Dr. Paul Stephenson OBE was one of Britain’s most important civil rights campaigners, and a leading organiser of the Bristol bus boycott in 1963. Following his recent passing at the age of 87, this post highlights the resources the British Library can offer for anyone wanting to find out more about his life and work.
Paul Stephenson made history, but also understood the importance of recording that history through archives and books. He wrote his memoirs and published them with Tangent Books in Bristol, a “purposefully radical publisher”. This post goes on to celebrate some of the remarkable independent publishers in Bristol who have worked to ensure that Paul Stephenson’s story is told, along with many other ‘untold stories’ of people determined to make change.
Second, enlarged, edition of Memoirs of a Black Englishman by Paul Stephenson and Lilleith Morrison. Bristol: Tangent Books, 2021. YKL.2022.a.35798
Born in Essex in 1937, Paul Stephenson served in the RAF from 1953 until 1960. After completing a Diploma in Youth and Community Work in Birmingham, he was appointed as a youth worker by Bristol City Council, becoming the city’s first Black social worker.
At that time the Bristol Omnibus Company running the city’s bus services only employed white drivers and conductors and actively discriminated against Black and Asian people by barring them from this work. In 1963 Stephenson joined with others, first to expose this policy, and then to overturn the ‘colour bar’. Inspired by Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, he called for a boycott of the buses in Bristol.
Black Bristolians who had formed the West Indian Development Council to fight discrimination were joined by students and many others. The boycott of bus services was supplemented by demonstrations and sit-ins outside the bus station.
Company managers and the local representatives of the Transport & General Workers Union initially justified the ban on Black workers. Stephenson was described as “irresponsible and dishonest” by the TGWU regional secretary Ron Nethercott, but he successfully sued and won damages, gaining further publicity and national support for the boycott.
Among prominent supporters of the campaign were Labour MPs Tony Benn and Fenner Brockway (the latter had earlier pushed for legislation to ban racial discrimination), as well as former Trinidadian cricketer Learie Constantine. Learie Constantine had himself challenged racial discrimination in the 1940s, successfully suing a hotel company when he and his family were refused accommodation on the grounds of their race.
Learie Constantine and race relations in Britain and the Empire, by Jeff Hill. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. British Library shelfmark YC.2019.a.5854
Learie Constantine qualified as a barrister and also worked as a journalist and broadcaster. At the time of the Bristol bus boycott, he was the Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner to the UK. His public profile gave the bus boycott wider media coverage.
After four months, the bus company backed down, announcing that it would no longer bar Black and Asian people from becoming drivers and conductors. This came on the same day as Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech at the March on Washington, 28 August 1963.
Future Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson also supported the boycott, and once he was in office, he introduced the Race Relations Act in 1965 making racial discrimination in employment illegal – one landmark in the ongoing struggle for equity.
Paul Stephenson went on to work in leading roles for organisations challenging racial discrimination, notably working with champion heavyweight boxer and civil rights campaigner Muhammad Ali on programmes to encourage and facilitate participation in sport for Black and Asian people. This obituary, written by Professor Kehinde Andrews details some aspects of his work.
Where do publishers, libraries and archives come into the story?
Paul Stephenson was an active proponent of self-archiving, understanding that it is one thing to make history and fight for change and another to create and preserve the historical record of struggle and presence. His own memoir, co-written with Lilleith Morrison, may be seen as one manifestation of his determination to ensure that there would be a historical record of his actions, effectively reclaiming the narrative.
First edition (2011) Memoirs of a Black Englishman by Paul Stephenson and Lilleith Morrison. Bristol: Tangent Books, 2011. YK.2012.a.27533
A further manifestation was Stephenson’s role in setting up the Black Bristol Archives Partnership (BBAP) in 2007 when he placed his own personal archives with Bristol's City Record Office for safekeeping. The Partnership aimed to collect and make accessible archives and artefacts to preserve the record of Black Bristolians in all walks of life from Gylman Ivie, baptised in Dyrham in 1574, to the present day.
The Partnership created calendars celebrating local African-Caribbean achievers, exhibitions, and a learning resource for schools in Bristol called Black Bristolians: People Who Make a Difference. Paul Stephenson’s work also made a contribution to opening up and addressing the question of Bristol's role in the slave trade.
Books about the Bristol Bus Boycott
For all its importance in overturning the ‘colour bar’ and bringing about the Race Relations Act of 1965, relatively little has been written about the Bristol bus boycott other than in wider histories. There are resources online including a BBC World Service Witness History film featuring Guy Bailey, Paul Stephenson and a short clip of Learie Constantine, and another three-minute film entitled Paul Stephenson: A Journey to Justice where Stephenson explains the campaign. There are links to other online sources at the end of this post.
