Bristol launches summer of activist events to become UK civil rights capital

Bristol has long been a city of activists prepared to work for change, from followers of John Wesley in the 18th century to the 21st-century citizens who toppled the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.

On Wednesday, a new campaign was launched – on the anniversary of the start of the groundbreaking 1963 Bristol bus boycott – aimed at making the city the UK’s capital of civil rights.

Across the spring and summer, echoing the span of the boycott, a “think-and-do tank” called CuriosityUnLtd will lead or be part of a series of events that focus attention on Bristol’s activist past and make the case for Bristol to claim the title.

Julz Davis, one of the lead organisers, said: **“**Bristol has never waited for permission to lead. This city has shown the country what change looks like. Activism has always been the lifeblood of systemic change here.”

Bristol academics, business leaders and politicians including Marvin Rees, who was the first person of black African heritage to become a directly elected mayor in a major Europe city, joined a summit on the concept of the city becoming capital of civil rights at the end of last year.

Julz Davis is one of the lead organisers of CuriosityUnLtd, which is shaping the programme of events. Photograph: No byline/No credit

This week’s launch is the next stage of the process, which will include talks and public conversations, film screenings, exhibitions, public art and performances.

The bus boycott was a civil rights movement that overturned Bristol Omnibus Company’s refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews and was pivotal in the creation of the UK’s first Race Relations Act in 1965.

It was announced on 29 April 1963 and students took part in a march on 1 May. Davis and other activists will join a union march in the city on 1 May this Friday to remember the boycott and draw attention to the capital of civil rights movement.