Claudia Jones

Claudia Jones (ca.1950)

Claudia Jones , maiden name Claudia Vera Cumberbatch (born February 21, 1915 in Port of Spain ; died December 1964 ) was a journalist and activist in Trinidad who emigrated to the United States with her family as a child . Because of her political activities, she was deported from the USA in 1955 and then lived in the UK. There she founded Great Britain's first black weekly newspaper, the West Indian Gazette (WIG) in 1958, and founded the Notting Hill Carnival .

biography

When Claudia Jones was nine years old, her family emigrated to the USA, to Harlem , New York . The family lived in precarious circumstances. As a result, she was unable to attend her graduation party because she could not buy the necessary clothes. Her mother died when Claudia was 12 years old. At the age of 21, she joined the American Communist Party , as it took on an important advocacy role for the 9 African American youths accused of rape ( Scottsboro Boys ) and paid for their defense. She took the surname Jones as a "self-defensive disinformation."

Jones began working for the Daily Worker in 1937 and the Weekly Review in 1938 . After the Second World War she assumed the role of "executive secretary" of the National Women's Commission (1947) and then the National Peace Commission in 1952. As early as 1948 she was arrested for the first time for her communist activities and detained on Ellis Island . In 1955 there was a one-year prison sentence and then a deportation order . On December 7, 1955, 350 people gathered at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem to say goodbye to Jones. Two weeks later she reached London by sea. She died in London in December 1964.

West Indian Gazette

The West Indian Gazette , founded by Jones, was the first major black newspaper in Great Britain and had 15,000 readers. The newspaper was supported by figures such as Malcolm X and WEB du Bois and Paul Robeson .

London Carnival

Following the racist riots in Notting Hill and Nottingham , Jones initiated the Notting Hill Carnival . To "wash the taste of Notting Hill and Nottingham out of the mouth" a carnival was set up for the black community of Great Britain.

Web links

Commons : Claudia Jones - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Claudia Jones in the bibliographic database WorldCat

Individual evidence

^ Donald Hinds: The West Indian Gazette: Claudia Jones and the black press in Britain . In: Race & Class . tape 50 , no. 1 , July 2008, ISSN 0306-3968 , p. 88-97 , doi : 10.1177 / 03063968080500010602 ( sagepub.com [accessed September 17, 2019]).

personal data
SURNAME	Jones, Claudia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Journalist and activist in Trinidad
DATE OF BIRTH	February 21, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH	Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago
DATE OF DEATH	December 1964
Place of death	London , UK

[1] Donald Hinds: The West Indian Gazette: Claudia Jones and the black press in Britain . In: Race & Class . tape 50 , no. 1 , July 2008, ISSN 0306-3968 , p. 88-97 , doi : 10.1177 / 03063968080500010602 ( sagepub.com [accessed September 17, 2019]).