Research Catalog

Title

Claudia Jones Memorial collection, 1935-1998.

Author

Manchanda, Claudia

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Jones, Claudia, 1915-1964.

Description

1.2 lin. ft.

Summary

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Subjects

• Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976
• Davis, Benjamin J (Benjamin Jefferson), 1903-1964
• Black author
• Jones, Claudia, 1915-1964
• Women, Black
• Women > Political activity
• Communist parties > United States
• Garvey, Amy Jacques
• United States > Politics and government > 1945-1953
• African American communists
• United States > Politics and government > 1953-1961
• Political prisoners > United States
• Women political activists > United States
• Poems
• Communist Party of the United States of America
• Women political activists > Great Britain
• African Americans > Civil rights

Genre/Form

Poems.

Note

• Photographs transferred to Photographs and Print Division.

Source (note)

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

Biography (note)

• 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.
• 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.

Call Number

Sc MG 692

OCLC

• 122485003
• 122485003

Author

Manchanda, Claudia, collector.

Title

Claudia Jones Memorial collection, 1935-1998.

Biography

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.

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

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:

Finding Aid

Local Subject

Black author.

Added Author

Jones, Claudia, 1915-1964.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 692