Jessica Huntley

Jessica Huntley (23 February 1927 – 13 October 2013)

Jessica Huntley came to Britain from Guyana in 1958 to join her husband, Eric Huntley. Before migrating, she had been a leading member of the People’s Progressive Party, active in the vanguard struggle for Guyanese national independence. Her commitment to political justice and community empowerment continued after her arrival in the UK.

In 1969, with support from friends and fellow activists, Jessica and Eric founded the groundbreaking publishing house Bogle‑L’Ouverture Publications, later opening a bookshop under the same name. Their first publication was The Groundings with My Brothers, a collection of essays by their friend, the activist and scholar Walter Rodney, who had been banned from Jamaica for combining academic work with grassroots political education across all sections of society.

Jessica Huntley’s portraits reflect the strength, dignity, and determination of a woman who dedicated her life to social justice. A prominent organiser and community leader, she fought discrimination, promoted equality, and championed the empowerment of marginalised voices within Black and minority communities in Britain. Through the Bogle L’Ouverture Bookshop, she helped create a vital cultural space for education, dialogue, and community engagement a hub for radical thought, creativity, and collective action.

Her influence extended deeply into the arts and cultural activism. In 1999, alongside Len Garrison, she officially opened my Union Blacks exhibition at the Black Cultural Archives, lending her voice, presence, and authority to a project rooted in the same principles of representation, empowerment, and historical reclamation that defined her life’s work.

Jessica Huntley’s legacy endures in the movements she helped build, the communities she strengthened, and the generations she continues to inspire in the ongoing struggle for equality, representation, and cultural self-determination.