Telling the story of the Bristol Bus Boycott

Our Journey is a new radio series telling the tale of “a crucial party of history that needs to be celebrated”.

Documenting the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott, its significance and the impact of the Windrush Generation in the city and throughout the UK, Our Journey is formed of five 30-minute episodes.

Produced and presented by Miranda Rae and working with sound editor Keziah Wenham-Kenyon, the series guest stars everyone from Edson Burton and mayor Marvin Rees to Roger Griffith MBE and sister Jendayi Serwah.

“Just over a year ago I was contacted by a school in London that had heard something about the Bristol Bus Boycott but they couldn’t find anything online about it,” says Miranda. “They wanted to be able to share with the children how just ordinary people can make such a difference.  And thats at the very heart of the Bristol Bus Boycott.

“I wanted to document and share with people outside of Bristol this iconic point in British history and this phenomenal civil rights campaign, after all its our very own Rosa Parks story.”

Dr Edson Burton features in the series. Photo: Miranda Rae

The Bristol Bus Boycott was launched after the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ Black or Asian bus crews in Bristol.

The 1963 boycott of the company’s buses lasted for four months and ended when the company overturned its bar policy.

The Bristol Bus Boycott is considered influential in the passing of the Race Relations Act 1965 which made “racial discrimination unlawful in public places” and the Race Relations Act 1968, which extended the provisions to employment and housing.

The Bristol Bus Boycott paved the way for change. Photo: Barbara Evripidou

“Just two weeks ago Keir Starmer tweeted that the Bristol Bus Boycott should be taught in schools and how right he is,” says Miranda. “Throughout the series you will hear how no one had heard of the Bristol Bus Boycott until into their adult lives.

“Even David Lammy MP wished that he had known about it when he was a child. This is a crucial part of history that needs to be celebrated and shared and I hope thats what this series does.

The five-part series will be broadcast on 11 radio stations throughout the UK. As well as Ujima and Bradley Stoke Radio in Bristol, Our Journey will feature in London, Manchester, Tyneside, Swindon,Devon, Somerset, Northumberland and Sunderland.

The series also features the voices the Malcolm X Centre Elders Forum: Barbara Dettering, Madge Williams, Lyn Douglas, Pearl Quashi-Williams and Iva Williams, as well as olympian and son of Bristol’s first Black bus driver, Vernon Samuels and professor Madge Dresser, who some say without her research that the story of the Bristol Bus Boycott would of been completely forgotten.

Iva Williams and Pearl Quashi-Williams. Photo: Miranda Rae

“I hope that listeners will be inspired by this celebration of activism, that this important part of British history demonstrates what people can do whey they put their minds to it,” says Miranda.

“More than anything, I hope that the story of the UK’s first Black led civil rights campaign the Bristol Bus Boycott is heard by as many people as possible.”

Main photo of Barbara Dettering, Pearl Quashi-Williams and Iva Williams: Miranda Rae

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