Richard Small

Richard Small is a leading Jamaican lawyer, and race equality activist in London during the 1960s, and a writer at the forefront of many movements and organisations. He was a close political associate of CLR James, acting as his political Secretary from 1965. He has published a political essay on the history contribution of CLR James.
== Early life ==
Small was born in 1943 in Jamaica and was educated at prep. school and at High School, Jamaica College, between 1953 and 1959 He received his Senior Cambridge in 1959 and that facilitated his admission as a student to the Middle Temple in England where he received his law training. He received his degree at Kings College University of London. He travelled to England in July 1960 to study to be a lawyer in order to become a barrister. At that time, for Jamaican students it was the only place that it was possible to train. He travelled with his older brother, along with my brother who also intended to become a barrister. He remained in England from 1960 until May 1969. Richard Small is a member of one of the most prominent professional and activist families in Jamacia that includes brothers, Robin and Hugh, and Richard has been recognised as a prominent political organiser since the 1960s.
== The West Indian Student's Centre and The West Indian Student's Union ==
Small joined the West Indian Students' Centre Centre and became a leading member of both the Centre and the West Indian Student's Union from 1960. He joined the West Indian Student’s Union, then based at the West Indian Student's Centre on arrival in England in 1960, and in 1961 he was elected a member of the Executive of the Union, and became the Discussions Convenor, From this position, his influence and leadership grew and he has been recognised as an influential leading member of the West Indian Student's movement in Britain during this period.
== The Campaign for Racial Discrimination ==
In 1964, as a prominent member of the West Indian Student's Centre, Small was in attendence at the meeting of Dr Martin Luther King Jnr. for the formation of the Campaign for Racial Discrimination (C.A.R.D) and became a founder member. When C.A.R.D was formed in 1965, Small was elected to the Managing Committee of the organisation, and also became its Press Officer. 
== Bogle L'Ouverture Publications ==
Small was a founder member of Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, a close associate of Walter Rodney, Jessica Huntley, Eric Huntley, and Errol Lloyd.In 1968, Richard Small attended the Black Writers Conference in Montreal Canada when Rodney took him to one side and handed him the papers that constituted the lectures and notes from his talks on black history. Rodney, then a lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, was subsequently banned from resuming his post by the Hugh Shearer government, leading to widespread global 'Rodney Riots'. These papers were subsequently published as the first book of Bogle L'Ouverture, as the Groundings with my Brothers, with Small as the author of the introduction to this groundbreaking book. Small was closely involved in the subsequent formation of Bogle L'Ouverture as a formal organisation, and contributed to the naming of the organisation.
== New Beacon Books ==
Richard Small was a close collaborator of John La Rose and his partner, Sarah White, founders of New Beacon Books and the George Padmore Institute in London.
Category:Jamaican lawyers
Category:Jamaican activists
Category:1943 births