Description

The Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 arose from the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ Black or Asian bus crews in the city of Bristol, England. In line with many other British cities at the time, there was widespread racial discrimination in housing and employment against so-called "Coloureds". An organization later named the West Indian Development Council was founded by Roy Hackett, Owen Henry, Audley Evans, Prince Brown, and led by youth worker Paul Stephenson as group spokesperson. Guy Reid-Bailey would later become a member. West Indian Development Council was created to end the discriminatory colour bar policy at the Bristol Omnibus Company, which prevented Black and Asian workers from operating the buses. The West Indian Development Council started a boycott of the company's buses by Bristolians, which lasted for four months until the company and union backed down and overturned their policy.