Regional History talk / Black History Month: Remembering the Bristol Bus Boycott Campaign of 1963

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Bristol Bus Boycott campaign. As the first black-led campaign against racial discrimination since WW2, it was a watershed moment in the British Civil Rights Movement.

In the early 1960s, black citizens of Bristol experienced racism in every aspect of their lives. The one area of discrimination that particularly rankled was the ‘colour bar’ on the buses operated by the Bristol Omnibus Company. A small group of local activists decided to end this situation by campaigning for equal rights to employment on the city’s buses.

The talk will explore the issues and challenges that the campaigners faced over four months of activism. Victory was achieved on August 28th 1963, when the bus company finally announced there would be no more racial discrimination in employing bus crews. This victory was on the same day that Martin Luther King Junior, made his famous, ‘I Have A Dream ‘ speech in America.

The talk will also include the personal account of Joyce Morris-Wisdom (pictured above), one of the black female activists involved in the Bristol Bus Boycott campaign.

Speakers:

Joyce Morris-Wisdom has always been passionate about social justice, fairness and equality. It was this passion that drew her to become involved with the Bristol Boycott campaign and later to youth work. Now a retired social worker, she still believes that it is important to support communities affected by inequality.

Silu Pascoe is a retired social worker with a lifelong interest in history. As an independent researcher, she has studied some major historical events and found hidden or overlooked histories of black people within them. She has also been active in a number of social justice campaigns.

About the Regional History talks:

Each year Bristol Museums delivers a season of regional history talks in partnership with the Regional History Centre at the University of the West of England (UWE). The talks are monthly between October to June and explore research into the history of Bristol and the surrounding region.

How to take part

This launch event is in person but future talks in the series will be online via zoom. Please book your ticket for the  event below to guarantee a place.

BSL interpretation

This event will have British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation.