Speaking Truth To Power

ARTHUR FRANCE is someone that the establishment would prefer to keep hidden from British history. But he has made history, and this book explains how and why. He was born and raised on the Caribbean island of Nevis and arrived in Leeds in the north of England in 1957. He soon began to organise members of the local Caribbean community into a united force for social progress and was awarded an MBE in 1997. But Arthur France is best known as the founder of the first Black-led Caribbean Carnival in Europe. This was in Leeds in 1967, but his idea for carnival was not merely sequins and feathers for him, Carnival was a symbol of Emancipation and a vehicle for changing people s lives. If Leeds is now a city that embraces diversity, it is in no small part due to Arthur France and his brothers and sisters in struggle. In telling Arthur's story, author Max Farrar also reflects upon the struggle for justice and equality led by so many members of Britain s Black and Brown communities. It provides the context of violent racism, including the white riots in London's Notting Hill, the relentless provocation towards their own self-defence, and the growth of the Black Power movement. This remarkable man s life story is a poignant narrative about race in post-war Britain. An APPENDIX provides a detailed history of St Kitts and Nevis from the first colonial settlement in 1624 up to independence, which was achieved on 19 September 1983.

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