DOCSLIB.ORG

Connie Johnson Reclaiming Claudia Jones

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Connie Johnson Reclaiming Claudia Jones 26 Reclaiming Claudia Jones Michigan Feminist Studies 27 Connie Johnson Reclaiming Claudia Jones: When a Black Feminist Marxist Defies McCarthyism Introduction Should one happen to research the life of Karl Marx, one will note that although he was born in Prussia, he was buried in London, England. This is probably quite logical, given that he spent the last 34 years of his life in London before his death in 1883. Marx is buried in the, now famous, Highgate Cemetery located at the top of Highgate Hill in North London. Highgate Cemetery serves as the final resting place of luminar- ies, including Michael Faraday, Henry Moore, and George Eliot.1 Internet websites and newspapers proudly announce the names of the dozen or more rich-and-famous writers who are also prominent occupants. But there is one name you probably will not find on most websites or travel brochures advertising the cemetery. And this is somewhat odd given that the deceased is buried so closely to the grave of Karl Marx, to his left- hand side. Her name is Claudia Jones. Little fanfare or interest in Claudia Jones may be expected given that she was not a famous actress, writer or novelist. But from the perspec- tive of someone who is keenly interested in the history of the Commu- nist Movement during the 1940s in the United States, the mere fact that Claudia Jones is buried to the left of one of our greatest socialist icons of all times speaks to an ideology—a left-wing ideology or politics better known as Marxism. Ironically, though Claudia Jones would prove to be 1 “Destinations UK – Highgate Cemetery London, England,” ” http://www.historic-uk. com/DestinationsUK/HighgateCemetery.htm .’ (Accessed April 2, 2009). Michigan Feminist Studies 27 one of Karl Marx’s greatest allies and the Communist Party’s (CP) most passionate supporters, the Jim Crow and segregationist laws in both the U.S. and Great Britain derailed almost all of her efforts. In this essay, I briefly outline the life of Claudia Jones and I ascribe some meaning to her efforts to become part of a movement that wanted nothing to do with her by looking at the theories and concepts of Louis Althusser and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, as well as those of her intellectual godfather, Karl Marx. Born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, in 1915, Jones and her family migrated to New York City’s Harlem borough in 1922. Though Jones was well-educated and won scholastic honors as a high school student, she chose to work in menial, blue-collar jobs (e.g., laundry, factory) and became active in the community’s National Urban League chapter (West 2007). A key event that may have sparked Jones’ interest and commitment to civil rights was the Scottsboro Nine Case of 1931. The case involved nine black youths who were accused of raping two white prostitutes and had been tried without an attorney or adequate counsel. The false accusa- tions and notoriety surrounding the case certainly were not new; racism and hate crimes against African-Americans were nearly routine at the turn of the century. Whites responded with such fury and violence to the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 which freed slaves that the National Associa- tion for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) matter-of-factly published summaries about routine lynchings of black men and women. One representative publication asks, “Do you know that the United States is the only land on Earth where human beings are burned at the stake?” (Corpis & Fletcher 2003: 283). Mob lynchings, torture and vigilante mobs of whites who resented blacks that operated competing stores and businesses regularly ransacked towns and homes and lynched African- Americans2 on a regular basis (Moses 1997; McDermott 1999). As such, the trial of the Scottsboro boys was simply a marker that was reflective of the virulent racism that overshadowed the era. However, the trial was critical in that it exposed Jones to the CP through its legal defense of the 2 The term “African-American” and “black” will be used interchangeably in this essay to describe a person of African-American descent. 