The 1963 campaign, which lasted four months, mobilized people across the city to stop using Bristol Omnibus Company buses because of its refusal to hire blacks and Asians. At the time, a “colour bar” in Britain meant that people of minority ethnic origin could be legally barred from housing, work and public spaces. The protests that followed not only forced the company to change its policies, but paved the way for the passing of the Race Relations Act 1965 and 1968. Hackett was appointed OBE in 2009 and MBE in 2020. Bristol Lord Mayor Paula O’Rourke paid tribute to the civil rights campaigner, saying: “Deeply saddened to hear that Bristol civil rights legend Roy Hackett, organizer of the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott and founder of St Pauls Carnival is dead. My thoughts are with Roy’s family and friends at this difficult time.” Hackett, who once said he was “born an activist,” grew up in Trench Town in Kingston, Jamaica. He moved to Britain in 1952, living in Liverpool, London and Wolverhampton, before settling in Bristol. He described his early years in the UK as “a dog’s life”, due to the difficulty of finding work and housing. “Housing was the biggest problem, because it was strictly against us,” Hackett previously told the Guardian. A mural in Bristol paying tribute to Roy Hackett. Photo: Olumedia/The Guardian Hackett helped organize the bus boycott along with Owen Henry, Audley Evans, Prince Brown and Paul Stephenson. Inspired in part by the US civil rights movement and the successful bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, the group mobilized the city’s 3,000-strong Caribbean community into action . The boycott, which campaigners announced at a press conference on 29 April 1963, is believed to be the first of its kind in Britain. Hackett co-founded the Commonwealth Co-ordinated Committee, which founded Bristol’s St Pauls Carnival in 1968. The group’s campaigns put pressure on the local council to act on housing and employment. The committee still operates today as the Bristol West Indian Association of Parents and Friends. In 1959, Hackett married his childhood sweetheart Ena, who arrived in Bristol in 1958. He leaves behind three children. George Ferguson, former mayor of Bristol, also sent his condolences, saying: “Bristol honors the brave civil rights campaigner of the 1960s who influenced UK racial discrimination legislation.” Bristol Deputy Mayor Asher Craig said: “Mr Hackett’s transition has hit many of us very hard. A humble, principled, freedom fighter – Bristol Bus Boycott, St Pauls Carnival, Bristol West Indian Parents & Friends Association, Bristol Race Equality Council – his legacy will live on.’ Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Organizations also paid tribute, with the race equality thinktank Runnymede Trust tweeting that it was “deeply saddened to hear of the death of Roy Hackett, a UK civil rights icon”, while the Joint Council for Migrants He said: “Very sad news. Roy Hackett was one of the leaders of the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott, which overturned the color line and helped lead to the first Race Relations Act. “We fought for what we have now. Let’s push it harder. Rest in power, Roy.”