Born Claudia Vera Cumberbatch on February 21, 1915, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad (which was a British colony at the time). Her family migrated to the US in 1924 & settled in Harlem, New York. Claudia's mother was a garment worker and due to the adverse effects of harsh working conditions & long working hours, she passed away when Claudia was only 12 years old. After her mother's death, Claudia's father lost his job during the Great Depression, causing the family to sink further into poverty & she was forced to drop out of high school. Claudia also fell ill with tuberculosis around this time, likely due to poor living conditions.
Though she ceased to receive a formal education, she never stopped learning. She instead received a "political education" through social activism. At the age of 18, Claudia joined the Young Communist League (YCL). It was around this time that she became involved with the Scottsboro Boys, who were 9 African-American men wrongfully accused of raping two white women, in Scottsboro, Alabama; they were too be executed by "legalized lynching". Claudia began writing on the behalf of the Scottsboro Boys' legal defense, as a journalist for the YCL's journal, Weekly Review. She later wrote for the Communist Party newspaper, The Daily World. Claudia also adopted a new last name, Jones, to remain anonymous to those who were vehemently against her political ambitions.
Claudia's vocal support for often controversial causes (ie. socialism/communism) also didn't go unnoticed by the US government & she was arrested twice during the "Communist witch hunts" of Senator Joseph McCarthy, her first arrest was in 1948 & she was imprisoned for 6 months. Claudia was arrested a second time in 1955 & sent to federal prison. As she never received US citizenship, Claudia was eventually deported to England due to her controversial reputation as a socialist. She eventually settled in London, England, where she continued to her activism for the Caribbean cause & other oppressed groups. In 1958, she founded the, West Indian Gazette, one of the first black-owned newspapers in England. The gazette reported on major events all over the Caribbean & became an important vehicle for Claudia to voice her opposition of the institution of racism. In the later half of the 20th century racial discrimination was prevalent and rates of violence perpetrated against black people was increasing. To help combat negative stereotypes, Claudia organized the first Carnival festival in England, in 1959, as a way to display to introduce Caribbean culture to the English. The event later expanded into the Notting Hill Carnival (circa. 1966), which to this day draws millions of festival goers in the 21st century.
Claudia Jones died on December 25, 1964. Appropriately her grave is right next to the famed founder of communism, Karl Marx, in Highgate Cemetery, London. Claudia was a devoted Communist her whole adult life & a leader in several crucial movements that distinguished the 20th century as a turning point in history. These included, civil rights movements in the US, that fought for the rights of black Americans, the international Communist movement, advocacy for the rights of women, world peace & the independence of Caribbean countries.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jones-claudia-1915-1964/
https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Claudia-Jones/632217
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Women in Literature and Music
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