This weekend, the 61st Notting Hill carnival will take over the streets of West London with its clamour, colour, and pleasure.
Thousands of people will swarm the streets from Notting Hill Gate to Ladbroke Grove to take in the sound system blasts and dance and drum parades.
Although the two-day celebration has been held outside since 1966, its origins can be found in an inside festival put on by Trinidadian socialist Claudia Jones, who is often referred to as the “mother of the Notting Hill Carnival.”
In response to tense racial relations in the wake of the Notting Hill race riots of 1958, Jones organised the Caribbean Carnival, which was hosted in St. Pancras Town Hall in 1959 and then annually until 1966.
These demonstrations took place as the “Windrush” generation began to arrive in England.
Between 1948 and 1971, millions of people from Caribbean nations immigrated to Britain; some of them were met with hatred.
The indoor gathering was organised by Jones in the hopes of uniting the communities after spending 30 years in the US advocating for racial justice before being deported to Britain in 1955 after being labelled “un-American.”
It featured dancing, music, and a beauty competition and was broadcast by the BBC. Beautiful images capture Jones having a good time at the event together with hundreds of others.
The black, Antiguan-born, aspirant lawyer Kelso Cochrane died after being attacked by bigots in Notting Hill four months after the first Caribbean Carnival.
His unsolved murder inspired another activist, Rhaune Laslett, to organise a children’s street fair in 1966, which turned into the first outdoor carnival when the well-known Russ Henderson Steel Band participated.
It has been held every year since the inaugural event, with the exception of 2020 and 2021 owing to the effects of the coronavirus epidemic. The initial event was a big success.
But the carnival has sometimes been ruined by fights between revellers and authorities, with the 1976 fights being especially brutal. Since 1987, there have been five fatal shootings and stabbings at or near the carnival.
Jones, who was born in 1915, initially travelled to the US where she joined the American Communist Party and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
She was detained and transferred to the UK as a result of her activity since she was a “subject of the British Empire.”
Once settled in the UK, she started the significant daily the West Indian Gazette, which served as the voice of London’s then 100,000-person Caribbean population.
The White Defense League, led by the fascist Oswald Mosley, incited the riots in 1958 by attacking the black community in London.
Numerous people were hurt during the five nights of unrest in Notting Hill. It inspired Jones to try to combat racial prejudice via the medium of dance.
After the 1959 event, Her Caribbean Carnival continued for a further six years. It turned out to be a soother for a neighbourhood troubled by racial strife.
Cochrane was a carpenter who lived in Notting Hill at a period when racial animosity was at an all-time high. On May 17, 1959, he was assassinated on Golborne Road in Notting Hill.
The place where he died is now memorialised by a blue plaque. A group of white guys attacked the carpenter as he was making his way home from the hospital after getting hurt on the job.
The black community was outraged at Cochrane’s murder, and some of them marched down Whitehall carrying protest banners.
Then-Home Secretary Rab Butler called for witnesses to come forward in Parliament and established a public inquiry into racial relations. But no one was ever held accountable for his murder.
Following Jones’ passing the previous year, activist Laslett was inspired by the murder to organise the outdoor gathering in 1966.
We felt that despite the fact that West Indians, Africans, Irish, and many other nationalities all live in a very crowded area, there is very little communication between us, she reportedly said later.
If we can make people want to participate, this will only lead to positive outcomes, says the speaker.
Russell Henderson, a well-known pan player, was invited by Laslett to perform with his band. They frequently attended Jones’ indoor carnivals.
In 1966, as folks gathered and danced, Henderson’s band marched through Portobello Road waving to the crowd.
Throughout the 1970s, the carnival’s popularity grew steadily. There were 150,000 attendees by 1976.
The numbers increased as a result of Leslie Palmer’s efforts, who organised the carnival from 1973 to 1975.
He organised sponsorship, added more musicians, constructed numerous static sound systems, which have remained a highlight aspect of the festival, and organised sponsorship.
Significant altercations with police did occur during the 1970s, most notably in 1976, when the Daily Mail headlined: “Battle at the Carnival.”
Numerous people were detained as rocks, beer cans, and bottles were thrown at the police. To supplement the 1,000 officers who had been assigned to the shift, hundreds more had to be brought in.
According to the report at the time, 120 officers were hurt overall. According to reports, the police were trying to apprehend a pickpocket when the riots started.
Five people were injured in knife attacks at the carnival in 2016, which saw more than 450 arrests.
At the most recent carnival, which took place in 2019, more than 100 persons were detained.
Recent years have seen an estimated one million revellers attend. At the carnival, musicians including Jay Z, Stormzy, Craig David, and Stefflon Don have all performed.
Due to the “ongoing uncertainty and risk” of the coronavirus, the carnival was postponed in 2017 for a second consecutive year, according to the organisers.
More than 1,000 bus drivers are on strike over a wage issue, which will affect this year’s festival.
Some property owners, including those of homes and businesses, have boarded up their buildings as a precaution.
Due to the size of the throng travelling through the area, Kensington and Chelsea Council even urged a gym 1.5 miles away in Kensington High Street to close its doors during the festival.