28 Reclaiming Claudia Jones Michigan Feminist Studies 29 Scottsboro Nine. The International Labor Defense group, a civil rights defense association formed by the CP, was key in the representation of the young men during the repeated trials, all of which found the men guilty with their convictions and death penalty sentences overturned in 1932 and 1935 (DeWitt 2008: 89). After many years of ongoing trials, the men were eventually found not guilty and freed. And though, of course, there is no clear evidence that the trial was the impetus for Jones’ involvement with the CP, she joined the Young Communist League in 1936 (West 2007). Even prior to her joining and becoming active in the CP, Jones’ interest and desire to work in a series of blue-collar positions, instead of attending college, may have played an even greater role in setting the course for her activism in the CP. Jones’ affinity for contextualizing her own identity within the space of workers and the labor movement may be seen as integral to her motiva- tion to become active with the CP. Jones understood that the crisis of the black working class was based on a capitalism that could only “raise itself above black labor in a legalized caste system which cut-off competition” if it were to succeed (DuBois 1992: 93). Jones’ efforts to correct that dis- parity began at the early age of 25 when she became the National Director of the Young Communist League in 1941. Though Jones would go on to become one of the CP’s most prolific and vocal activists for the next 20 years, both in the United States and Great Britain, very little has been published on her work as a CP activist. Though Brent Hayes Edwards (2001) admits a growing body of scholarship has emerged that takes into consideration black participation in Marxism, signifying an orientation that has shifted “from unraveling the intricacies of organized communism to elucidating the complex parameters of African diasporic radicalism in all its varieties” (Edwards 2001: 1), the fact remains that the literature scarcely touches the surface in relation to Jones’ work. Reclaiming Claudia Jones Efforts in recovering and reclaiming the artifacts that detail the life of Claudia Jones are difficult, given the U.S. government’s intent to subvert and erase Jones from both the mainstream media and public memory. Michigan Feminist Studies 29 To illustrate the paucity of literature on Jones’ life and her contributions to the CP, existing texts include a doctoral thesis, a master’s thesis, and several websites, some of which are noted in both the footnotes and final bibliography of this paper. Kate Weigand’s Red Feminism (2001) is an exception, given that she generously cites Jones more than a dozen times throughout her text regarding women’s activism in the CP from 1935 to 1960. Weigand is very careful in documenting Jones’ efforts to eradicate the pervasive sense of male supremacy that haunted the CP, in spite of remonstrations in the forms of regular articles and memos, written by Claudia Jones, Eleanor Flexner, and other key women in the organization. If Jones endured any covert or overt hostilities or reactions from other Party members, Weigand makes it abundantly clear that Jones was also one of the most valued members of the CP and was treated as such (Weigand 2001: 91). In devoting an entire chapter to Jones’ work (Chapter 5, “Claudia Jones and the Synthesis of Gender, Race, and Class”), Weigand freely admits the dilemma that faced black women who struggled to become active in the CP, in spite of the racial tensions and chauvinist attitudes that hindered them. Predictably, white male chauvinism and racism existed within the CP, but one of Jones’ primary missions was to make sure the Party was well aware of the “triple oppression status” that shackled black women during the McCarthy era (Weigand 2001: 100-101). Another notable exception to the dearth of research on Jones is the text compiled by Carole Boyce Davies. A professor of English at Florida International University, Davies’ Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones (2007) is probably one of the few in- depth analyses of Jones’ life which also provides theoretical and episte- mological insight on her work. In her text, Davies emphasizes Jones’ focus on worker’s rights outside the Party and the rights of women work- ers within it. When Jones was appointed as editor of the “Negro Affairs” unit of the Daily Worker in 1945, Davies refers to an article in which Jones is “clearly speaking back to the Communist Party as well as clarify- ing her own position” regarding the economic dependence of women on men under conditions of male domination and women’s inability to work actively on the production side of labor (51-52). 30 Reclaiming Claudia Jones Michigan Feminist Studies 31 Despite her position as one of the few African-American women in a leadership position within the CP, Jones did not have tremendous success in converting large numbers of black men or women to Communism. This, in part, may have had more to do with fear of Jim Crow brutality and retaliation if caught engaged with the CP than an unwillingness to consider the merits of social change or equality. Segregation was almost de rigueur in the U.S. between 1940-50. As such, one can only marvel at Jones’ accomplishments, both in the number of speaking engagements that she held as well as her contributions as editor of the Negro affairs unit at the Daily Worker.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Claudia Jones Black History Month
