Jamaican-born civil rights activist Roy Hackett played a pivotal role in transforming race relations in Britain. Hackett mobilized the 3,000-strong Caribbean community in Bristol and led what became known as the Bristol Bus Boycott—a protest that gained national attention and the support of numerous organizations after it was announced at a press conference on April 29, 1963.
Alongside fellow activists Paul Stephenson, Owen Henry, Audley Evans, Prince Brown, and Guy Bailey, Hackett protested against the Bristol Omnibus Company, which at the time enforced a discriminatory policy of not hiring Black workers. During the boycott, Hackett organized blockades on Fishponds Road, effectively stopping all bus traffic in and out of the area.
In 1952, at just 24 years old, Hackett migrated to the UK, lured by the promise of jobs and opportunity—rhetoric championed by the controversial and racially divisive politician Enoch Powell.
Here are nine things you might not know about this iconic civil rights figure:
1. Roy Hackett grew up on 7th Street in Trench Town, Kingston, Jamaica—the same street immortalized in the Bob Marley and the Wailers song “Natty Dread.”
2. The Bristol Bus Boycott, organized by Hackett, was the first protest of its kind in Britain. It was inspired by Rosa Parks’ historic refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.
3. The boycott lasted four months. On August 28, 1963, the bus company and its union relented, ending the discriminatory hiring policy, known at the time as the “color bar.”
4. Coincidentally, the day the boycott ended—August 28, 1963—was also the day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
5. Hackett’s actions were instrumental in the passage of the Race Relations Act of 1965, one of the first legislative steps toward racial equality in the UK.
6. He co-founded the Commonwealth Coordinated Committee, which later evolved into the Bristol West Indian Parents and Friends Association.
7. Hackett is also the founder of the St. Paul’s Festival, which has grown into the vibrant and widely celebrated St. Paul’s Carnival.
8. In recognition of his legacy, the Bristol Omnibus Company named a training room after him—the Roy Hackett Training Room.
9. Now 92, Hackett continues to share his story. His image is proudly displayed in schools across the UK, where he regularly speaks to young people about his experiences in Bristol and the significance of the boycott.
Photo – Youtube
