A Life of Activism

Leila Hassan Howe’s involvement in the struggles for racial equality and social justice dates back to the black power era when she joined the Black Unity and Freedom Party in 1971. She was a founding member of the Race Today Collective (RTC, 1974), led by Darcus Howe, the Alliance of the RTC with the Black Parents Movement and Black Youth Movement and Creation for Liberation. She was a member of the editorial board of the journal, Race Today. Leila was a member of the New Cross Massacre Action Committee who organized the historic Black Peoples Day of Action in 1981 in response to the racist atrocity which took the lives of 13 young black people. She was also a member of the organizing committee of the International Bookfair of Radical Black & Third World Books. She chairs the Darcus Howe Legacy Collective.