Journalist, Human Rights Activist. She received notoriety in the 20th century as a Trinidad-Tobago- born journalist, who became a woman of the world speaking for all Black people, especially women. She printed the stories of their lives and their desire for independence. Born Claudia Vera Cumberbatch, she immigrated from her native country to Harlem, New York in 1920 with her parents. They came to the United States because of the poverty in their homeland but found a life in poverty here. By 1927 her mother, Sybil, had died of spinal meningitis. Some sources state she left school at 13 while others state she finished high school at 15 but did not attend her graduation for her diploma. Although she had little formal education, she was intellectual and read on her own. By seventeen she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, related to living in poverty and had health problems related to this the rest of her short life. Her writing career began early. She joined the Young Communist League USA in 1936 and the next year was on the editorial staff of the “Daily Worker,” rising to the editor of the Weekly Review by 1938. During World War II the Young Communist League changed their name to the American Youth for Democracy, she became the editor of the monthly publication. After joining the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Communist Party, she became politically active as a Black Nationalist through Communism. In 1931 when nine Black teenagers were falsely accused of raping two white women on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, she took a stand fighting exploitation and oppression by writing on behalf of the boy's legal defense for the “Young Communist League's Journal.” As a teenager, she took the pen name of “Jones” for her own protection. Her most notable piece was an article in 1949 for the Marxist publication “Political Affairs” titled “An End to the Neglect of Problems of the Negro Woman.” In 1950 she delivered a speech titled “International Women's Day and the Struggle for Peace” at the International Women's Day 1950. It was a time in the history of United States that the Communist was feared, a Cold War was happening, and Senator Joseph McCarthy randomly accused American citizens of being Communist, which gravely impacted their professional lives for years. Although she fought for liberation of Black people, her writings gave negative tones to words such as bourgeoisie or the middle class, capitalist, and imperialist directed toward the American way of life. For her outspoken un-American public dissonance as an unregistered alien, she was arrested for violation of the McCarren Act and later the Smith Act; found guilty after witnesses testified against her; at the age of 35 had her first cardiac event while jailed; and ordered to be deported to her native country of Trinidad since she was not a United States citizen . For vigorously protesting, yet disrupting, she had been arrested three times earlier but not for as serious a crime. The British Colonial Governor of Trinidad-Tobago, Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Rance, refused her entry to her home country because of her political beliefs and for the unrest she may cause. On December 7, 1955 after being in jail for ten months and under a special agreement, she left the United States to make England her home. In 1958 she founded the first British newspaper catering to the Black community, “West Indian Gazette.” She wrote about Britain's relationship to South Africa by being an advocate for the release of Nelson Mandela and stopping the legislature that impeded the immigration of the nonwhite population to Britain. She helped to allay racial tension after London's black communities were under attack with rioting in the streets of Notting Hill and Robin Hood Chase for five nights during a bank holiday in August of 1958. With the first show's opening on January 30, 1959, she orga nized the Caribbean Carnival, a showcase of the best of Afro-Caribbean talents which was televised by BBC. The slogan of the event was “ A people’s art is the genesis of their freedom.” Eventually, this idea bloomed in other communities throughout the world. “ Mother of the Notting Hill Carnival,” as she was called, was successful with her event and continued for the next six years. In her last years, she protested against the 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act, which restricted the immigration of citizens from Commonwealth countries to come to Britain, which many people desired for better employment opportunities and advanced education. Dying alone in her apartment, her body was found on Christmas Day. An autopsy proved she died of a massive cardiac occlusion related to her long-time cardiac history and damaged lungs from tuberculosis. She was buried left of Karl Marx's grave. Carole Boyce Davies' book “ Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones” tells her life story in details. Winsome Pinnock's 1989 play, “A Rock in the Water,” was inspired by her life. Jones was named on the 100 Great Black Britons list in 2003. In 2008 Claudia Jones' British Blue Plaque was placed in Notting Hill recognizing her achievements in the community.