Who Are The Seven Saints of St. Pauls?
BY MORAYO OMOGBENIGUN
Black History Month UK has officially started! Cue companies attempting to show they care about their Black staff by performative shows of activism and ‘commitments to enhancing diversity’, the usual “Why don’t we have a White History Month?” and to finish it off, using the month to lump together all people of colour, regardless of if it's called Black History Month or not.
Instead of the usual articles on the aforementioned topics, today we are celebrating something unique to Bristol. The Seven Saints of St. Pauls are a series of murals which celebrate equality advocates and founders of the St. Pauls Carnival, which celebrates African and Caribbean culture in Bristol.
Done by Michele Curtis in collaboration with Bristolian muralists, Paintsmiths, to mark the 50th anniversary of St. Pauls Carnival in 2018, these murals memorialise heroes that are often left out of the wider history of Britain.
Owen Henry
Henry, alongside fellow saints Roy Hackett and Clifford Drummond, founded the Commonwealth Coordinated Committee (CCC), which was set up to call attention to the racial discrimination in Bristol following the migration of young West Indians to Britain starting with the arrival of Windrush in 1948. He was also a supporter of the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963, born out of a refusal by the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ people of colour. Henry also hosted CCC meetings at his home.
Roy Hackett
Hackett was also a founding member of the CCC, which later set up and ran the first St. Pauls Festival in 1968. As part of the CCC, he also supported the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott, a precursor to the Race Relations Act 1965.
Carmen Beckford MBE
Beckford was one of the founding members of St. Pauls Festival (now called St. Pauls Carnival). She moved to the UK aged 17, from Jamaica to train as a nurse in Ashford Hospital, Kent, then moved to Bristol to work as a midwife in 1965. Between 1978-86, she worked as a community development officer at the Bristol City Council to combat racial discrimination in the city. She was also on the CCC, and created the West Indian Dance Team. As of 1982, Beckford was the first Black recipient of an MBE in the South West.
Clifford Drummond
Drummond was a founding member of the CCC, and served as both Secretary and Treasurer.
Barbara Dettering
Dettering moved to Bristol in 1961 from British Guyana, where she was born and raised. She was a Development Officer in the Bristol City Council, then became a social worker. Known as “Aunty Babs”, she was a key member of the Bristol West Indian Parents and Friend Association and the Malcolm X Elders Forum in St. Pauls, where over 50s partake in activities like dominoes and patchwork.
Dolores Campbell
Referred to by former Bristol Poet Laureate Miles Chambers as the ‘surrogate mother of Black British culture’, Campbell was a foster carer for over 30 children, and the first female member of the CCC.
Audley Evans
Alongside Roy Hackett, Owen Henry and Prince Brown, Evans pioneered the Bristol Bus Boycott.
Community-based projects like this are so important - my favourite thing about these installations is that they aren’t behind a paywall. You don’t have to pay admission into a gallery to view them, and they certainly can’t be bought and stored in the homes of the wealthy. The Bristol Bus Boycott was only in 1963, which is a mere 57 years ago. When talking about the Civil Rights Movement, it's easy to think it happened years and years ago; I mean, the photos are in black and white.
While these Saints have been canonised in these murals, let's not forget that some of them are still with us today. More importantly, the systems they fought against: racism, classism, sexism, are still a part of our current society.
Not only are these murals a glimpse into the past, they are a reminder to look towards the future - what could you be doing to fight discrimination, whether it be racism, homophobia, or sexism? How do you choose to honour these Saints?
This year’s FUZE is in aid of two charities: ArtRefuge and Black South West Network.
