Bristol Bus Boycott
Date | 30 April 1963 |
---|---|
Location | Bristol, England |
Participants | Paul Stephenson, Roy Hackett, Owen Henry, Audley Evans and Prince Brown |
Outcome | Employment of first non-white conductor, 17 September 1963 |
The Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 arose from the refusal of the
The boycott drew national attention to racial discrimination in Britain and the campaign was supported by national politicians, with interventions being made by church groups and the
Background
One of their foremost grievances was the
Some white conductresses expressed concern for their safety if they were crewed with black men. Another of the bus workers' concerns, apart from
The dispute
Boycott
Four young West Indian men, Roy Hackett, Owen Henry, Audley Evans and Prince Brown, formed an action group, later to be called the West Indian Development Council. They were unhappy with the lack of progress in fighting discrimination by the West Indian Association. Owen Henry had met Paul Stephenson, whose father was from West Africa, and who had been to college. The group decided that the articulate Stephenson would be their spokesman.[6] Stephenson set up a test case to prove the colour bar existed by arranging an interview with the bus company for Guy Bailey, a young warehouseman and Boys' Brigade officer. When Stephenson told the company that Bailey was West Indian, the interview was cancelled.[7] Inspired by the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama and the ensuing Montgomery bus boycott in the United States in 1955, the activists decided on a bus boycott in Bristol.[8]
Their action was announced at a press conference on 29 April 1963. The following day, they claimed that none of the city's West Indians were using the buses and that many white people supported them.[9] In an editorial, the Bristol Evening Post pointed out that the TGWU opposed the apartheid system in South Africa and asked what trade union leaders were doing to counteract racism in their own ranks.[10] When reporters questioned the bus company about the boycott, the general manager, Ian Patey, said
The advent of coloured crews would mean a gradual falling off of white staff. It is true that London Transport employ a large coloured staff. They even have recruiting offices in Jamaica and they subsidise the fares to Britain of their new coloured employees. As a result of this, the amount of white labour dwindles steadily on the London Underground. You won't get a white man in London to admit it, but which of them will join a service where they may find themselves working under a coloured foreman? ... I understand that in London, coloured men have become arrogant and rude, after they have been employed for some months.[11][12]
Support
Students from
Tony Benn,
The local branch of the TGWU refused to meet with a delegation from the West Indian Development Council and an increasingly bitter war of words was fought out in the local media. Ron Nethercott, South West Regional Secretary of the union, persuaded a local black TGWU member, Bill Smith, to sign a statement which called for quiet negotiation to solve the dispute. It condemned Stephenson for causing potential harm to the city's Black and Asian population.
The Bristol Council of Churches launched a mediation attempt, saying
We seriously regret that what may prove an extended racial conflict arising from this issue has apparently been deliberately created by a small group of West Indians professing to be representative. We also deplore the apparent fact that social and economic fears on the part of some white people should have placed the Bristol Bus Company in a position where it is most difficult to fulfil the Christian ideal of race relations.[18]
This in turn was criticised by Robert Davison, an official at the Jamaican High Commission, who stated that it was "nonsense to describe a group of West Indians as unrepresentative when no representative West Indian body existed".[19]
At a May Day rally, held on Sunday 6 May in Eastville, Bristol Trades Council members publicly criticised the TGWU. On the same day Paul Stephenson had organised a demonstration march to St Mary Redcliffe church but there was a poor turnout. Some local West Indians said they should not ripple the water and according to Roy Hackett, they may have feared victimisation.[20] The dispute led to what has been described as one of the largest mailbags that the Bristol Evening Post had ever received, with contributors writing in support of both sides of the issue.
