Universal Coloured People's Association
Abbreviation | UCPA |
---|---|
Successor | Altheia Jones-Lecointe |
Secessions | Universal Coloured People and Arab Association (UCPAAA) |
Funding | Membership fees (5s. on joining, 5d. monthly as of 1968[update])[1] |
The Universal Coloured People's Association (UCPA) was a black power organisation in the United Kingdom from June 1967 to July 1970.
History
The association was founded on 5 June 1967 at a meeting of 76 members of the Black British community in Notting Hill, London.[2][3] The UCPA's development as a black power organisation was driven by Stokely Carmichael's July 1967 visit to Britain, where he spoke at the Dialectics of Liberation Congress in London.[4] Just days after Carmichael's visit Obi Egbuna, a Nigerian-born novelist and playwright who had been living in England since 1961, was elected chairman of the association.[5] On 10 September that year the UCPA launched a pamphlet called Black Power in Britain, the stated purpose of which was "to awake the coloured people of Britain to the lessons of Stokely Carmichael".[6]
Roy Sawh was initially second-in-command of the organisation, but due to disagreements with Obi Egbuna, Sawh and his supporters left the association only a month after its establishment to form a small splinter group called the Universal Coloured People and Arab Association (UCPAAA).[2] Egbuna himself left the association in April 1968 to establish the British Black Panthers; a more hierarchical and disciplined organisation than the UCPA.[2]
Leadership of both UCPA and the British Black Panthers was later taken up by
Plagued by in-fighting from its inception, the UCPA split up when most of its members opted to form a new organisation called the Black Unity and Freedom Party (BUFP) on 26 July 1970.
Ideology
As a black power organisation, white people were prohibited from joining the UCPA. However, an association leaflet called "Black Power is Black Unity" defined "black" to include all non-white people, and there were several Asian members including Roy Sawh and Tony Soares.[2] This broad application of the label "black" is known in the UK as political blackness, with "black" intended to act as an antonym to "white" rather than to describe only those of African descent.[8][9]
Both
Activities
The UCPA set up study groups across the UK, as well as a "Free University for Black Studies".[9]
The largest branch of the association outside London was the Manchester branch, led by Ron Phillips and based in Moss Side.[2]
Legal issues
Like much of the black power movement, the UCPA and its members were subject to police surveillance and charges of criminal activity. Roy Sawh's speech at
See also
- League of Coloured Peoples, a civil rights organisation in the UK active 1931-1951
- Forever Family, a modern black power-inspired organisation in the UK
- Black Equity Organisation, a black civil rights organisation in the UK formed in 2022
References
- ^ Universal Coloured People's Association. "Black Power in Britain" (1968-1970) [pamphlet]. Papers of Ansel Wong (WONG), ID: WONG/6/26. London, UK: Black Cultural Archives. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Wild, Rosie; Lubbers, Eveline (17 September 2019). "Black Power – 2. Main groups". specialbranchfiles.uk. Special Branch Files Project. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
- ^ Richards, Sam; Saba, Paul (25 October 2017). "Independent radical black politics: Looking at the BUFP & BLF" (PDF). marxists.org. Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Bunce, Robin (2 November 2021). "Black Power and campaigning for civil liberties in Britain". bl.uk. British Library. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Knight, Bryan (7 December 2020). "'They were afraid of us': The legacy of Britain's Black Panthers". aljazeera.com. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
- ^ Wyver, John (10 July 2020). "Obi Egbuna and the BBC: the story continued". illuminationsmedia.co.uk. Illuminations Media. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ Ward J A (22 December 2020). "She was a leader of the British Black Panthers Altheia Jones-Lecointe". ontheshoulders1.com. On The Shoulders of Giants. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ Samdani, Arsalan (27 August 2019). "The Brown in Black Power: Militant South Asian Organizing in Post-War Britain". jamhoor.org. Jamhoor, Issue 3. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
- ^ a b Prescod, Colin (6 June 2019). "The 'rebel' history of the Grove". irr.org.uk. Institute of Race Relations. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
- S2CID 150411821. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ Blankson, Perry (23 October 2021). "The British State's Secret War on Black Power". tribunemag.co.uk. Tribune. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Sakai, Katin (Spring 2021). "The Black Panther Party: History and Theory". wp.nyu.edu. New York University. Retrieved 1 September 2023.