The British Black Panthers: Britain's own Black Power Movement
- Maya Bello-Taylor
- Oct 6
- 4 min read
As part of our Legacies of Action: Understanding 60 Years of Change and Challenge Black History Month UK campaign, we explore the British Black Panthers, leaders of Britain’s Black Power movement. Their legacy of resistance, unity, and advocacy continues to shape racial justice today.
The British Black Panther Movement was a pioneering organisation that fought for the rights of Black and Asian people in the United Kingdom during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Inspired by the U.S. Black Panther Party but unaffiliated with it, the British Panthers adopted the principle of political Blackness, uniting African, Caribbean, and South Asian activists in a shared struggle against racism, colonialism, and inequality. Founded in 1968, their story sits firmly within the theme Legacies of Action: Understanding 60 Years of Change and Challenge, reflecting a period when grassroots resistance reshaped Britain’s racial and social landscape.
The movement emerged in Notting Hill, London, against a backdrop of growing racial tensions. Between 1961 and 1964, Britain’s Black population had tripled, increasing police harassment, discrimination, and hostility toward Caribbean and South Asian communities. At the forefront was Obi Egbuna, a Nigerian-born playwright and activist. Influenced by the global Black Power movement, he co-founded the British Black Panthers with figures including Darcus Howe, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Olive Morris, and Altheia Jones-LeCointe. Together they argued that Black was a political identity inclusive of all those oppressed by racism and imperialism.
In December 1968, Egbuna was prosecuted under the Race Relations Act 1965 for incitement to racial hatred, following the publication of essays calling for resistance to police brutality. His arrest marked one of the first major uses of the Act to suppress radical Black activism in Britain. During his imprisonment, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, a Trinidad-born PhD student at the University of London, stepped in to lead the movement, later becoming one of its most respected figures.
Under Jones-LeCointe’s leadership, the Panthers shifted their focus toward grassroots community activism. Alongside members such as Eddie Lecointe, Farrukh Dhondy, Mala Sen, and Neil Kenlock, they tackled racial discrimination in housing, education, employment, and policing. Women played a central role in the organisation. Figures such as Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Olive Morris, Barbara Beese, Liz Obi, Beverley Bryan, and Mala Sen led campaigns, ran educational programmes, and organised protests. Their efforts laid the groundwork for later feminist and anti-racist movements within Britain’s Black communities.
Education and community empowerment were central to the Panthers’ work. They published newspapers such as Freedom News and the Black People’s News Service, ran study groups, self-defence classes, youth programmes, and supplementary schools. Their striking imagery - black berets, leather jackets, and raised fists - symbolised unity and defiance, while also connecting them visually to global Black Power movements. The movement positioned itself within broader anti-imperialist struggles, displaying photographs of figures like Robert Williams, Ahmed Sékou Touré, and Che Guevara in their headquarters to emphasise global solidarity.
One of the movement’s defining moments was the Mangrove Nine trial in 1970. The Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill run by Frank Crichlow, had become a hub for activists and intellectuals. Repeated police raids under false pretences sparked a protest in which nineteen demonstrators were arrested. Nine, including Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Darcus Howe, and Barbara Beese, were charged with inciting a riot. Representing themselves in court, they demanded an all-Black jury, invoking the Magna Carta. The Mangrove Nine were acquitted of the most serious charges, and for the first time, a judge publicly acknowledged evidence of racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police. This landmark trial exposed institutional racism and became a cornerstone of Britain’s civil rights history.
The story of the Mangrove Nine reached new audiences through Steve McQueen’s film Mangrove (2020), part of his Small Axe anthology. The film reinvigorated interest in the British Black Panthers among young people, highlighting their struggle and achievements. In 2017, the TV drama Guerrilla attempted to depict Britain’s 1970s Black Power era but faced criticism for erasing the leadership of Black women. Liz Obi, an original member, wrote in The Guardian that the portrayal was “unforgivable,” noting the misrepresentation of Black women leaders.
The Panthers operated under heavy surveillance. The Special Branch’s Black Power Desk monitored and infiltrated Black organisations across the country, documenting protests, publications, and membership. Despite this, the movement expanded beyond London with branches in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and Nottingham. They offered legal support, organised community meetings, and campaigned against police brutality and restrictive immigration laws.
Neil Kenlock, a photographer and member of the movement, documented protests, meetings, and daily life. His images now form a vital historical archive, preserved in exhibitions at Tate Britain, Photofusion, and the George Padmore Institute. These photographs provide rare insights into the organisation, its values, and the lived experience of Black British activism.
Although the British Black Panthers disbanded by the early 1970s, their influence endures. They exposed institutional racism within British policing, media, and education, and inspired generations of activists. Their legacy lives on through supplementary schools, community archives, oral histories, and cultural memory, demonstrating the enduring power of solidarity, resistance, and grassroots activism in shaping Britain’s long struggle for racial justice.
Sources
Radio 4 – Archive on 4 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007b0y
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