Inspired by the Black Power movement in the U.S., the Nigerian playwright, Obi Egbuna, founded the British Black Panthers (BBP) in 1968 in London’s Notting Hill. In Britain, people of Caribbean, African, or South Asian descent, who were mainly immigrants from former British colonies, were considered to be “black.” The tripling of Britain’s black population from 300,000 to 1 million from 1961 to 1964 led to increased racial and class tensions, especially in London’s Afro-Caribbean community. These tensions led to more police repression and the creation of the BBP.
While the BBP was not an official chapter of the Black Panthers, it was the first Panther organization outside the United States, adopting the Panther’s symbols of military jackets, berets, and raised fists. Under Egbuna, BBP fought against police brutality. London police attempted to destroy the new party by arresting Ebguna and two other Panthers on bogus charges of threatening police. Ebguna was found guilty, and while he was in prison, Althea Jones, a Trinidad-born Ph.D. student at the University of London, became the leader of BBP by 1970.
Althea Jones along with her partner and later husband, Eddie Lecointe, South Asian Farrukh Dhondy, and Neil Kenlock changed the focus of BBP. The Party began grass-roots organizing of local black communities in England around each community’s issues of racial discrimination in jobs, housing, education, and medical and legal services. The BBP moved their headquarters to Brixton, a poorer black community in London. Under Jones’s leadership the Panthers became a highly effective community organization that also collaborated on white working-class issues and fought British imperialism. Like the Black Panther Party in the U.S., they stressed working-class solidarity in addition to fighting racial discrimination and oppression.
As part of their community work the BBP engaged in legal advocacy for blacks in 10 British cities as well as in London. The high point of their advocacy work was their defense of the Mangrove restaurant that was the central meeting place for Notting Hill’s Caribbean community. The police regularly harassed and raided the Mangrove without ever finding any drugs.
Their most influential success was their defence of the Mangrove Nine. During a demonstration against police brutality , nine black leaders – including Jones-LeCointe and Darcus Howe – were arrested and charged with inciting a riot. After representing themselves and demanding an all-black jury, they were acquittedand the judge publicly acknowledged “evidence of racial hatred” in the London police.
Their most influential success was their defence of the Mangrove Nine. During a demonstration against police brutality , nine black leaders – including Jones-LeCointe and Darcus Howe – were arrested and charged with inciting a riot. After representing themselves and demanding an all-black jury, they were acquitted and the judge publicly acknowledged “evidence of racial hatred” in the London police.
