 and later the American Communist Party. During her 30 years in the States, Jones was vocal in her belief that that peace couldn't be obtained if women, especially poor women, were excluded from the conversation. In her struggle for freedom, she often found herself on the wrong side of the law; in the height of the McCarthy era in 1955, Jones was arrested and declared un-American, and deported to Britain as she was a 'subject of the British Empire'. She arrived to a country in flux, with widespread post-War immigration and racial tension rife. Swathes of West Indians—part of the Windrush generation that settled in the UK after World War II—were met by 'No blacks, no dogs, no Irish,' posters and other vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric. Jones soon made it her mission to protect and campaign on behalf of the Caribbean community.){kind=link}
This article was originally published in August 2018 as part of our ‘Hidden Credits’ series which looked back and celebrated individual women who have smashed glass ceilings, helped change society for the better and given the UK’s capital something to boast about.
Born in 1915, Trinidadian Claudia Jones spent her life fighting for tolerance and equality – a road that would lead her to become an instrumental part of setting up the beloved annual Notting Hill Carnival. Devoted to improving the lives of women, she moved to New York as a child, with her interest in politics and race discrimination flourishing amid the hubbub of Harlem, where she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later the American Communist Party.
During her 30 years in the States, Jones was vocal in her belief that that peace couldn’t be obtained if women, especially poor women, were excluded from the conversation. In her struggle for freedom, she often found herself on the wrong side of the law; in the height of the McCarthy era in 1955, Jones was arrested and declared un-American, and deported to Britain as she was a “subject of the British Empire”.
She arrived to a country in flux, with widespread post-War immigration and racial tension rife. Swathes of West Indians-part of the Windrush generation that settled in the UK after World War II-were met by “No blacks, no dogs, no Irish,” posters and other vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric. Jones soon made it her mission to protect and campaign on behalf of the Caribbean community.
Many of these newcomers were adrift, separated from their homeland and cultural history. Jones wanted to engage them, believing that “people without a voice were lambs to the slaughter”. So she founded the West Indian Gazette, Britain’s very first major black newspaper; it became a symbol for resistance, and a mouthpiece for London’s then 100,000-strong Caribbean community.