Black Activism and the Development of the Carnival

Black activism: turning shared problems into collective action

Black activism meant organising to challenge racism and unfair treatment. In Notting Hill, community meeting places helped people share experiences, build support and organise campaigns. Activism therefore connected everyday concerns, such as police harassment, with wider demands for racial equality.

Campaigning took different forms. Newspapers could publicise discrimination, cultural celebrations could strengthen community pride, and protests could put pressure on the authorities. These approaches connected culture and politics rather than treating them as separate parts of community life.

Claudia Jones and the West Indian Gazette

Claudia Jones was a Trinidad-born journalist and political activist. After campaigning in the United States, she was deported to Britain in 1955 during a period of intense anti-communism. In Britain, she challenged racism and campaigned for better housing, jobs, education and equal rights for Black people.

In 1958, Jones founded the West Indian Gazette, a major Black newspaper which ran until 1965. It aimed to bring Caribbean communities together, share their experiences and give them a public voice. Alongside arts, poetry and local viewpoints, it covered politics and struggles against racism in Britain and overseas.

The newspaper was a tool for activism because it connected people who might otherwise experience discrimination separately. Reporting shared problems could build awareness and support for collective action. Jones campaigned against the colour bar: racial discrimination that excluded Black people from opportunities such as promotion at work or access to housing.

The 1959 Caribbean Carnival: culture as resistance

The racist violence in Notting Hill in 1958 left many Caribbean residents fearful. Jones and her colleagues at the West Indian Gazette wanted to restore confidence and show what Caribbean communities contributed to British society. Celebration could therefore be a response to racism: it offered solidarity and pride rather than allowing intimidation to define community life.

On 30 January 1959, Jones organised a Caribbean Carnival at St Pancras Town Hall in Camden, now called Camden Town Hall. This was an indoor event, not a street procession in Notting Hill. Its January timing reflected the carnival season in Trinidad, while the British winter made an indoor venue suitable.

Directed by Edric Connor and televised by the BBC, the event featured steel bands, calypso singing, dancing, costumes, a beauty pageant and Caribbean food. It gave people an opportunity to enjoy their culture together and presented that culture to a wider audience. Further carnivals took place at venues across London over the following years.

From indoor carnival to the streets of Notting Hill

Jones's celebrations helped inspire the later Notting Hill Carnival, but the street carnival developed through a separate local initiative. In 1966, social worker Rhaune Laslett organised an outdoor festival to bring together Notting Hill's different communities. It was not initially centred solely on Caribbean identity.

Laslett invited Trinidadian musician Russell Henderson and his steel band to perform. When the musicians moved through the surrounding streets, Caribbean residents came out of their homes and followed them. This helped turn a neighbourhood festival into a street celebration with a strong Caribbean character.

The festival became an annual event, and Caribbean cultural influence grew. Its importance was not only entertainment: people who had faced hostility could occupy public space together and express pride in their identity. Jones's 1959 event and Laslett's 1966 festival thus contributed in different ways to the development of carnival—one through an organised indoor celebration after racist violence, the other through a local street festival bringing communities together.

The British Black Panthers

During the 1960s, American civil rights and Black Power movements influenced activists in Britain. Black Power emphasised Black pride, solidarity and communities organising to defend their rights. However, British activists addressed problems in their own surroundings, including housing, employment, education and policing.

The British Black Panthers formed in 1968 and were based mainly in London. Figures associated with the movement included Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe and Olive Morris. The group challenged racist policing, poor housing and discrimination in education and work.

An important influence was the American activist Stokely Carmichael, who visited London in 1967. His speeches helped spread Black Power ideas among young Black British activists. This international influence mattered because it encouraged people to see their experiences of discrimination as shared problems that could be challenged collectively.

The Panthers' involvement in defending the Mangrove Restaurant shows how these ideas became local action: they helped organise a protest against the treatment of a particular community meeting place.

Frank Crichlow and the Mangrove Restaurant

Frank Crichlow moved from Trinidad to London in the 1950s. He became a community figure and campaigner for racial equality. In 1968, he opened the Mangrove Restaurant at 8 All Saints Road, in Notting Hill.

The Mangrove was more than a place to eat. Black activists, artists and intellectuals met there, making it an important centre of community life. A restaurant could therefore have political importance without being a formal campaigning organisation: it brought people together and provided a place to discuss shared concerns.

Police repeatedly raided the Mangrove, claiming that drug activity was taking place. They found no evidence to support these allegations. Crichlow and his supporters regarded the raids as racially motivated harassment that disrupted both his business and a valued community space.

Complaints to the authorities did not bring the change campaigners wanted. The group defending the Mangrove argued that a public protest had become necessary because other methods had failed. This explains why the dispute developed from resistance to individual raids into an organised campaign against policing.

The Mangrove protest, August 1970

On 9 August 1970, around 150 people marched through Notting Hill to protest against racist policing and defend the Mangrove. The British Black Panthers helped organise the demonstration.

Although organised as a peaceful protest, the march developed into a confrontation with police. Nine activists were arrested and subsequently prosecuted. They became known as the Mangrove Nine and included Crichlow, Howe and Jones-LeCointe.

The protest connected a local grievance with a wider demand. Campaigners were defending the Mangrove, but they also challenged police treatment of Black people at other lawful gatherings, including parties and wedding receptions.

The trial and its significance

The Mangrove Nine stood trial at the Old Bailey in 1971. Although this was just beyond the historic environment's main period of c1948–c1970, the outcome explains the significance of the 1970 protest.

The defendants used the trial to challenge police accounts and expose racism in policing and the legal system. All nine were cleared of the most serious charges. The judge acknowledged evidence of racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.

The case brought greater public attention to racist policing and increased support for Black activism. The Mangrove became a symbol of resistance and Black pride. Its story shows how a community meeting place, an organised protest and a legal defence could work together to challenge unfair treatment.

Jones, the Gazette and carnival

• 1958: Claudia Jones founded the West Indian Gazette; united Caribbean communities, gave them a voice and campaigned against racism.
• 30 January 1959: Jones organised an indoor Caribbean Carnival at St Pancras Town Hall, Camden, following the 1958 racist violence. Celebrated Caribbean culture, rebuilt confidence and reached a wider audience through BBC television.
• 1966: Rhaune Laslett's Notting Hill street festival brought local communities together. Russell Henderson's steel band drew residents into a procession; the annual festival developed a stronger Caribbean identity.

British Black Panthers

• 1967: Stokely Carmichael's London visit helped spread Black Power ideas.
• 1968: British Black Panthers formed; figures included Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe and Olive Morris.