Claudia Jones the Journalist
Claudia Jones was born in 1915 in Trinidad in the West Indies, whilst still a child her family emigrated to Harlem, New York USA, where she was raised. As a teenager Claudia was forced to leave education and start to work to help ends meet when her mother died.
At just eighteen years of age Claudia joined the Communist Party, becoming editor of The Daily Worker, at the time she was one of the few Black women in an editorial role at a leading national paper. She didn’t waste the opportunity, her writing was sharp and radical. Her 1949 essay
An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman! was groundbreaking. Claudia brought Black women’s struggles from the shadows to the forefront. Here’s an excerpt -
However, Claudia's unwavering support and membership of the Communist Party made her enemies. She was targeted by the FBI and put under relentless surveillance, imprisoned and in 1955 deported to London.
In 1958 Claudia Jones launched the West Indian Gazette — the first major Black British newspaper. From a small office above a barber’s shop in Brixton, she created a publication that not only challenged, but also gave an outlet to community voices as well as connecting Black communities across London, the Caribbean, Africa, and beyond.
The Gazette reported on racist policing, colonial injustice, Caribbean and African independence movements, local community events, and the growing resistance of Black Britain. The paper spoke directly to the people - unapologetically. Through the Gazette, Claudia helped organise meetings, protests, and campaigns. In response to the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, Claudia organised an indoor Caribbean carnival in St Pancras Town Hall. The indoor carnival was an opportunity to bring the community together against hate. The event laid the groundwork for today’s Notting Hill Carnival, one of the world’s largest street festivals.
Claudia passed away in 1964.
"The bourgeoisie is fearful of the militancy of the Negro woman, and for good reason. The capitalist know, far better than many progressives seem to know, that once Negro women undertake action, the militancy of the whole Negro people, and thus of the anti-imperialist coalition, is greatly enhanced."