Claudia Jones: Civil Right Activist who lived in Camden in the 1950s.

A Local BAME Hero

She was born in Trinidad in 1915, but moved to New York in 1924, where she encountered poverty and discrimination. In 1936, she joined the Young Communist League and joined the staff of the Daily Worker. She was arrested in 1955 and served a year in prison before being deported and given asylum in the UK.

Confronted by posters saying “No blacks, no dogs, no Irish”, she became a leader in the Black equal rights movement that was emerging in London’s Notting Hill and founded The West Indian Gazette, one of the first Black newspapers in the UK. She was one of the founders of the Notting Hill Carnival. Today the carnival is the biggest in Europe and is a fitting memorial to Claudia’s life of activism and campaigning.

Claudia is buried in Highgate Cemetery next to Karl Marx. The inscription reads: ‘Claudia Vera Jones, born Trinidad, 1915. Died London 25.12.1964. Valiant fighter against racism and imperialism who dedicated her life to the progress of socialism and the liberation of her own black people.’