Trinidad-born Claudia Jones, a pioneering equal rights campaigner and black activist, has been nominated for a blue plaque which would recognise and celebrate her achievements.
A Hackney-based Caribbean women’s charity has welcomed the English Heritage blue plaque nomination for its namesake as part of a campaign for more London women to be recognised for their historic achievements.
The Claudia Jones Organisation, a female support group founded in Stoke Newington in 1982, is named after the Trinidad-born feminist most famous for her role in founding the Notting Hill carnival.
The charity has supported a campaign by the London Assembly to encourage English Heritage to recognise more women like Ms Jones through its blue plaques, which pay tribute to the people of the past through the buildings with which they associated. Currently fewer than one in seven plaques in London – 132 out of 944 – celebrates a woman.
Claudia Phillips, Vice Chair of the Claudia Jones Organisation, told the Hackney Post: “Claudia has left a legacy for not just Caribbean people but people all over London. She left the legacy of the carnival, which all of London enjoys.
“She also brought a lot into the economy through the newspaper she founded. From a woman’s perspective she led the way, she showed us the way forward in putting ourselves out there, through culture, through helping people, through the understanding of different people’s lives.”
Claudia Jones was an equal rights campaigner who in 1959 founded the Caribbean carnival, which later evolved into Notting Hill carnival. She also wrote for, edited and founded newspapers.
The Claudia Jones organisation was established by a group of Caribbean women. The charity primarily supports women of African Caribbean heritage and their families by providing culturally sensitive services ranging from health to social and cultural education. Its work includes a repairing relationships project which helps Hackney families access counselling, family group conferences and social events. It also runs a mother and baby group and provides practical advice to parents.
The blue plaque campaign, known as #BackthePlaque, was launched by the London Assembly last year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of some women receiving the right to vote. The public was asked to nominate 100 female Londoners for blue plaques. Over 150 women were nominated, and the shortlisted 100 were presented to English Heritage by the London Assembly at its International Women’s Day event last week.
Ms Jones, who had moved from Trinidad to America aged nine, arrived in London in 1955. She had been deported from the US for being part of the American Communist Party and was given asylum. Living in West London she continued her political activism and founded the West Indian Gazette which is widely seen as the UK’s first major black newspaper. She died in 1964 aged 49.
Jennette Arnold, Hackney’s London Assembly member and deputy chair of the assembly, said: “The list of 100 nominations we received from Londoners is awe-inspiring. The London Assembly is proud of what women have achieved over the past century and this is a fitting way to mark those achievements.”
There is already another blue plaque in Notting Hill commemorating Jones’ part in founding the Notting Hill carnival which was put up by the Nubian Jak Community Trust, which commemorates prominent black historical figures. This is separate from the English Heritage blue plaque scheme.
