1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,080 Speaker 1: The Stay in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi again, Welcome to this day in History Class, 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: where history waits for no One. Today is April nineteen. 4 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: The day was April nineteen sixty three. The Bristol Omnibus Company, 5 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: based in Bristol, England, had been denying Black and Asian 6 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: people jobs as bus crew, so on this day, West 7 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: Indians in the city began boycotting the company and refusing 8 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: to ride buses. After the British Nationality Act was passed 9 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen the number of people who immigrated from the 10 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: Caribbean to the UK increased significantly. Some of those people 11 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: had served in the British military during World War Two, 12 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: and some helped with post war rebuilding efforts. By nineteen 13 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:05,319 Speaker 1: sixty there were around three thousand West Indian people in Bristol, 14 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: a small percentage of the city's population, but unemployment rates 15 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: were high within the West Indian community. People who immigrated 16 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: from the West Indies and from Asia faced housing and 17 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: employment discrimination. Gangs of white men known as teddy boys 18 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: physically attacked people of color. Some boarding houses posted signs 19 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:31,639 Speaker 1: that read no Irish, no Blacks, no Dogs. By nineteen 20 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: sixty three, there were around seven thousand West Indian people 21 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: in Bristol. Increasing along with the West Indian population was 22 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:43,919 Speaker 1: racial tension, but at this point there were no laws 23 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: protecting people from racial discrimination in the workplace. In other 24 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: English cities like London and Manchester, black people worked on 25 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: buses as drivers and conductors, but in Bristol, the British 26 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: government owned Bristol Omnibus Company only hired black folks as 27 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: aintenance workers, even though there was a shortage of drivers. 28 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: Black people were turned away when they sought jobs as 29 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: bus crew. The Passenger Group of the Transport in General 30 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,519 Speaker 1: Workers Union had even passed a resolution in nineteen fifty 31 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: that said black workers should not be employed on the 32 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: buses as drivers or conductors. Asian and Black people were 33 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: applying for bus crew jobs, but they were never getting 34 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: the job, so the Bristol Evening Posts and the Western 35 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: Daily Press ran stories on the discrimination, saying that the 36 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: Bristol Omnibus Company was purposefully refusing to give non white 37 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: workers driving and conducting jobs. Wages were low and hours 38 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: were long in bus crew positions, and the people who 39 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: did work them relied on overtime to make up for 40 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: their poor pay. But there were still a lot of 41 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: turnover for bus crew. The company's general manager, Ian Paty, 42 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: said that the color bar was only in place for 43 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: economic reasons, and the union said that it was the 44 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: company's decision as to whether it wanted to enforce the 45 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: color bar. By the late nineteen fifties, the West Indian 46 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: Association was already looking into the issue of workplace race discrimination. 47 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty two, Jamaican's Henry Owens, Roy Hackett, Oddley 48 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 1: Evans and Prince Brown split from the Association and formed 49 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: the West Indian Development Council. Paul Stevenson became the council's spokesperson. 50 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: Stevenson was a university educated Royal Air Force veteran who 51 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: moved to Bristol in nineteen sixty two and was the 52 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: city's first black social worker. As a test case, Stevenson 53 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: arranged a bus company interview for warehouseman and Boy's Brigade 54 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: officer Guy Bailey, who was black. When the company found 55 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: out he was black, Bailey's interview was canceled. Drawing inspiration 56 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: from the American Civil rights movement, the council decided to 57 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: stage a bus boycott. They ann the boycott at a 58 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: press conference on April nine, nineteen sixty three. The next day, 59 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: many West Indians and Bristol refused to ride busses. The 60 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: protests were non violent. Protesters began piketing bus depots and 61 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: places along bus routes, and they set up blockades that 62 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: kept buses from going into the city center. Many West 63 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: Indians and Bristol supported the boycott, but did not participate 64 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,839 Speaker 1: because they feared losing their jobs or being attacked, or 65 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: because they needed to use public transportation. Pati, responding to 66 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: the boycott, claimed that if more people of color worked 67 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: as bus crew, fewer white people would be employed in 68 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,359 Speaker 1: those positions. If he said that in London, where people 69 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,599 Speaker 1: of color are employed, white men would not want to 70 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: work under a format of color and quote colored men 71 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: have become arrogant and rude after they have been employed 72 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: for some months. The protests garnered support from the press, 73 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: students at Bristol you Know Versity, and many notable people, 74 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: including Bristol Southeast Member of Parliament Tony Benn, Labor Opposition 75 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: leader Harry Wilson, local Labor Party alderman Henry Hennessy, as 76 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: well as former cricketer and High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago. 77 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: Leary Constantine, the local branch of the Transport and General 78 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: Workers Union, refused to meet with the delegation from the 79 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: West Indian Development Council, leading to weeks of back and 80 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: forth between boycott supporters and opposers. On May six, Stevenson 81 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,599 Speaker 1: organized in March to St Mary Radcliffe Church, but the 82 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 1: demonstration did not attract a lot of people, and over 83 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: the next several months, the Transport Holding Company, which was 84 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: Omnibus's parent company, held negotiations with the union. Finally, on August, 85 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 1: a meeting of five hundred bus workers decided to end 86 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,919 Speaker 1: the color bar, four months after the boycott began. On 87 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,600 Speaker 1: August paid did there will now be complete integration without 88 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: regard to race, color or creed. The only criterion will 89 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: be the person's suitability for the job. In mid September, 90 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: Rock Beyer Singh, an Indian born sick, became the first 91 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: non white bus conductor employed in Bristol to Jamaican and 92 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: two Pakistani men were employed as bus crew soon after that. 93 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: In nineteen and nineteen sixty eight, Parliament passed the Race 94 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 1: Relations Acts, which made racial discrimination in public places, housing 95 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: and employment illegal. Some people believe that the Bristol bus 96 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 1: boycott influenced the acts. I'm Eve Steff Coo and hopefully 97 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:45,919 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 98 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:51,359 Speaker 1: did yesterday. And here's another note. Anti immigrant sentiments were 99 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: popular in the nineteen sixties in the UK, and if 100 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:56,480 Speaker 1: you want to hear a little bit more about that 101 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: and the Nationality Act, you can listen to our April 102 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: twenty episode on conservative MP Enoch Pal's nineteen sixty eight 103 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:09,160 Speaker 1: Rivers of Blood speech. If you're so inclined, you can 104 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: follow us at t d I h C podcast on Instagram, 105 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: Facebook and Twitter. Thanks again for listening and we'll see 106 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: you tomorrow. 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