Profile
Claudia Jones
The Historian
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The historian championing this figure
I'm Kwaku. I deliver programmes on History, particularly African British history, and Music, particularly British black music, which are respectively posted at <a href="https://AfricanHistoryPlus.eventbrite.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>https://AfricanHistoryPlus.eventbrite.com</strong></a> and <a href="https://BBM.eventbrite.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>https://BBM.eventbrite.com</strong></a>
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What was the time period like?:
Claudia Jones and her siblings sailed from Port of Spain, Trinidad to join their parents in New York in February 1924.
She was a bright student, but her parents were so poor, she couldn’t afford to attend her high school graduation.
She started working as a teen, doing menial work, joined the US Communist Party (USCP), where she became a youth wing leader, writer and editor. She was jailed so many times for being a member of the USCP, and finally deport to Britain in December 1955.
She is definitely the foremost British African civil activist. She was in numerous groups fighting against race, gender and class discrimination. She was the founding editor of the pioneering West Indian Gazette (WIG) monthly newspaper, launched in 1958. Through the WIG, she organised 6 Caribbean Carnivals in 1959-1964 across London and 2 in the regions. But she was not the founder of the Notting Hill Carnival, which started in 1966 – almost two years after the death of Jones.
For more information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Jones -
What influence have they had on Modern Day UK?:
She fought racist laws, such as the Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1962
She edited the West Indian Gazette 1958-1964, which provided news from the Caribbean, Africa, and beyond for the British-based people of African descent.
She promoted the federation of Caribbean countries and the decolonisation of African countries.
She’s definitely an inspirational for many activists, and her work as a Civil Rights Activist was recognised when the Royal Mail issued a postage stamp with her image in 2008.
There are organisations, buildings, plaques and streets named after her. She’s the subject of a chapter entitled ‘Black British Activism In Notting Hill’, which is in ‘Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History: Migrants in Britain c 800-Present’, published at the start of the new school term for students taking GCSE History.
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Born: Feb. 21 1915
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Died: Dec. 25 1964
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Time period:
Early-mid-2oth century
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Short Bio: Simply a tireless and dynamic civil rights activist!
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Extra resources: