Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Jones, Claudia, 1915-1964.

Description

1. 1.2 lin. ft.

Summary

1. Claudia Jones Memorial Collection 1935-1998 (bulk 1955-1964) consists primarily of printed matter apparently owned by Jones. There is a relatively small volume of material relating to Jones' personal and political activities. Bon-voyage postcards, letters and telegrams sent to her on her departure from the United States following deportation are the only documents that deal with her life in the United States. The collection also contains poems Jones wrote while in prison and during her voyage to England.
2. There are several notebooks chronicling her experiences during trips she took to China and Japan. A folder on Paul Robeson includes a booklet "Paul Robeson goes to Washington," and a transcript of his appearance before the Smith Act Congressional Hearing Committee. Also contained in the Robeson folder are promotional material for his appearances in London from 1956 through 1962, correspondence between the Robesons' and Jones, and a transcript of a speech by Jones delivered at a reception for the Robesons held in London, and Robeson speech notes.
3. A folder labeled "Bailey, Frank /Manchanda, Abhimanyu /Jones, Claudia controversy" contains letters, notes and other information concerning charges that were filed against Jones and Manchanda by Frank Bailey, a member of Communist Party, who was also involved in working with the Afro-Caribbean community in London. The printed matter consists of booklets and monographs on a variety of subjects including race and gender. Authors include James Allen, Herbert Aptheker, Ben Davis, George W. Crockett, Elizabeth Flynn Gurley, James Ford, Harry Haywood, and Claudia Jones.

Subject

1. Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976
2. Davis, Benjamin J (Benjamin Jefferson), 1903-1964
3. Black author
4. Jones, Claudia, 1915-1964
5. Women, Black
6. Women > Political activity
7. Communist parties > United States
8. Garvey, Amy Jacques
9. United States > Politics and government > 1945-1953
10. African American communists
11. United States > Politics and government > 1953-1961
12. Political prisoners > United States
13. Women political activists > United States
14. Poems
15. Communist Party of the United States of America
16. Women political activists > Great Britain
17. African Americans > Civil rights

Genre/Form

1. Poems.

Call number

1. Sc MG 692

Note

1. Photographs transferred to Photographs and Print Division.

Source (note)

1. Donated by Claudia Manchanda & Diane Langford, the daughter and widow, respectively of Abhimanyu Manchanda, Jones' friend and companion

Biography (note)

1. Claudia Jones (1915-1964), political activist, communist, journalist, and community leader was born in Trinidad, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1924 with her parents and siblings. During the 1930s and '40s she became a strong advocate for human, civil and women's rights and rose in the Communist Party-USA to a position of leadership. She was appointed editor of Negro Affairs for the Daily Worker in 1948 and that same year she was arrested for violation of the Smith Act. Between 1948 and 1955 Jones was arrested and imprisoned twice and finally deported to England in December 1955 after serving a sentence of a year and a day at the Aldersen Federal Women's Prison.
2. From 1955 to 1964 Jones worked with London's African-Caribbean community doing political and cultural organizing. She founded and edited The West Indian Gazette and the Afro-Asian Caribbean News, and in 1959 helped organize a series of cultural events that grew to become the Notting Hill Carnival. Jones died on December 24, 1964 after a long illness.

Author

1. Manchanda, Claudia, collector.

Title

1. Claudia Jones Memorial collection, 1935-1998.

Biography

1. Claudia Jones (1915-1964), political activist, communist, journalist, and community leader was born in Trinidad, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1924 with her parents and siblings. During the 1930s and '40s she became a strong advocate for human, civil and women's rights and rose in the Communist Party-USA to a position of leadership. She was appointed editor of Negro Affairs for the Daily Worker in 1948 and that same year she was arrested for violation of the Smith Act. Between 1948 and 1955 Jones was arrested and imprisoned twice and finally deported to England in December 1955 after serving a sentence of a year and a day at the Aldersen Federal Women's Prison.
2. From 1955 to 1964 Jones worked with London's African-Caribbean community doing political and cultural organizing. She founded and edited The West Indian Gazette and the Afro-Asian Caribbean News, and in 1959 helped organize a series of cultural events that grew to become the Notting Hill Carnival. Jones died on December 24, 1964 after a long illness.

Source

1. Donated by Claudia Manchanda & Diane Langford, the daughter and widow, respectively of Abhimanyu Manchanda, Jones' friend and companion Gift 2001-09 SCM01-27.

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Local subject

1. Black author.

Added author

1. Jones, Claudia, 1915-1964.

Research call number

1. Sc MG 692