Catalogue Number
NMLH.2018.163
Object Name
Poster
Title
Black Peoples Day of Action
Place
New Cross, London
People
Owen Wesley Thompson; Patrick Cummings; Yvonne Ruddock; Glen Powell; Humphrey Brown; Lloyd Hall; Gerry Paul Francis; Peter Campbell; Paul Ruddock; Patricia Johnson; Andrew Gooding; Steve Collins
Events
New Cross Massacre; Black People's Day of Action
Date
1982
Creator(s)
Description
Poster from the New Cross Massacre Action Committee. Design depicting the demonstration in London on the 2nd March 1981 attended by 20,000 people who marched over a period of 8 hours from Fordham Park to Hyde Park. The crowd is raising the portraits of the 13 victims and placards with inscriptions âBlack Peoples Day of Action. New Cross Massacre Action Committeeâ, âOwen Wesley Thompson 11.9.1964 â 18.1.1981. Patrick Cummings. Yvonne Ruddock. Glen Powell 19.1.1965 â 25.1.1981. Humphrey Brown 4.7.1962 â 18.1.1981. Peter Campbell. Paul Ruddock. Patricia Johnson. Andrew Goodind. Lillian Rosalind Henry. Steve Collins 2.5.1968 â 18.1.1981â, âBlood a go run if justice na comeâ. The New Cross house fire was a fire that occurred during a party at a house in New Cross, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday, 18 January 1981. The blaze killed 13 young black people aged between 14 and 22, and one survivor took his own life two years later.
No one has ever been charged in connection with the fire, which forensic science subsequently established started inside the house. Inquests into the deaths were held in 1981 and 2004. Both inquests recorded open verdicts.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, a New Cross Massacre Action Committee (NCMAC) was set up, chaired by John La Rose, which organised a "Black People's Day of Action" on 2 March 1981, when some 20,000 people marched over a period of eight hours through London, carrying placards that bore statements including: "13 Dead, Nothing Said".
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