The
slave trade significantly influenced the growth of racism, most obviously
in the U.S. where it is institutionalised, but also, less obviously, in Britain. Stories of slave
rebellions, runaways and attacks on plantation owners were rife in
the colonies and were also echoed in the British press and this
succeeded in perpetuating the myth that black people were lawless,
untrustworthy and violent. The slave trade in all its aspects,
significantly influenced the growth of racial theory as a method for
society to justify its unjustifiable actions. Thus racism was vindicated and impacted black people adversely over hundreds of years from the 17th century on until today when official racism has long been outlawed in Britain though informal racism still exists, allegedly, within the police force and employment.
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A temporary name change while seeking a permanent new title
The Colston Arms re-named, for now, Ye olde Pubby Mcdrunkface |
Georgian
House in Bristol was originally built for John Pinney [1740-1818] who
owned several sugar plantations in the West Indies. From 1762-1783
Pinney lived in Nevis running his plantations but in 1783 he returned
home to Bristol, bringing two black attendants with him: Fanny Coker
and Pero Jones, both bought by him in 1765 when Pinney also bought
Pero’s sisters, Nancy and Sheeba but left the little girls to work
on the Matravers Plantation in Nevis. There is related original
documentation held by the University of Bristol Library recording the
date of purchase of the little slave family with evidence of the physical appearance of each member of the family sold. Interestingly, Pero’s Bridge, a footbridge across the River
Frome was opened in Bristol docks in 1999, and memorialises the black
boy of 12 who died, aged 45, in 1798 in Ashton, Bristol after a
lifetime of domestic service in the area.
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| Pero's Bridge, Bristol. |
By the
early 1960s, Bristol had an estimated 3000 residents of West Indian
origin, some of whom had served in the British Army during WW2 and
included a large number who had arrived, by invitation of the UK
Government, as part of the Windrush generation from 1948 onward. [And
for the recent (2018 on) Home Office hostile treatment of Windrush
descendants, Google it!]There was a significant number of West
Indians therefore, living in the St. Paul’s area of Bristol which
had set up its own churches and other associations, developing a real
sense of community in the face of[ widespread discrimination in
housing and employment and sporadic violence from Teddy Boys, gangs
of white racist youths.
The
Bristol Omnibus Company at this time, openly employed only white bus
drivers and conductors [while allowing black cleaners and maintenance
men]. In fact this was in line with widespread racial discrimination
in housing and employment in other British cities at this time. In
Bristol, an organisation founded by Roy Hackett and led by youth
worker, Paul Stephenson, and including the so-called West Indian
Development Council, a local black pressure group, instigated what
became known as the Bristol Bus Boycott in 1963. The idea had come
from the indomitable Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat
for a white person which led to the ensuing Montgomery Bus Boycott in
Alabama. The Bristol Bus Boycott drew overwhelming local support from
black and many white residents and lasted for four months until the
company backed down and overturned the discriminatory policy. The
Boycott drew national attention to racial discrimination in Britain
and attracted the active support of politicians, Church groups and
the High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago, the famous Leary
Constantine.
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| Old [1950s] Bristol Omnibus Company bus. |
The
Bristol Omnibus Company was a nationalised company owned by the U.K.
Government from 1950. Despite an acknowledged shortage of bus crews,
black men were considered only for lower paid work in canteens and
workshops. The policy was blamed by the Company management on the
insistence of the Transport and General Workers’ Union [T.G.W.U.]
This was denied by T.G.W.U. officials despite a 1955 T.G.W.U.
resolution that ‘coloured’ workers could not be employed as bus
crews and that if such happened, “if one black man steps on the
platform as a conductor, every wheel will stop.” The underlying
fear was of reducing wages from increased competition. The four
months involving a war of words in the local media; a refusal by the
T.G.W.U. to meet a delegation from the West Indian Development
Council; plus perhaps some negotiation, was marked by real bitterness
when Ron Nethercott, Regional Secretary of the Union, opined in the
national Daily Herald, that Stephenson, who had emerged as the leader
of the boycott, was dishonest and irresponsible. Stephenson,
college-educated and articulate, sued in the High Court and won
damages and costs in December 1963. Meanwhile, with the boycott causing increasing economic problems, and following a mass meeting of 500 bus
workers on August 27th it was announced that there would be no
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Left to right:
Audley Evans; Paul Stephenson; Owen Henry.
1963. |
more discrimination in the selection of bus crews.
Serendipitously, this announcement coincided with Martin Luther
King’s “
I have a dream ..” speech in Washington. On 17
th
September 1963, Raghbir Singh, a Sikh, became Bristol’s first,
non-white bus conductor with two Jamaican and two Pakistani men
joining him ‘on the platform’ soon after.
Unite,
the successor to the T.G.W.U. issued an apology for its shameful
discriminatory actions and language in 1963. It was made by Lawrence
Faircloth, the union’s South West Secretary, who agreed that its
behaviour had been ‘completely unacceptable.’ Hilariously and
appallingly, this public apology was made in FEBRUARY 2013. Oh, Perfidious Albion!
The
Bristol Bus Boycott was believed to have been an important
contributor to the passing of the Race Relations Act of 1965 which
made ‘racial discrimination unlawful in public places’, and the
Race Relations Act 1968 which extended the provisions to employment and housing.
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Plaque attesting to Bristol as Capital of the Atlantic Slave
Trade, 1730-1745
From 12,000,000 captives, 6,000,000 died. |
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| Colston Hall, Bristol. |
