Jessica Elleisse Huntley (née Carroll) was an Guyanese-British political reformer and prominent race equality campaigner. She was a publisher of black and Asian literature, and a women's and community rights activist. She is notable as the founder in 1969 of Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications in London.
Born in Guyana, Jessica came to the UK in 1958 to join her husband Eric. She was a leading member of the People’s Progressive Party in Guyana.
For over 50 years the Huntleys participated in many significant grassroots campaigns. In 1968 Jessica and Eric Huntley co-founded the Ealing-based publishing company Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, named for Paul Bogle and Toussaint L’Ouverture. The Huntleys later opened a bookshop, Walter Rodney, in Chignell Place, West Ealing. It was the second black bookshop in the UK. 1977-9 it was attacked by racist groups.
Sources: Local Black Heroes in Ealing, FHALMA, Black History Month.
This image shows Jessica and Eric in 1950. See Eric's page for a later photograph.
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them