Read our new report, a collection of essays looking back at the first Race Relations Act and asking how far we've come. Click here for more

On 8 December 1965 the first Race Relations Act came into force in Britain. Prior to this, it was legal to discriminate against people because of the colour of their skin, and this act was the first in a line of equality legislation to promote non-discrimination and equality. Runnymede's edited volume contains nine wide-ranging articles, including legal and anti-racist activists involved in the 1965 act as well as those working on race equality policy and activism today. Fifty years on from the act, the contributors ask whether we need more legislation, more effective policy implementation or more civil society action to finally achieve racial equality in Britain in the 21st century.