Claudia Jones,
or Claudia
Vera Cumberbatch, was a journalist, political activist, and black nationalist
who had a very influential hand in the start of the Notting Hill Carnival. She
was born in Trinidad in the year 1915. Her family immigrated to the United
States when she was nine years old after the post-war cocoa price crash in
Trinidad. However, in 1955 she was deported to London after a period of
spending four spells in prison for her roles in Communist part activities and
for her status as an illegal alien. There she began her own anti-imperialist,
anti-racist newspaper called The West Indian Gazette
and Afro-Asian Caribbean News
(WIG). Her last published essay was called “The Caribbean Community in
Britain” in Freedomways, where she said
“The newspaper has served as
a catalyst, quickening the awareness, socially and politically, of West
Indians, Afro-Asians and their friends. Its editorial stand is for a united,
independent West Indies, full economic, social and political equality and
respect for human dignity for West Indians and Afro-Asians in Britain, and for
peace and friendship between all Commonwealth and world peoples”
Four months after she
launched WIG racial riots broke out
in Notting Hill, London. She and a number of members from the black British
Community, plus various national leaders, met on the subject, which is where
the idea for a British black carnival came about. Claudia Jones used her connections to gain use of St Pancras Town Hall in
January 1959 for the first Mardi-Gras-based carnival. Now,
she is very often referred to as the “Mother of Carnival.”
Her most well known piece of writing is called "An End to
the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!" and it appeared in 1949
in the magazine Political Affairs. It exhibits her development of
what has now been termed "intersectional" analysis within a Marxist
framework.
Here is a link to her article:
No comments:
Post a Comment