The small number of books specifically about the boycott have come about mainly through the work of locally-based, radical publishers, including Bristol Broadsides, Tangent Books, and Bristol Radical History Group. These were joined in 2022 by a school reading book published within the Collins Big Cat series, written by Sandra Agard, who traces her own roots in writing to her involvement in the ground-breaking cooperative bookshop and publisher Centerprise in Hackney.
Bristol Broadsides : Black and White on the buses
One of very few books written about the Bristol bus boycott is ‘Black and White on the buses’ a detailed and well-referenced 69-page pamphlet by Madge Dresser, published by Bristol Broadsides. As a historian, Madge Dresser’s work has centred on Atlantic Slavery, slavery and memory, and pubic history, also taking in the history of minority communities and gender history.
Black and white on the buses: the 1963 colour bar dispute in Bristol, by Madge Dresser. Bristol: Bristol Broadsides, 1987 YC.1989.a.10258
Bristol Broadsides was a publishing cooperative and member of the Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers, and was active from 1976 to 1991. There is a fascinating and detailed history of the inception and work of Bristol Broadsides written by Jane Duffus on the Bristol Ideas website. It features the account of Ian Bild who had himself been inspired by the work of Ken Worpole and others at Centerprise in Hackney from 1971 onwards.
Tangent Books
Paul Stephenson’s biography was first published in Bristol by Tangent Books. They brought out a new, enlarged edition in 2021. In 2013 Tangent Books republished Madge Dresser’s account of the Bristol Bus Boycott to bring it back into circulation. Since 2004, Tangent Books has been publishing books about Bristol and by Bristol authors. Their publications form an archive of Bristol history, reference, fiction, poetry and counter-culture, including titles on Bristol music and street art. Tangent aim “to publish books whose stories, thoughts, images and writing will not be published elsewhere”. Tangent produced learning materials on Memoirs of a Black Englishman available for free download.
Bristol Radical History Group – The 1963 Bristol bus boycott
This year (2024) Bristol Radical History Group have published an account of the Boycott by Silu Pascoe and Joyce Morris-Wisdom. Silu Pascoe is a retired social worker who has researched some major historical events and found ‘hidden histories’ of Black people within them. Her research into her own family’s history has revealed connections with local, national and international history. Joyce Morris-Wisdom was 14 when she began protesting with fellow boycotters. She speaks in schools to share her story, recalling how she took time off from school to protest with a mixture of pride in her actions and fear for her safety amid beatings and reprisals.
The 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott, by Silu Pascoe and Joyce Morris-Wisdom. Bristol, Bristol Radical Pamphleteers, no. 66, 2024 (image from publisher website)
Other books and pamphlets published by Bristol Radical History Group and held by the Library can be found here. Many are short booklets, but there are also substantial studies delivering high-powered academic work in a readable format, including From Wulfstan to Colston : Severing the sinews of slavery in Bristol, by Mark Steeds and Roger Ball. Bristol: Bristol Radical History Group, 2020 (434pp.)
From Wulfstan to Colston : Severing the sinews of slavery in Bristol, by Mark Steeds and Roger Ball. Bristol: Bristol Radical History Group, 2020. British Library shelfmark YK.2022.a.2734
Sandra A. Agard: bringing history and life stories into schools
It’s long been clear that radical and small independent publishers punch above their weight when it comes to telling ‘untold stories’. But it’s really important that these stories go further, and can be incorporated to the history taught in schools and general reading. Among the big publishers, the only one to have so far included a history of the Bristol bus boycott on their list is Collins (a division of the publishing giant Harper Collins). In 2022 they added The Bristol Bus Boycott: a fight for racial justice by Sandra A. Agard and Chellie Carroll to their Big Cat series of schools reading books.
The Bristol Bus Boycott: a fight for racial justice. Sandra A. Agard and Chellie Carroll. London, Collins Big Cat, 2022 (Ruby / Band 14 reading book.) Image from publisher website: not yet available in the Library due to delays caused by the cyber incident.
Sandra A. Agard is a storyteller, writer, literary consultant and cultural historian. She helps children connect with stories and gives them confidence to write and tell their own stories through her work as a learning facilitator in the Library’s Learning Team. The most recent book by Sandra currently available in the Library is her 170-page Trailblazers’ children’s book about Harriet Tubman: Harriet Tubman: a journey to freedom, by Sandra A. Agard, illustrated by Luisa Uribe, George Ermos, and Manhar Chauhan. London: Stripes, 2019 British Library shelfmark YKL.2020.a.6957 . Stripes is an imprint of Little Tiger, now part of Penguin Random House. There is a video of Sandra reading from the book on the Little Tiger website.
Harriet Tubman: a journey to freedom, by Sandra A. Agard, illustrated by Luisa Uribe, George Ermos, and Manhar Chauhan. London: Stripes, 2019 British Library shelfmark YKL.2020.a.6957
Sandra Agard was first encouraged to write and see herself as a writer through her involvement with Centerprise community centre, bookshop and publisher in Hackney. The Library holds Rosa Schling’s work about Centerprise, based on oral history interviews with some of the participants. The lime green mystery: an oral history of the Centerprise co-operative, by Rosa Schling. London: On The Record, 2017. British Library shelfmark YKL.2018.a.12258 (The book is also available freely online.)
