The Story of Claudia Jones

Buried beside Karl Marx in Highgate cemetery Claudia Jones was a force to be reckoned with. Claudia Jones, Trinidadian born, US immigrant, political activist, and victim of the USA McCarthy era. She was arrested three times during the McCarthy anti-communist witch-hunts, eventually serving nine months in prison. Shortly after her release in the early 1960s, she was deported to England. In Britain, she continued her struggles against racism and peace playing a leading role in the West Indian community, despite suffering from ill health. She founded Britain’s first major black newspaper, the West Indian Gazette, and is known as the mother of the Caribbean Carnival in London, the precursor to the world-famous Notting Hill Carnival.