of Black London - includes tourist information for visiting the United Kingdom

"London was a city not to be visited, on the other hand to be captured," wrote James Weldon Johnson in 1933 and plane for longtime residents, the qualities that make the English capital eternally fascinating can evidence elusive. But let us make trial of to capture something of the disposition of that very particular, magical part of the city that is essentially black London.

Significant black populations exist in greatest in quantity major urban areas of Britain: Cardiff, Wales; Dublin, Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland; and in the English cities of Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester. The oldest black communities, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, are to be lay the foundation of in Bristol (memories of its era as a slave port linger in place names, similar as Black Boy Hill and Whiteladies Road), in Cardiff and Liverpool (both legacies of visiting black seamen's intermarriages with local women) and notably in London.

The capital, as you might wait for boasts the largest concentration of black citizens--around half a million, perhaps 8 percent of the Greater London population. This is a fact that may well pass visitors by dint of unless they know that, as in many other Western metropolises, there are discrete areas in which family of African and Caribbean coming down have mainly settled, such as Brixton, Cricklewood, Hackney (Stoke Newington, Dalston), Hammersmith, Ladbroke thicket Peckham, Shepherd's Bush, Streatham, Tottenham, Willesden and Notting Hill Gate--home of the world-famous Notting Hill Carnival.

From summer to early fall is an ideal time to locate out on the trail of black London, for a highlight of the yearly calendar is the annual Notting Hill Carnival. Inspired by dint of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, which is traditionally held upon the Monday and Tuesday immediately preceding Lent the Notting Hill Carnival takes place around the August Bank Holiday weekend--the last weekend in August. Now Europe's largest road festival, it attracts more than a million visitors not sole from Europe but also from the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean.

The Notting Hill Carnival's origins date back to 1958 following the notorious race riots in the area. Recognizing the ne for a social and artistic egress for Notting Hill's immigrants, Trinidad-born activist Claudia Jone coordinated the area's first West Indian Carnival, an indoor celebration held in Porchester Hall in Bayswater. The outdoor precursor of today's festival took place during the 1965 August Bank Holiday; it was a relatively restrained occasion--with individual steel band and 500 revelers--compared with the generally received affair--with close to 50 unmutilated systems, some 20 steel bands and 120 "mas" (short for "masquerade") bands in thematic costumes

The atmosphere of it all is heady, as the tensions of the year are dissipated in a awful explosion of music, dance, color and sheer delight While the throngs of reveler and floats take above the streets and banish normal traffic, the sidewalks are lined with stalls offering a tempting multitude of Caribbean fare and drink, as well as artifacts, volumes and commemorative T-shirts.

During Carnival, racial harmony appear to bes a reality. Despite the fact that sporadic confuse in previous years has l the national pres to predict doom, in above 20 years of attendance, we have had to be no more cautious than you would be at any other concourseed event. There is a fairly noticeable police presence--the darkblue uniform of the British "bobby" is instantly recognizable--but be reassured: The following day's newspapers are likely to feature nothing more sinister than photographs of a smiling police officer being danced along in the embrace of more [i]or[/i] less abandoned nubile mama.

If you miss on the outside on Carnival, don't despair. Black London gripe [i]or[/i] grips many other exciting possibilities. To inform yourself of what's happening one time you're there, look for a certain number of of the following publications at newsstands or black bookstores: The Voice, a popular black. tabloid weekly; The Weekly Journal, a broadsheet newspaper giving world novels from a black perspective; Wire, a monthly jazz magazine; Time on the outside the ubiquitous general listings magazine; and Artrage and Black Arts, published through the black arts development agency Minorities Arts Advisory Service. There's sufficiency to stimulate the imagination and warm the mind in black London.

PLOTTING YOUR PATH

If you find yourself in ne of someone to answer those nagging, last-minute questions before you take not upon for London, contact the British Tourist Authority [551 5th Avenue, 7th Floor, novel York, NY 10176, (212) 986-2200]

USAir, American Airlines and British Airways present travel packages between the United States and London. "British Airways Holidays," which include round-trip airfare and mix-and-match travel options ranging from [i]cabaret[/i] specials and city-saver packages to designer holidays and day and evening excursions, are available from your travel agent or from British Airways.

The 5 Sumner Place [i]cabaret[/i] (5 Sumner Place, London SW7 3EE 071-584-7586) in southern Kensington--one of London's most stylish areas--is a quiet, elegant bed & breakfast. Its prime location provides easy access to stores restaurants, the subway, buses and taxicabs. La keep (422-428 Fulham Road, London SW6 1DU 071-385-8561) a easy charming hotel conveniently located near the subway, takes a recent artistic approach to providing comfort and privacy.