Businesses encouraged to support campaign to bring Martin Luther King III to Bristol

In Bristol, businesses are being urged to join a drive to bring Martin Luther King III to the city as part of the marking of the 60th anniversary of the Race Relations Act.

The landmark act was passed in November 1965 and was followed by the Bristol Bus Boycott, a crucial protest against the Bristol Omnibus Company’s not employing Black or Asian drivers.

Curiosity Un(Ltd), a Bristol-based social justice organization, is coordinating the campaign through its three-year project, Bristol Bus Boycott 360, which uses storytelling, art, and education to promote racial and social equity. The organisation is calling on companies to rise as city ‘change makers’.

“We can’t do this on our own—It’s not just good for business—it’s everybody’s business,” said Julz Davis, founder of Curiosity Un(Ltd) in an interview with Business Live. “There are organizations that we know have the capacity, leadership, and resources to drive real change in the city. We want to work with them.”
In part as a result of the campaign, Curiosity Un(Ltd) will be organizing the Big Bristol Bus Boycott Business Breakfast on March 21, 2024. This event will gather industry leaders, civic voices, and community advocates to discuss Bristol’s civil rights history and how business leaders can effectively bring about change.
Bristol must deliver on diversity if it wants to celebrate it, and this is an opportunity to shape the future of the city through the power of leadership,” said Davis. Steve Bluff, the director of Redcliffe & Temple BID, which is supporting the event, shared the sentiment: “As a business community, we have a responsibility to learn from the past and act to build a more inclusive future.”
When the Bristol Bus Boycott 360 project was launched in 2022, the city’s role in civil rights history was at the center of the story for a number of impactful initiatives. In 2023, a First Bus specially wrapped with the voices of boycott pioneers was taken to Parliament, where Sir Keir Starmer made a public pledge to introduce a Race Equality Act—now due to become law in 2026.
It has also generated significant public storytelling projects, such as murals, plaques, exhibitions, and the Anthem for Change music project that saw young artists and boycott elders come together in a creative display of activism.
In April, Bristol Bus Boycott 360 will unveil Designs4Change, a national competition that will ask creatives from across the UK to enter their artwork in response to the boycott. The winning designs will be displayed on bus stops, train stations, and shopping centres across the country, and the winners will be revealed on August 28, the date of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
“What business does is central to the making of Bristol, not just the economic but the social,” Davis concluded. “The Big Bristol Bus Boycott Business Breakfast is a unique opportunity for leaders to act and help to create a city that embodies the values of inclusion and equality.”