"Tony Soares has been a leading figure in the Black liberation movement and a key voice in the struggle for housing rights in London through his role in establishing and leading the Ujima Housing Association ...which became one of the largest Black-led housing associations in the UK."
Leslie Palmer talking about 1973 when he took over the administration of the Notting Hill Carnival: "Anthony Perry introduced me to Tony Soares, whom I knew as the guy who ran the Grass Roots bookshop on Golborne Road and bookstall on the market. He helped me draft fundraising letters and find possible sponsors."
Soares was born in Mozambique with some Asian heritage, and considered himself 'Black' in the political sense of non-white.
Sources: The Underground Map, Notting Hill Teaching Guide, HQN which recommends Elaine Bowes’ book, The Evolution of Black and Minority Ethnic Housing Associations for more on Soares.
This photo is probably from the 1970s. At the Young Historians Project source it's unidentified but we are certain it's Soares because of two other images we have found, each showing a very different Soares: a mature man receiving an award connected with his work at Ujima, and an extraordinary 1972 drawing of Soares being lynched on a tree labeled as the 'Old Bailey', printed by 'Grass Roots Black Community Newspaper'. We traced the story behind this: Soares was convicted of inciting arson and the manufacture of explosives but received a light sentence.
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