Inside life of heroic activist who fought until death for Black women's rights

03 October 2023 , 06:53

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Olive Morris' life was tragically cut short at age 27 (Image: Remembering Olive Collective/British Library Archives)

When it comes to British women known for their sacrifices for freedom, you may think straight to Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Wilding Davidson or maybe even Mary Wollstonecraft.

But few are first to think of one of the fiercest female voices in recent history - Olive Morris. The heroic activist lived just 27 years, but in her short time was described as a "rabble rouser" who fought hard for the rights of Black women in the UK.

She has been described as one of the "pioneers" of the British Black Power Movement and, in June 2020, she was even the Google Doodle for a day at the height of protests over the murder of George Floyd. Yet Olive has frequently been dubbed an "overlooked" historical figure.

Born in Jamaica in 1952, Olive came to the UK as a nine-year-old girl with brother Basil, settling with their parents in Lavender Hill near Battersea, London. The young Olive left school without qualifications, but found her feet in activism as a teenager after becoming inadvertently involved in a racism row with police.

At just 16, Olive was criminalised after jumping in to defend a man being assaulted by racist police officers (Remembering Olive Collective/British Library Archives)

She was 16 when she witnessed a Nigerian diplomat being arrested after parking his Mercedes on a street in Brixton where he had stopped off to browse a local record store. Dr Angelina Osborne, a historian with women's equality group the Fawcett Society, said: "Olive came forward and physically tried to stop the police from attacking the diplomat, causing the police to turn on her, arrest her and assault her, kicking her in the chest.

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"This young girl, barely five feet two inches, took on racist police officers, without thinking about her own safety, because she couldn’t stand by and allow the injustice of an African man being arrested for driving a nice car." The then-teenager was arrested along with six others and given a three-month suspended sentence, as well as being fined £10 - about £138 in today's money.

Olive joined the British Black Panthers - the first independent chapter of Party outside the US - and would go on to found the Brixton Black Women’s Group alongside friend Elizabeth Obi. The two friends travelled together to Algeria in 1972 to visit Black Panther leader and exile Eldridge Cleaver, instead becoming stranded in Morocco.

Olive's face featured as a mural on a wall in Lambeth to mark what would have been her 68th birthday in June 2020 (Remembering Olive Collective/British Library Archives)

Then, in 1975, Olive embarked on a degree at Manchester University in economics and social science whist campaigning for the abolition of higher education fees for overseas students. She graduated in 1978, continuing to campaign against "sus" legislation amidst growing racial tensions which saw the likes of white supremacist group the National Front gain prominence in British politics.

Emma Baker, a historian at Bristol University, wrote: "Obi and Morris redefined what Black Power meant and looked like in Britain, moulding it into a movement which spoke to local British women as well as men. These two women made a deep impact on the communities in which they lived whilst creating a long-lasting legacy of Black female radicalism in the UK."

If still alive today, Olive would be 71 years old (Remembering Olive Collective/British Library Archives)

She campaigned throughout the 1970s for justice for Black Brits - particularly Black British women (Remembering Olive Collective/British Library Archives)

Tragically, Olive Morris died aged just 27 after she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma after falling ill on a trip in late-1978. Shocked by her death so young, community figures rallied to get a building named in her honour. In 2009, was chosen as one of several Brixton figures to appear on local currency the 'Brixton Pound'.

To this day, Olive's efforts continue to benefit Black British women in the form of education bursaries ratified in 2011. "Olive packed so much into her 27 years," Dr Osborne adds. "If she had lived, I am convinced that she would be campaigning against the current housing crisis, prison reform and white supremacy."

Susie Beever