The first ever ‘Notting Hill Carnival’ (Picture: Monty Fresco/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Every year around two million people rush to just one small street in London to take part in Notting Hill Carnival.
The area, famous for its brightly painted houses and the setting for rom coms, has hosted the festival every year over the August bank holiday weekend since its start in 1966.
But the event was born from racial violence which erupted in Notting Hill in 1950s.
The original event wis said to have been created by Trinidadian human rights activist Claudia Jones with social worker Rhaune Leslett organising the original town hall event in January 1959.
Leslett said he wanted to create a space for children of the West Indian community to enjoy following the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush.
In May that year, 32-year-old Antiguan-born Kelso Cochrane was killed in a racially motivated attack in Notting Hill.
It came off the back of some of the worst nights of racially motivated violence the UK had seen in 1958.
Hundreds of white men took to the streets and fire bombed black people’s homes, with violence raging for five days.
The organisers of the original event realised more had to be done to life the spirits of the black community.
The carnival began to fully take shape in 1966, combining elements of Claudia Jones’s 1959 celebration.
Race riots in west London, September 1958 (Picture: Keystone/Getty Images)Scenes in and around Bramley Road in Notting Hill, where police were called to prevent trouble between black and white residents in the area, August 1958 (Picture: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)A crowd on Ladbroke Grove watch the arrival of the hearse for the funeral of Kelso Cochrane a black man who was murdered in Notting Hill (Picture: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro.co.uk's London news hub.
London police search a black youth in Talbot Road, Notting Hill, September 1958 (Picture: Knoote/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Some of crowd who attended the event, 30th January 1959. (Picture: Monte Fresco/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)One woman having a good time at the event in 1959. (Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)Scenes in and around Bramley Road in Notting Hill, where police were called to prevent trouble between black and white residents in the area, 1958 (Picture: Staff/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)Two men remove a broken window in the aftermath of the Notting Hill race riots, 1958 (Photo by Michael Hardy/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)A woman at the event walking past band members who are taking a break from playing, 1959 (Picture: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)A West Indian couple dancing during the event, 1959 (Picture: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)Young couple dancing energetically during the event, 1959 (Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)A couple dancing during the event, 1959 (Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)A couple dancing during the event, 1959 (Picture: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)Some of the large crowd who attended the event 1959 (Picture: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)Some of crowd who attended the event, 1959 (Picture: Harry Fox/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)A couple dancing during the event, 1959 (Picture: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)A blue plaque is unveiled at the house where Claudia Jones once lived on October 5, 2023 in London, England (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)Caption: Trinidadian political activist and journalist Claudia Jones, a nationalist and feminist, United States, 1951. Jones played a key role in founding the Notting Hill Carnival. (Picture: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
