When he arrived in the UK in 1961, the teenager was shocked by the injustice – and violence – of the racism he faced. So he decided to take some action
Guy Reid-Bailey was a hero of a civil rights movement in the UK that is only now being given its due. A central figure in the struggle to end the unofficial segregation – the notorious “colour bar” – rampant in the UK in the 1960s, he took part in the Bristol bus boycott, which is credited with encouraging politicians to bring in the first Race Relations Act in 1965. He went on to found the first black housing association in Bristol and set up a cricket club to challenge discrimination in sport – one that is still bringing joy to generations of black Bristolians today.
When he arrived in Britain in 1961 at the age of 16, Reid-Bailey was a self-described “country boy” from Jamaica. His parents had sent him to live with his aunt in Bristol, assuming that the “mother country” would give him a good education. But he quickly realised, he says, that it was “a mother without any affection for black people”. Reid-Bailey had three brothers in Jamaica, but told them not to follow him to the UK because “I had to grow up very quickly and I wouldn’t wish my other brothers to experience what I did”. Not much has changed in that regard. He still believes that “if you’re a black person, you suffer a mental lack of freedom”.
