Campaign Against Racial Discrimination

The Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD) was a British organization, founded in 1964 and which lasted until 1967, that lobbied for race relations legislation. The group's formation was inspired by a visit by Martin Luther King Jr. to London in December 1964 on his way to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.[1] The Trinidadian pacifist Marion Glean, then a graduate student at the London School of Economics, arranged with Bayard Rustin for King to meet a group of Black spokespersons and activists at the Hilton Hotel,[2] where an ad hoc committee was formed for a movement to "agitate for social justice and oppose all forms of discrimination",[3] with CARD formally being launched at the next meeting on 10 January 1965.[4]

CARD's founding members included Jocelyn Barrow as well as Marion Glean, politician Anthony Lester, London County Councillor David Pitt, historian C.L.R. James, Dipak Nandy and the sociologist Hamza Alvi.[4] Lawyer Richard Small served as CARD's press officer.[5]

  1. ^ Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley (eds), Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, London: Pinter, 2000. ISBN 1-85567-264-2 (pp. 111-12).
  2. ^ Howard Malchow, Special Relations: The Americanization of Britain?, Stanford University Press, 2011, p. 173.
  3. ^ Terry Coleman, "From the archive, 12 December 1964: Martin Luther King stops off in the UK", The Guardian (UK), 12 December 2014.
  4. ^ a b Kalbir Shukra, The Changing Pattern of Black Politics in Britain, London: Pluto Press, 1998, ISBN 0-7453-1465-1 (p. 20).
  5. ^ McGlashan, Colin (24 January 1965). "Integrating Britain's anti-racialists". Observer. Retrieved 15 June 2021.