Black Power in the UK over the decades: from Notting Hill Carnival to BLM

Here are some key moments and images from black history in the UK through the years (Picture: Getty Images)

A huge part of Black History Month for many people is Black Power – an ideology which aims to achieve self-determination for black people.

It initially emerged in the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but the movement soon took shape in the UK with several groups set up to fight for racial equality.

Although perhaps less well known than in the US – which had a clear focus on fighting segregation and produced iconic figures like Muslim minister and activist Malcolm X – British Black Power saw several important political moments.

The Black Panthers was perhaps the most influential group of its type in the UK. Founded in 1968 by activist Obi Egbuna, it produced a newspaper, led campaigns against police brutality and ran sessions to encourage black people to read books by radical authors.

The Mangrove Nine were also considered a big part of the movement after they were tried for inciting a riot at a protest in 1970 in London, and were all acquitted of the most serious charges.

The judge concluded there had been ‘evidence of racial hatred on both sides’, which was highly significant as it was the first judicial acknowledgement of racial prejudice within the Metropolitan Police in London.

Although the notion of Black Power through political groups may have faded a little since the 1970s, it has re-emerged recently as part of the Black Lives Matter movement in the aftermath of the death of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of US police in 2020.

Many also now interpret Black Power as a demonstration of pride and empowerment, particularly at events like Notting Hill Carnival – a Caribbean festival which has taken place in London every year since 1966 (except during the Covid-19 pandemic).

Here are just some key moments and images from black history through the decades in the UK: from the political to the joyous.

A group of soldiers from various British colonial regiments at Chelsea Barracks in London before Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June 1897 (Picture: London Stereoscopic Company / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Nigerian-born writer and political activist Obi Egbuna speaking at a press conference to launch his Black Power group, the Universal Coloured People’s Association, in London in August 1967 (Picture: Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Marchers join a demonstration in Ladbroke Grove to protest against the repression of black citizens in Notting Hill on October 31, 1970 (Picture: Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Eight members of the black British activist group Mangrove Nine, pictured in December 1971. Bottom row, left to right: Rothwell Kentish, Rhodan Gordon, Altheia Jones-LeCointe and Barbara Beese. Top row, left to right: Frank Crichlow, Godfrey Millett, Rupert Boyce, Darcus Howe. The ninth member, Anthony Innis, is not in the picture (Picture: Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Notting Hill Carnival in August 1974 (Picture: Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Mas costumes are worn at Notting Hill Carnival in recognition of how slaves used to ridicule their masters in the 1800s (Picture: Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Young people celebrate at Notting Hill Carnival in August 1976 (Picture: Pictorial Parade / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

A police officer dancing with a reveller wearing his hat at Notting Hill Carnival in August 1981 (Picture: Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Diane Abbott, pictured here next to late MP Bernie Grant, became the first black woman elected to Parliament in 1987 (Picture: PA)

A woman dances in the street at Notting Hill Carnival in 1997 (Picture: PYMCA / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Two bikers standing with their vehicles smiling and chatting in Heathrow, London, in 1999 (Picture: Shambhala / Pymca / Rex / Shutterstock)

Girls dancing in the road at Notting Hill Carnival in the 2000s (Picture: PYMCA / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Dancers refused to be put off performing at Notting Hill Carnival in 2005 despite the July 7 bombings that year (Picture: Getty Images)

Protesters hold up fists at a gathering in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in Leeds in June 2020 (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

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Here are some key moments from black history in the UK through the years.