Florence Tina "Gloria" Cameron MBE (27 June 1932 – 15 March 2020) was a Jamaican-born British community worker, playwright, activist and promoter of West Indian culture.

In 1958, she joined the St John's Inter-Racial Club in the Brixton district of London and became involved in activism directed at widespread discrimination against the West Indian community.

Her concerns included accommodation problems, educational disparity, racial discrimination in employment, transport, and pubs, as well as Sus laws, which allowed police to detain people upon suspicion that they might have committed an offence.

In 1963, she founded the Caribbean Folk Group, which performed throughout Britain reciting West Indian folklore and playing music accompanied with dance.

In the 1970s, intent on creating a day nursery for working mothers that would better prepare Caribbean children for school, along with Gerlin Bean and Mabel Carter, she formed the West Indian Parents Action Group (WIPAG).

Cameron became a community relations officer for the London Borough of Lambeth in 1973 and was one of the first Black women to be appointed a justice of the peace in the UK, serving from 1975.

Cameron's community work was recognised with honours as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1980 and with the Jamaican Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation in 1987.

She and her mother, the only ones home at the time, were rescued, but Florence developed typhoid fever and subsequently pneumonia and was hospitalised at Kingston Public Hospital for several months.

Attending the West India Commercial College, she trained as a secretary, and simultaneously studied domestic science at the Kingston Technical School.

[24][25] Sus law arrests frequently targeted Black youth and police were given broad latitude in defining the terms "suspect" and "intent".

[39] She was honoured by Edward Seaga with the Jamaican Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation in 1987, in recognition of her contributions to Britain's Caribbean community.

Gloria sang, Herb played the accordion,[44] Valerie the clarinet, Franklin the cornet, Christopher the piano, Christine the guitar, and Jennifer the violin.

Recitation of West Indian folklore and enactment of pantomime performances such as Anansi and Brer Englishman, written by Cameron with Manley Young,[46] were often included in the presentations.

[33][48] Next door at 7 Gresham Road, the Abeng Centre, for which Cameron served as coordinator, helped immigrants to adjust to life in Britain by providing counselling services as well as vocational training to assist them with finding employment and a youth club to give teenagers a place to mingle with their peers.

[49][50] Besides her work in the centres and performing with the folk company, Cameron presented various cultural programmes with John Agard, Len Garrison, and Courtney Laws.

[40] A documentary series, Women at Work , produced by the Central Office of Information featured an episode "The West Indian Community: Life of Gloria Cameron an Immigrant to Britain in the 1950s" in the 1983 and 1984 season.

[52] In 1985 WIPAG was encouraged by the Chief Coordinator Community and Voluntary Services (CCCVS) to apply to develop the property at 90 Kellet Road as an additional nursery.

[56] The bid to manage the site was approved by the Lambeth Council's Social Services Committee in June[57] and the CCCVS was appointed as the Grant Liaison Officer for the facility.

The CCCVS was not the typical agency that oversaw grants for nursery and senior day care facilities as these were normally supervised within the social work division.

[61] Claims of mismanagement by the CCCVS led to a board meeting to discuss Cameron's voluntary leaving and the potential closing of the nurseries temporarily.

[62] As a precautionary measure because of harassing phone calls and an angry crowd that had gathered, police were notified to secure the buildings on Gresham and Kellet Roads and escort the employees out on 11 September.

[69][70] Articles like one that appeared under the headline "How Are the Mighty Fallen", in the January–February 1988 issue of Race Today, reported that Cameron had been arrested and "believed her connections in high places would save her".

[69][70] Defence counsel, Martin Thomas, argued that "a small and totally organised group were determined to destroy Mrs Cameron and her family and the work they had built up" with the intent of taking over the WIPAG nursery.