Celebrating ‘mother’ of the Notting Hill Carnival
CLAUDIA JONES ALSO CREATED AND EDITED WEST INDIAN GAZETTE
WITH last month’s toppling of statues of slavers and imperialists, there have been calls for the UK’s school curriculum to place more focus on black history and the UK’s imperialist past.
The Gazette’s dedicated coverage of
London’s communities allows us to tell the amazing stories of diverse groups who help shape society as we know it today.
West London’s Black community has played a major part in the fight against racism through the decades. From Notting Hill Carnival to the resilient Mangrove 9, West London communities have been at the forefront of the fight against racial inequality in the UK.
In a series of articles, titled Black British History in West London, we look at how prominent figures, groups and events involving Black people in and around West London shaped the UK as we know it today.
We start with the life of Claudia Jones, who is considered the mother of Notting Hill Carnival and was also the editor of one of the first Black-owned newspapers in the UK.
Claudia Jones was born in Trinidad in 1915. Jones wore several hats in her lifetime: political activist, community leader, journalist, communist, but she’s widely known for being one of the originators of the Notting Hill Carnival. Jones died in 1964, only 49-yearsold but she certainly left her mark on the UK.
Before coming to London in the 1950s, Jones actually grew up in New York where she worked as a journalist, as well as being a member of the American Communist Party.
It was her political involvement with the communist group that led to her being deported to the UK in 1955 after several years on Ellis Island.
Arriving in London, Ms Jones picked up where she left off continuing her activism working with London’s Afro-Caribbean community. Racial tensions were high in the UK especially in areas such as Notting Hill, Brixton and Notting where the newly migrated Caribbean migrants settled after arriving in the UK upon the Empire Windrush.
Motivated to give a voice to the UK’s growing Caribbean community, Jones created the West Indian Gazette in 1958. She believed that
“people without a voice were as lambs to the slaughter”.
So above a barber shop in Brixton, the West Indian Gazette was born into a British society rife with racism and hostility toward Black people living in Britain.
Donald Hinds, who worked with Jones at the West Indian Gazette said: “WIG (West Indian Gazette) took its role as a newspaper seriously.
“It was not merely a vehicle to bring the news of what was happening back home and in the diaspora to Britain.
“It also commented on the arts in all their forms, at a time when Black performers were getting the crumbs, which fell from the production tables.
“WIG was talking up Cy Grant, Nadia Cattouse, Pearl Prescod, Edric Connor and Pearl Connor, Nina Baden-Semper, Corrine Skinner-Carter, Bascoe Holder, among others.”
In addition to her work with the West Indian Gazette, Jones continued the fight against racism and following the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, she sought ways to “wash the taste” of the riots from the mouths of Black people in the UK.
This brought the suggestion of a carnival, which because of the winter climate seemed very odd initially but Jones pushed for an indoor version that led to the first Caribbean Carnival in January 1959.
The carnival was a grand event held in St Pancras Town Hall filled with music and dancing, and was televised by the BBC.
The indoor carnivals were held annually until 1964, which paved the way for the outdoor carnival as it’s known today led by Rhaune Laslett.
Matthew Phillips, current Notting
Hill Carnival director, said: “People remember those signs of ‘no Blacks, no dogs, no Irish.’
“That transformed into aggression and the race riots, people were standing up for their rights.”
He added: “All of these people laid the groundwork for the carnival we know and love.
“People forget the sacrifice and the trouble it took to get here.”
Racial tensions were still high in the UK even following the Jones’ Caribbean Carnival.
Only a few months later a black man, Kelso Cochrane was murdered in a racist attack in Notting Hill.
Relentless in her commitment to see justice and equality for black people in the UK, Jones fought alongside others in London to bring a campaign for Kelso Cochrane to the Home Office. There is still yet to be a conviction for Cochrane’s murder.
Jones was involved in organising Cochrane’s funeral that saw more that 1,000 black and white people gather in Ladbroke Grove in a show of unity against racism.
Jones led a rich life fighting for change in the UK before her untimely death.
Through the West Indian Gazette, the Caribbean Carnival and more direct activism with groups such as the Conference of Afro-Asian-Caribbean Organisations campaigned against racist immigration policies, discrimination in the workplace and housing injustices.
Claudia Jones was integral in leading a fight that improved life for Black people in the UK and helped bring the Caribbean culture to the forefront of British life.
Next week in the series Black History in West London, we’ll be looking at the story behind the infamous Mangrove nine.