Our People, Our Spirit, Our Stories | Claudia Jones

“A people’s art is the genesis of their freedom”

– Claudia Jones 

Claudia Jones, born Claudia Vera Cumberbatch, was a Trinidad-born journalist, communist activist, feminist, and Black nationalist. Migrating to the US as a child, she rose in the Communist Party USA, advocating for racial, gender, and class justice, notably in her 1949 article “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!”.

Deported in 1955, she moved to London, founded the West Indian Gazette, and organized the first indoor Caribbean Carnival in 1959, In St Pancras Town Hall, Camden, laying the groundwork for the Notting Hill Carnival.

She is remembered as a visionary who linked cultural celebration to political resistance.

Born: 21 Feb 1915 (Port of Spain)

Died: 24 Dec 1964 (London)

‘No Peace can be obtained if any woman. Especially those who are oppressed and impoverished, are left out of the conversation ‘

– Claudia Jones