Manchester Needs a Len Johnson Statue

Manchester has more statues erected in honour of soft drinks than to figures who represent the city's historic black community.

We want that to change. Since 2020, the Len Johnson Memorial Campaign has been fighting to raise awareness of the life of Len Johnson, and to campaign for a lasting monument to this great Mancunian.

If you haven't heard of Len's story, it is one of the most tragic yet inspirational stories you have ever heard.

Born in October 1902 in Clayton to a Sierra Leonian sailor and an Irish Mancunian mother, Len and his family faced prejudice from an early age, with his mother receiving life-changing injuries as a result of having married a Black man. It was during a workplace fight that Len realised he had some skill, and began fighting local boxing matches.

Soon, his skill became nationally known, and he began an incredible career in boxing - of the 127 fights he fought, he won 92, lost 29 and drew 6. While he was comfortably beating European champions and British legends such as Ted 'Kid' Lewis, Len was stopped from competing for the British middleweight title. The reason? The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC), the national boxing authority, stated he could not compete because of his skin colour.

The 'colour bar' in boxing held back Len from his greatest sporting success, leading him to retire in 1933. But his experience politicised him: while serving in the Civil Defence Corps during World War Two, he became active in the Communist Party. He was instrumental in organising the Fifth Pan-African Congress, the event which brought together nearly ninety anti-colonialist activists, including future political leaders such as Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Nigeria’s Jaja Wachuku, and Jamaica’s Dudley Thompson.

As Manchester's Black community grew after war's end, so did Len's commitment to the cause. With friends, he set up the New International Club on Grafton Street, which organised everything from Paul Robeson gigs and calypso nights to protests decrying substandard housing for Black people and opposing the unjust treatment of African Americans: the Club's principles were declared as being: “true internationalism; colonial liberation; the ending of racial discrimination; peace.”

Aside from being a well-respected community leader, Len stood as a council candidate several times. He wrote a monthly boxing column for the Daily Worker newspaper while working as a truck driver, where he penned pioneering essays on the welfare of retired athletes, the potential physical impairment that boxing causes, and the lack of sports facilities for working-class young people in Manchester.

When he died in September 1974, he died in relative anonymity in this country, but was mourned internationally as a pioneer for equality in sports. He was also remembered as a stalwart in the local community who had worked to improve race relations amongst ordinary people in Manchester.

This is why we are campaigning for the erection of a statue in Len's city of Manchester, so that his memory will be honoured - and his legacy can be preserved for future generations.

Even though this campaign has been backed from a wide array of people from the world of sports and politics, we are a small group of community activists and trade unionists campaigning for free in our own time.

There are no big bankrollers, so we need you. If you are inspired by Len's story, please consider donating a few pounds to the statue fund, and sign up to the mailing list to receive updates on the statue's status.

Yours sincerely,

The Len Johnson Memorial Campaign