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Mr. Equanimity · (#178 (**permalink**))

Jeff Crawford - Activist (1932 - 2003)

Born at Ellerton in St George's, Barbados, and educated at Combermere, one of the leading schools in the island, he came to Britain in 1955, making his name as Secretary of the Standing Conference of West Indians, set up in the wake of the Notting Hill "race riots" in 1958. In the early 1960s he played a leading role in Brockley International Friendship Association of south-east London. Later in the decade, as founder of the Caribbean Teachers' Association and chairman of the North London West Indian Association, he fought on the issue of schools for the "educationally subnormal" and the bussing of black students.

The harmony and justice he sought to bring about did not come easily. Crawford became known nationally for organising the successful picketing to persuade London Transport to promote black bus conductors. He was prominent, too, in the campaign in 1966 which led to the overturning of the NUR ban on black workers at Euston station. This is seen as a landmark towards the passing of race- relations legislation.