Paul Stephenson is one of the most significant figures in the UK civil rights movement of the last 60 years.

 He rose to prominence as a key figure in the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963, a campaign that forced Bristol Omnibus Company to abandon its policy of only employing white conductors and drivers. The Bus Boycott remains one of the most positive examples of Black protest in recent British history.

 Paul is unusual in that he is a third generation Black Englishman rather than one of the Windrush generation. Born shortly before the outbreak of World War Two, his mother joined the War effort in the Women’s Royal Army Corps so Paul was evacuated from London and brought up in white middle-class surroundings in rural Essex.

 He has a unique insight into being English and Black and has devoted his life to fighting racism wherever he finds it.

 In his foreword to Memoirs Of A Black Englishman, Paul’s great friend Tony Benn says: “His life offers living proof that history is made by people who make the effort.”