Jen Reid (born 2 November 1970) is a British

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

activist from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. After the statue of Edward Colston was pushed into

Bristol Harbour Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out per ...

, Reid stood on the empty plinth and made a

Black Power salute During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled ...

. This pose was then recreated in the sculpture '' A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020''.

7 June 2020

On 7 June 2020, at a

protest in

following the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

, a statue of Edward Colston was toppled and pushed into the nearby

. Seventeenth-century merchant Edward Colston had become a figure of controversy in Bristol due to his involvement in the slave trade. Reid stood upon the now empty plinth and raised her fist in a

. Her husband took a photograph and posted it on Instagram, and it was quickly transmitted worldwide. She later told

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...

"It was a spontaneous action". Frances Lincoln Publishers announced in 2021 that they would be releasing a picture book made by Reid and US author Angela Joy which is based upon the June 2020 events. A

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

series called ''Descendants'' profiled Reid in its first episode in May 2021. A mural featuring a portrait of Reid was painted by London artist Mr Cenz in

Stokes Croft Stokes Croft is a road in Bristol, England. It is part of the A38, a main road north of the city centre. Locals refer to the area around the road by the same name. The road became a centre of industry during the mid-19th century, including the ...

''A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020''

Having seen the photograph of Jen Reid on social media, artist

Marc Quinn Marc Quinn (born 8 January 1964) is a British contemporary visual artist whose work includes sculpture, installation, and painting. Quinn explores "what it is to be human in the world today" through subjects including the body, genetics, ident ...

contacted her and they agreed to make a sculpture of her recreating the raised fist pose to put upon the still empty plinth. Following a

3D scan 3D scanning is the process of analyzing a real-world object or environment to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance (e.g. color). The collected data can then be used to construct digital 3D models. A 3D scanner can be based on ...

of Reid made at Quinn's London studio '' A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020'' was created in black resin and placed upon the plinth on the morning of 15 July 2020. Reid told

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

"This sculpture is about making a stand for my mother, for my daughter, for black people like me". The statue was removed the following day by Bristol City Council.

Personal and professional life

Reid was born on 2 November 1970. She claims that one of her grandmothers was an enslaved African. Reid launched a fashion brand called ''Big Stush'' in 2022. Reid is one of the authors of ''A Hero Like Me'', an illustrated children's book inspired by the events of 7 June 2020 which was published in 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Jen Black Lives Matter people 1970 births People from Bristol British women activists Women civil rights activists Living people British civil rights activists