Resolution
The union, the city Labour establishment and the
Aftermath
In 1965, the
Unite, the successor to the Transport and General Workers Union, issued an apology in February 2013. Laurence Faircloth, the union's South West secretary said of the union's stance at the time, "It was completely unacceptable. I can well accept the sense of injustice and pain that has been felt because [of] what happened in Bristol all those years ago".[30]
Recognition
In the
Deaths
Roy Hackett died in 2022, at the age of 93.[33]
See also
- Racial segregation in the United Kingdom
- Anti-discrimination law
- Civil and political rights
- Montgomery bus boycott
- 1957 Alexandra Bus Boycott
- Asquith Xavier—a British Railways employee who ended a colour bar at London stations by becoming the first non-white guard
Notes
- ^ Dresser 1986, p. 10–11
- ^ a b Dresser 1986, p. 12
- ^ Samuel 1989, p. 350
- ^ Dresser 1986, pp. 13–14
- ^ Dresser 1986, p. 39
- ^ Dresser 1986, pp. 14–15
- ^ Dresser 1986, p. 17
- ^ a b Verkaik, Robert (8 November 2005). "40 years on, due credit for civil rights pioneer". The Independent. London: Independent News and Media. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ Staff writer (30 April 1963). "W. Indians claim 100 p.c. support for bus boycott". Bristol Evening Post. Bristol: Bristol United Press.
- ^ Dresser 1986, p. 20.
- ^ Staff writer (6 July 2005). "Paul Stephenson". Bristol Evening Post, archived at LexisNexis. Bristol: Bristol United Press. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
- ^ Our Special Correspondent (3 May 1963). "Bus Boycott By West Indians: Company's Refusal To Employ Man". The Times, archived at the Times Digital Archive. London: Times Newspapers. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
- ^ Dresser 1986, p. 26
- ^ Dresser 1986, p. 26–27
- ^ a b c Dresser 1986, p. 21–28
- ^ "Gloucestershire v West Indians at Bristol, 4–7 May 1963". cricinfo. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
- ^ "High Court of Justice: Queen's Bench Division: Bristol Bus Boycott, Stephenson v. Odhams Press Ltd, And Another". The Times, archived at the Times Digital Archive. London: Times Newspapers. 20 December 1963. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
- ^ Our Correspondent (6 May 1963). "Meeting Today on Bus Colour Bar: Church Mediation AIM". The Times, archived at Times Digital Archive. London: Times Newspapers. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
- ^ Our Correspondent (7 May 1963). "Church Statement "Lamentable"". The Times, archived at the Times Digital Archive. London: Times Newspapers. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
- ^ Dresser 1986, pp. 29–32
- ^ "Bus Colour Bar To End". The Times. London: Times Newspapers. 8 May 1963. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
- ^ Dresser 1986, pp. 42–47
- ^ Western Daily Press Reporter (29 August 1963). "Bus firm drops colour bar". Western Daily Press. Bristol: Bristol United Press.
- ^ Dresser 1986, p. 50
- ^ "1965: New UK race law 'not tough enough'". BBC News. 8 December 1965. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
- ^ "1968: Race discrimination law tightened". BBC News. 26 November 1968. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
- ^ Dresser 1986, p. 57
- ^ "Leading article: In praise of... the Race Relations Acts". The Guardian. London. 10 November 2005. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ Paterson, Roz (29 September 2003). "The day they took racism on board; It all started in Bristol in 1963, when the conscience of Britain was awoken by one black community worker". The Herald, archived at LexisNexis. Glasgow: Scottish Media Newspapers. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
- ^ Staff (26 February 2013). "Union apology after 1960s Bristol buses race row". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
- ^ United Kingdom "No. 58929". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 December 2008. p. 12.
- ^ What was behind the Bristol bus boycott?, BBC News, 27 August 2013
- ^ "Bristol bus boycott organiser Roy Hackett dies aged 93", BBC News, 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022
Works cited
- Dresser, Madge (1986). Black and White on the Buses: The 1963 Colour Bar Dispute in Bristol. Bristol: Bristol Broadsides. ISBN 0-906944-30-9.
- Samuel, Raphael (1989). Patriotism: History and Politics v.1: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity: History and Politics Vol 1 (History Workshop). New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-01307-0.
External links
- Joyce Morris-Wisdom's account of her participation in the boycott
- Student thesis: Racial Discrimination in employment? The Bristol bus boycott of 1963, Joyce Chappell, 2007 (MS Word)
- Short video clip from the BBC learning Zone on the Bristol Bus Boycott Archived 3 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- Resources on the Bus Boycott from Bristol Education
- Podcast on BBC Witness June 4 2013, 50th anniversary
- Jon Kelly, "What was behind the Bristol bus boycott?", BBC News Magazine, 27 August 2013