And they all lived happily ever after?
The story of London's black bus crews is very well known, and very many people are aware of the Bristol bus boycott and how Raghbir Singh became the first black bus conductor in Bristol in the teeth of opposition from local trade unions and the Bristol Omnibus Company itself.
The story of black busmen in Greater Manchester is much less well documented. Unlike London, Manchester never went to the Caribbean to recruit Jamaican and other countries' adults for service; and unlike in Bristol, there was no massive campaign, boycott or out-and-out public racism. It 'just happened', gradually at first and then with growing pace in the 1970s.
We know that the father of former Chancellor Sajid Javid worked on the buses in Rochdale, but unfortunately - despite looking - we haven't yet found any records in our archives that show his name.
This newspaper clipping, from the Oldham Evening Chronicle in 1956, shows George Davis who was the town's first bus conductor. The newspaper piece has an air of 'this is all very jolly, we have a black man on our buses, and everyone is being frightfully nice and he's ex-RAF, you know'. But the truth was probably much darker - black staff on the bus or in the garage suffered prejudice and outright racism from colleagues and the public: and occasionally and sadly, still do.
The truth is that with critical staff shortages, immigrants and people like Mr Davis kept the buses running. Many people left the industry due to low wages and having to work shifts, and often it was people like George that stepped in.
We're very keen to hear from people who were pioneers in being non-white and joining the bus industry in Greater Manchester. If you'd like to tell your story, drop a mail to email@gmts.co.uk so we can have a chat to capture your recollections of joining the buses when it was hard if you weren't white.
If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester and its collection of vintage buses, go to motgm.uk.
© Greater Manchester Transport Society. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society.
And they all lived happily ever after?
The story of London's black bus crews is very well known, and very many people are aware of the Bristol bus boycott and how Raghbir Singh became the first black bus conductor in Bristol in the teeth of opposition from local trade unions and the Bristol Omnibus Company itself.
The story of black busmen in Greater Manchester is much less well documented. Unlike London, Manchester never went to the Caribbean to recruit Jamaican and other countries' adults for service; and unlike in Bristol, there was no massive campaign, boycott or out-and-out public racism. It 'just happened', gradually at first and then with growing pace in the 1970s.
We know that the father of former Chancellor Sajid Javid worked on the buses in Rochdale, but unfortunately - despite looking - we haven't yet found any records in our archives that show his name.
This newspaper clipping, from the Oldham Evening Chronicle in 1956, shows George Davis who was the town's first bus conductor. The newspaper piece has an air of 'this is all very jolly, we have a black man on our buses, and everyone is being frightfully nice and he's ex-RAF, you know'. But the truth was probably much darker - black staff on the bus or in the garage suffered prejudice and outright racism from colleagues and the public: and occasionally and sadly, still do.
The truth is that with critical staff shortages, immigrants and people like Mr Davis kept the buses running. Many people left the industry due to low wages and having to work shifts, and often it was people like George that stepped in.
We're very keen to hear from people who were pioneers in being non-white and joining the bus industry in Greater Manchester. If you'd like to tell your story, drop a mail to email@gmts.co.uk so we can have a chat to capture your recollections of joining the buses when it was hard if you weren't white.
If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester and its collection of vintage buses, go to motgm.uk.
© Greater Manchester Transport Society. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is strictly prohibited and may result in action being taken to protect the intellectual property interests of the Society.