A welfare officer helping the British government fight the Nazis during World War II, world-renowned cricketer and prominent civil rights activist, Learie Constantine, made Black History with his legal action against the Imperial Hotel, in London, in 1943, when he and his family were refused accommodation despite having booked in advance.
Born in Trinidad, he arrived in the UK when he was invited to play cricket for Nelson in Lancashire in 1928. In the 1940s and 50s there were no laws against race discrimination despite groups like the League of Coloured Peoples demanding such. Constantine, however, sued the hotel for breach of contract and won the case, with the publicity the case raised promoted the argument for a law against racist behaviour – thus seeing the case as a milestone in British racial equality.
Once described by former cricket playing and commentating legend, John Arnott, as “a man of easy humour and essential patience, whose outlook was that of a compassionate radical, yet maintaining his high moral standards unswervingly", away from the game, Constantine qualified as a barrister, while also establishing himself as a journalist and broadcaster.
He returned to Trinidad and Tobago in 1954, entered politics and became a founding member of the People's National Movement, subsequently entering the government as minister of communications, before returning to the UK to serve as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, in 1962, before being made Britain's first Black peer in 1969, sitting in the House of Lords.
In his final years, he served on the Race Relations Board, the Sports Council and the Board of Governors of the BBC, before failing health reduced his effectiveness in some of these roles. He died of a heart attack in 1971, aged 69. In 2021, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, marking the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship final.
