The Black Parents Movement: Grassroots Power and the Legacy of Action
- Maya Bello-Taylor
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
In the history of Black British activism, the Black Parents Movement (BPM) represents a pivotal chapter, connecting grassroots parent power, youth activism, and radical politics. Emerging in 1975, the BPM drew inspiration from the Black Education Movement (BEM), supplementary schools, and a growing network of Black community organisations. Its work continues to influence debates on race, education, and community agency, making it central to our Legacies of Action: Understanding 60 Years of Change and Challenge campaign, which highlights decades of struggle and achievement in the UK.
The immediate catalyst for the BPM was the unlawful arrest of Cliff McDaniel, a 17-year-old student in Hornsey, North London. On 17 April 1975, McDaniel and his friends, Keith and Chris, students at the Stationer’s Company’s School, were targeted by Metropolitan Police officers during their lunch break. McDaniel was singled out, assaulted, and falsely charged with ‘breaching the peace’ and ‘assaulting a police officer’. He was well known to staff, pupils, and parents connected to the George Padmore Supplementary School, founded in 1966 by Trinidadian activist John La Rose. Outraged parents and teachers mobilised to defend McDaniel, forming the foundation of the BPM. Around the same time, young people established the Black Students Movement, later renamed the Black Youth Movement, with La Rose’s sons Keith and Michael among the founding members. The BPM was dedicated to advancing the interests of Black working-class families, unemployed youth, and schoolchildren.
John La Rose played a central role in the BPM’s formation, providing leadership grounded in both vision and community practice. Early members included supplementary schoolteachers Roxy Harris and Albertina Sylvester, as well as educator-activist Gus John. Guyanese publishers and activists Jessica and Eric Huntley, founders of the Ealing Concerned Black Parents and Youth Movement in 1976, were closely affiliated with the BPM during its most active period.
Roxy Harris, current Chair of the George Padmore Institute and former BPM member, recalled that the BPM developed strategies to fight racism and discrimination in schools, challenge police corruption, and confront the complicity of the courts. She highlighted John La Rose’s leadership style, noting that he welcomed the presence of children in meetings, taking their restlessness as a signal that discussions had gone on long enough.
The BPM grew from Haringey’s long history of Black radical activism and was strongly connected to the Black Education Movement (BEM) and Black Supplementary School Movement (BSSM). These initiatives were created as forms of self-help education to counteract the prejudice Black children faced in the national school system.
A central intellectual influence was Bernard Coard, whose 1971 pamphlet How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-Normal in the British School System exposed the systemic disadvantage of Black children in schools. Coard’s work provided both moral urgency and practical arguments for parent-led activism, including the campaigns led by BPM members and supplementary schools.
From its inception, the BPM positioned itself as part of a broader network of radical Black organisations. In 1979, it helped form the Alliance, a partnership including the Black Youth Movement, Bradford Black Collective, and the Race Today Collective. Each group retained autonomy but collaborated on local and national campaigns, including the George Lindo Campaign in Bradford and the Stephen Locke Action Committee in Manchester.
The BPM developed regional branches in Bradford and Manchester, alongside smaller groups in London boroughs such as Ealing, Hackney, Brixton, and Brent. Its work encompassed educational activism, legal advocacy, community solidarity, and international campaigns. The movement supported supplementary education programs, challenged racial bias in schools, defended young people against false accusations and police harassment, and participated in the Bookshop Joint Action Committee, which campaigned against racist attacks on Black and progressive bookshops, including the firebombing of Bogle L’Ouverture Publications in 1977. The BPM also supported international solidarity campaigns, protesting apartheid in South Africa and supporting the New Jewel Movement in Grenada under Maurice Bishop.
Media projects, including BBC documentaries, have highlighted the BPM’s grassroots activism, organisational strategies, and role in shaping Black British education. Mollie Hunt contributed to chronicling the movement’s history, ensuring that these efforts remain part of the historical records.
The BPM’s archives, housed at the George Padmore Institute, preserve its founding principles, campaigns, and collaborations. The movement is recognised as a leading force in Black radical activism in Britain, illustrating the power of grassroots organisation, coalition-building, and parental leadership. The BPM expanded the role of parents as political actors, embedded the principle that education is a field of struggle for communities, and contributed to networks that continue to influence Black cultural, legal, and political life in the UK.
The BPM’s contributions are central to our campaign “Legacies of Action: Understanding 60 Years of Change and Challenge”, showing how local action and vision can feed into national change. With Haringey announced as the London Borough of Culture for 2027, the BPM continues to inspire activists, educators, and community organisers.
The Black Parents Movement demonstrates how ordinary people can take extraordinary action. Through education, advocacy, and solidarity, the BPM shaped a more just and equitable Britain. Its story reminds us that lasting change is built from the ground up, and that parental and community activism are essential to building modern multicultural Britain.
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