In 1964 it was still legal in the UK to refuse service on the basis of someone’s skin colour. Signs saying “No blacks, no Irish, no dogs” were commonplace in pubs and the windows of boarding houses, creating a hostile environment for Black people. The civil rights activist Paul Stephenson, who has died aged 87, played a key role in events that led to the Race Relations Act of 1965 and the outlawing of racial discrimination in Britain.
He was the first Black youth worker in Bristol when, in 1963, members of the community decided to challenge the “colour bar” of the Bristol Omnibus Company. The bus company would hire Black and Asian workers only as cleaners, and not in the more lucrative roles of drivers and conductors – a policy backed by the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) despite a reported labour shortage.
