English Heritage has commemorated activist and housing rights campaigner, Olive Morris, with a blue plaque in Brixton, the charity announced today.

Morris dedicated her short life (1952–1979) to speaking out on behalf of oppressed and exploited people. English Heritage's London blue plaque was unveiled at 121 Railton Road where Morris hosted Black women's study groups and lived as a squatter in the 1970s.

Olive Morris died tragically young at the age of 27, and English Heritage's unveiling today – and an accompanying programme of activity – was organised by the charity's youth engagement team in collaboration with three Lambeth-based community and youth organisations: South Central Youth, The Advocacy Academy and The Black Curriculum.

Nick Merriman, English Heritage's Chief Executive, said, 'Olive Morris was a remarkable person.

'There are more than 1,000 blue plaques across the capital but this plaque is a special one, celebrating the life of a young, Black woman who defended the oppressed and the exploited, often in the face of brutality and racism. Our plaque remembers an inspiring figure from the past and her fight against injustice not only in Brixton but across London, in Britain and beyond.'

English Heritage's Youth Participation Officer, Chania Fox, said, 'We've really enjoyed working with young people from Lambeth to create an unveiling event for Olive Morris which is as community-focussed as possible.

'This event is a culmination of several months' work and it's been a privilege to support the participants as they've explored the life of Olive, the community that supported her, and the lasting impact her activism has had.'

Jamaican-born Morris was a significant figure in the Brixton-based British Black Panther movement, going on to co-found the Brixton Black Women's Group and the Organization of Women of African and Asian Descent in 1978.

In 1972, she was prosecuted alongside Darcus Howe and Abdul Macintosh after a protest outside the Old Bailey. They demanded and won the right to a fair representation of Black people on the jury, and 'the Old Bailey three' were acquitted.

After graduating in social science from Manchester University, Morris worked in Brixton Community Law Centre's juvenile department, campaigning against the 'sus' laws, under which the police could arrest anyone they suspected might be about to commit a crime. Her campaigning also included opposition to the Vietnam War and the support of workers' movements in the Caribbean.

As a campaigner for housing rights, she assisted homeless families, and single people with little hope of accessing social housing to put a roof over their heads.

Brixton underwent a housing crisis in the 1970s and securing a decent home was particularly hard for Black families. For many, occupying empty houses was a matter of necessity as well as being a political gesture. Homeless families would come to Olive Morris for assistance and both she and her fellow campaigners would search for vacant properties and move them in.

It was said that Morris turned 'squatting into an art form' and with her friend and fellow activist Liz Turnbull, she squatted at 121 Railton Road during the winter of 1972–3. The then-empty flat above a laundrette was part of the early wave of Brixton squats, and was home to one of a growing number of Black political and counter-cultural organisations in the area.

Morris and Turnbull survived multiple illegal attempts by police to evict them from the property (squatting was not at that time a criminal offence) and it was almost certainly outside the door to the flat at 121 Railton Road that Morris was photographed remonstrating with the police. A photo of her climbing up the back of a house is also said to have been taken at Railton Road during a roof-top protest and the photo appeared on the cover of the Squatting News Bulletin of 1975 and the Squatters' Handbook of 1979.

121 Railton Road is widely seen as the first successful squatting of a private property in Lambeth and the three-storey end-of-terrace house has been described as the 'longest-running squat' (circa 1972–99) in Britain.

After she and Turnbull moved out in 1973, Olive helped members of the British Black Panthers, the Black United Freedom Party and the Brixton Black Women's Group to re-squat the property. She reportedly told police or the council that she would stay on the roof (or jump) until they agreed to let the collective have the building.

The new squatters included some of the women's study group and those who set up Sabarr, the radical self-help bookshop and community space. The 121 squat was also the address of the Black Workers' Movement and Black People Against State Harassment (BASH) and, later, that of Brixton Squatters Aid.

Currently only 4.6% of the plaques within the London blue plaques scheme are dedicated to Black and Asian figures from history.

English Heritage is working to encourage more public nominations for people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and since 2016 has commemorated – among others – the footballer Laurie Cunningham; Bob Marley; the 18th-century author and anti-slavery campaigner, Ottobah Cugoano; the neurologist James Samuel Risien Russell; and the suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh.

West Indian writer and political activist, C. L. R. James, also has an English Heritage blue plaque on Railton Road, at number 165.

The Nubian Jak Community Trust (with Black History Walks) also recently honoured former residents, placing plaques to civil rights activist, Darcus Howe, at number 167, and to Winifred Atwell at 82d, on the building that replaced her black hair and beauty salon (the first of its kind in the UK).

The Nubian Jak Community Trust (with Lambeth Council) have also commemorated Olive Morris. This plaque marks number 2 Talma Road, which was the base for The Brixton Ad-Hoc Committee against Police Repression. A memorial stone at the Lambeth Archives (the former site of Olive Morris House) was unveiled last year.

• The English Heritage London Blue Plaques scheme is generously supported by David Pearl and members of the public.