Harold Moody the civil rights leader
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1882, Harold Moody arrived in London in 1904 to study medicine at King’s College London. He graduated top of his class, however he still faced racism and was denied a hospital job because of the colour of his skin. Landlords refused to rent to him.
In 1912, Dr Moody married Olive Tranter, a white British nurse, her friends and family didn't approve, stating that “by becoming the wife of a Black man, she was betraying her race.” Despite such opposition Dr Moody opened his own practice in Peckham, South London in 1913. He served working-class families and those overlooked by the system.
Dr Moody had lived experience of racism and discrimination, he became an advocate for others. In 1925 Dr Moody overturned the Special Restriction order which discriminated against Black and Asian seamen so they were unable to find work - plunging them into poverty even though most had fought for Britain in the First World War.
The journey that changed Harold Moody's life
Rum Lane
Kingston Jamaica
Queens Road Peckham south London
From Rum Lane, Kingston, Jamaica in the Caribbean to Queens road, Peckham, south London, UK
The League of Coloured Peoples was founded by Dr Harold Moody and launched March 1931 at the YMCA on Tottenham Court Road, London. The League was Britain’s first civil rights organisation, at that first meeting he brought together an impressive group of people: writer C.L.R. James, Sierra Leonean lawyer Stella Thomas, and a young Jomo Kenyatta, who would later lead Kenya’s independence movement and fellow doctor, Dr Cecil Belfield Clarke. The League aimed -
• To promote and protect the Social, Educational, Economic and Political Interests of its members;
• To interest members in the Welfare of Coloured Peoples in all parts of the World;
• To improve relations between the Races;
• To cooperate and affiliate with organizations sympathetic to coloured people
• To render such financial assistance to coloured people in distress as lies within our capacity
Dr Moody also made a powerful case for full citizenship rights for people from Britain’s colonies. He did however face criticism as some felt his approach was too passive.
The League’s official journal, The Keys, edited by Una Marson published everything from essays and political analysis to poetry and achievements from across the Black diaspora.
During World War II, his advocacy continued. Dr Moody’s son Charles Arundel was denied the opportunity to train as an Officer for the British army because he wasn’t of 'pure European descent', Dr Moody was furious - he lobbied the war office. His campaigning resulted in the racist policy being overturned.
The League of Coloured Peoples ensured that Black children being evacuated from bomb-targeted cities were placed in safe homes.
Dr Moody passed away in 1947 at the age of 64, shortly after returning from a fundraising tour in North America.
‘The men of my race stood by you in the crisis of the war. I ask you to stand by us in peace. You must now also recognise that we are a great people’
Dr Harold Moody November 1929