Born: 21 February 1915, Trinidad and Tobago
Died: 24 December 1964
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Claudia Vera Cumberbatch
This bio, written by Julia McFarland, has been shared with permission. Follow Julia on Instagram: @historys_heroines.
Claudia Jones (21.2.1915 – 24.12.1964) was a journalist born in Trinidad and dedicated her life to fighting racism inequality and injustice. She moved to Harlem in New York when she was 8. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis in her teens. She joined the Young Communist Party and the NAACP. She was arrested and imprisoned several times and deported to the UK in 1955. In 1958 she founded the West Indies Gazette, Britain’s first black newspaper. In a reaction to the Notting Hill Riots she began the Notting Hill Carnival which was known as Claudia’s Caribbean Carnival in 1958 which was televised by the BBC. This was the genesis of the carnival we know today. She died in 1949 from tuberculosis.