The lime green mystery: an oral history of the Centerprise co-operative, by Rosa Schling. London: On The Record, 2017. British Library shelfmark YKL.2018.a.12258
That the Library holds these books is largely due to ‘legal deposit’ whereby publishers deposit a copy of their books with the British Library (and the other legal deposit libraries, on request). Holding these books and making them available for research contributes to enabling future generations to explore their past, draw inspiration from it, and shape their own work.
In writing this blog post, I am aware that I have moved away from writing about Paul Stephenson to consider wider aspects of archiving, publishing and preserving history. To return to Paul Stephenson, I would like to close with his words about the Black Bristol Archives Partnership:
“Our work ensures that the work and achievements of people of African descent are not only fully recognised but also preserved as a legacy for future generations. We owe it to our children.” (http://ourmuseum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Bristol-Black-Archives-Partnership-text.pdf )
Books by Bristol independent, radical publishers that can be read in the Library, included in our interim catalogue (to April 2023):
Bristol Broadsides’ publications held by the Library are here
Bristol Radical History Group publications held by the Library are here
Tangent Books’ publications in the Library are here
Accounts of the Bristol Bus Boycott available online include:
Detailed article on the Black History Month website. https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/civil-rights-movement/the-bristol-bus-boycott-of-1963/ .
A BBC article gives an account written following Paul Stephenson’s passing. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr5m864ny6qo
Paul Stephenson Obituary, by Professor Kehinde Andrews, The Guardian, 22 November, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/22/paul-stephenson-obituary
Article in The Guardian following the passing of fellow campaigner Roy Hackett: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/03/bristol-bus-boycott-campaigner-roy-hackett-dies-at-93
A profile article in The Guardian from 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/oct/01/paul-stephenson-the-hero-who-refused-to-leave-a-pub-and-helped-desegregate-britain
A BBC KS2 History Resource with 5-minute video and teaching notes featuring former Olympic athlete and activist Vernon Samuels whose father became Bristol’s first Black bus driver. https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/articles/z9k4g7h
‘How the Bristol bus boycott changed UK civil rights’, short film, Witness History, BBC World Service https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQXwh__d2S4
BBC article written 50 years after the boycott, 2013: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23795655
BBC film from 2013 with Guy Bailey, Paul Stephenson and Roy Hackett: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-21525110
Paul Stephenson: a journey to justice film on Jeremy Corbyn channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0eR7dH7BYY
Black Curriculum animated film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSyzaXXKUaQ
Roy Hackett speaking about his role: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUjZkmxnWV8
References
Agard, Sandra A., with Luisa Uribe, George Ermos, and Manhar Chauhan: Harriet Tubman: a journey to freedom. London: Stripes, 2019 British Library shelfmark YKL.2020.a.6957
Agard, Sandra A. and Carroll Chellie: The Bristol Bus Boycott: a fight for racial justice. London, Collins Big Cat, 2022 (Ruby/Band 14 reading book.)
Bristol Archives record for Black Bristol Archives Partnership https://archives.bristol.gov.uk/records/43765
Bristol Museum text about Black Bristol Archives Partnership http://ourmuseum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Bristol-Black-Archives-Partnership-text.pdf
Dresser, Madge: Black and White on the Buses: the campaign against the colour bar in Bristol. Bristol: Bristol Broadsides, 1987 YC.1989.a.10258
Dresser, Madge: Black and White on the Buses: the campaign against the colour bar in Bristol. New edition Bristol: Tangent Press 2013 (not held in Library)
Hill, Jeff: Learie Constantine and race relations in Britain and the Empire. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. British Library shelfmark YC.2019.a.5854
Pascoe, Silu and Morris-Wisdom, Joyce: The 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott. Bristol, Bristol Radical Pamphleteers, no. 66, 2024 (not yet in Library)
Schling, Rosa: The lime green mystery: an oral history of the Centerprise co-operative. London: On The Record, 2017. British Library shelfmark YKL.2018.a.12258
Steeds, Mark and Ball, Roger: From Wulfstan to Colston : Severing the sinews of slavery in Bristol. Bristol: Bristol Radical History Group, 2020. British Library shelfmark YK.2022.a.2734
Stephenson, Paul and Lilleith Morrison: Memoirs of a Black Englishman (First edition) Bristol: Tangent Books, 2011. YK.2012.a.27533
Stephenson, Paul and Lilleith Morrison: Memoirs of a Black Englishman (New, enlarged edition) Bristol: Tangent Books, 2021. YKL.2022.a.35798 (stored offsite)
Dr.Debbie Cox, November 2024.