Coming of Age : 1976 and the Road to Anti-Racism

Art, Activism, Race and Social Justice - 1900/1976
1965
Campaign against Racial Discrimination
The Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD) was launched 1965 and lobbied for race relations
legislation. The group's formation was inspired by a visit by Martin Luther King to London in
December 1964. The Trinidadian pacifist Marion Glean, then a graduate student at the London School
of Economics, arranged with Bayard Rustin for King to meet a group of Black spokespersons and
activists at the Hilton Hotel, where an ad hoc committee was formed for a movement to "agitate for
social justice and oppose all forms of discrimination”. CARD's founding members, as well as Marion
Glean, included politician Anthony Lester, London County Councillor David Pitt, C. L. R. James
and Hamza Alavi.
1966
Caribbean Arts Movement
The Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) was an
influential cultural initiative, begun in London,
England, in 1966. It focused on the works being
produced by Caribbean writers, visual artists,
poets, dramatists, film makers, actors and
musicians. The key people involved in setting up
CAM were Edward Kamau Brathwaite, John La
Rose and Andrew Salkey. In its intense five-year
existence it set the dominant artistic trends, at
the same time forging a bridge between West
Indian migrants and those who came to be known
as black Britons. Other notable artists and
intellectuals associated with CAM include C. L. R.
James, Stuart Hall, Wilson Harris, Kenneth
Ramchand, Ronald Moody, Aubrey Williams,
Gordon Rohlehr, Christopher Laird, Louis
James, Orlando Patterson, Ivan Van Sertima,
Althea McNish, Donald Hinds, James Berry,
Errol Lloyd, Anne Walmsley. and Linton
Kwesi.Johnson
Gus John - Augustine "Gus" John
is a Grenadian-born writer,
education campaigner, lecturer and
researcher, and has been an activist
in Britain for over five decades. He
moved to the UK in 1964 and
became a member of the
Campaign Against Racial
Discrimination (CARD), the
New Cross Massacre Action
Committee, and one of the
organisers of the "Black
People's Day of Action" held
on 2 March, a response to the
New Cross Fire. Following the
uprisings in Moss Side in July 1981
he chaired the Moss Side
Defence Committee, he was
adviser to the Liverpool 8
Defence Committee following
the Toxteth Uprisings that same
year. He was the co-ordinator of
the Black Parents Movement
in Manchester, founded the
Education for Liberation book
service and helped to organise the
International Book Fair of
Radical Black and Third
World Books in Manchester,
London and Bradford. In 1989 he
was appointed Director of
Education in Hackney and was the
first black person to hold such a
position.
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