Celebrating Black History Month, 17th October
Each day in October we will be finding out about Black History that is less well known. Often Black History focusses on a few key individuals…we hope that this October everyone can learn something that they didn’t already know.
Bristol Bus Boycott
Less well know than the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott is Britain’s very own version, the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963.
The Bus Boycott was due to a Bristol Bus Company refusing to employ workers of Black or Asian heritage. At the time there were more than 3000 people living in Bristol of Black decent, yet the Bristol Bus Company claimed that they had to give jobs to people who were part of the traditional, white community of Bristol.
The Boycott resulted in Parliament not only forcing the Bristol Bus Company to drop its racist employment policy, but also led to the Race Relations Act of 1965, which made it illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on ethnicity or national heritage.
