22/08/2024
With Carnival weekend coming up, let's explore the history of Carnival...
🎉 By the 1950s, Brixton and Notting Hill had the largest population of Caribbean people in Britain.
🎉 Trinidadian-born activist Claudia Jones and founder of the West Indian Gazette newspaper organised a Caribbean Carnival in St. Pancras Town Hall on 30th January 1959.
🎉 In 1966, Rhaune Laslett and Andre Shervington organised a street festival with the aim of entertaining local children as well as attempting to ease ongoing tensions.
🎉 By 1974, 100,000 people and a dozen bands participated and in 1975 static sound systems were introduced adding Jamaican reggae, dub and ska music to the traditional calypso and soca.
The history of Notting Hill Carnival represents the resilience and cultural diversity of the communities of London, and the rich Caribbean cultures brought to life through food, music, costumes and dance.