    Black History The information in this booklet is derived from Kwesi Bacchra’s review of “Claudia Jones, a life in exile” by Marika Sherwood. http://www.brothermalcolm.net/archivedsites/claudia_jones_exile.htm Claudia Jones “The Mother of Carnival in Britain” Name………………………… Date……… July 2011. Kindly contributed by Maudine Morris, Bolton College. Search for Maudine on www.skillsworkshop.org Page 1 of 14 Covers many aspects of E3-L1 Adult Literacy including reading comprehension, vocabulary and dictionary work, spelling, and writing. For related resources and further curriculum links visit the resource description page at skillsworkshop. Black History The information in this booklet is derived from Kwesi Bacchra’s review of “Claudia Jones, a life in exile” by Marika Sherwood. http://www.brothermalcolm.net/archivedsites/claudia_jones_exile.htm Early Life Claudia Jones was born in Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1915. Following the post war cocoa price crash, she went with her three sisters to join their parents who were in New York. Claudia was eight years old. Her mother died five years later. In the Depression, her father got a job as janitor of a run down apartment block in Harlem. Life was hard and they were so poor that the family could not afford to buy a “graduation outfit” she needed to collect the “Roosevelt Award for Good Citizenship” that she won in junior high school. Her formal education virtually ended in 1932 when she contracted tuberculosis which caused irreparable damage to her lungs. Doctors attributed the disease to the damp apartment the family lived in. In 1935 Claudia joined the Young Communist League, after reading how the communist party had defended nine Negro boys who were falsely accused of rape in Scottsboro, Alabama.
    [Show full text]
  • Escaping the Master's House: Claudia Jones & the Black Marxist Feminist
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship Spring 2017 Escaping the Master’s House: Claudia Jones & The Black Marxist Feminist Tradition Camryn S. Clarke Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the Feminist Philosophy Commons, and the Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons Recommended Citation Clarke, Camryn S., "Escaping the Master’s House: Claudia Jones & The Black Marxist Feminist Tradition". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2017. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/608 Escaping the Master’s House: Claudia Jones & The Black Marxist Feminist Tradition Camryn S. Clarke Page !1 of !45 Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Introduction 5 To Be Black: Claudia Jones, Marcus Garvey, and Race 14 To Be Woman: Claudia Jones, Monique Wittig, and Sex 21 To Be A Worker: Claudia Jones, Karl Marx, and Class 27 To Be All Three: Claudia Jones and the Black Marxist Feminist Tradition 36 Conclusion 41 Bibliography 44 Page !2 of !45 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I cannot express enough thanks to my advisors for their support, encouragement, and enlightenment: Dr. Donna-Dale Marcano and Dr. Seth Markle. Thank you for always believing in me in times when I did not believe in myself. Thank you for exposing me to Human Rights and Philosophy through the lenses of gender, race, and class globally. Thank you. My completion of this project could not have been accomplished without the support and strength of the Black Women in my life: my great-grandmother Iris, my grandmother Hyacinth, my mother Angela, my sister Caleigh, and my aunt Audrey.
    [Show full text]
  • Remembering "Norris Buzz Johnson" November 2 1951 to February 11, 2014
    Eulogy: Remembering "Norris Buzz Johnson" November 2 1951 to February 11, 2014 Memorial Service Saturday March 1st. 2014 at 1 pm All Saint's Church Haggerston Road Hackney London E8 4EP I recall Buzz gave me a birthday gift many years ago and it was a book entitled “Return to the Source” written by the late Amilcar Cabral. My words today will be in the form of a journey where I briefly return to the source of our brother’s foundations in Tobago and then Trinidad and the journey here to the UK and his growth and development and he will be making his final journey when the body returns to Tobago. Return to the Source: Norris Chrisleventon Johnson was the first and only son of Mrs Adwina Johnson nee Phillips and the late Cornelius Arthur Johnson. He was born in the fishing village of Buccoo in Tobago on November 2 1951. The family migrated to Fyzabad in South Trinidad, one of the villages that housed many workers from the oilfields in Point Fortin and its environs. His father Cornelius was on oilfield worker and was obviously influenced and inspired by a key political and labour activist and leader, Tubal Uriah Buzz Butler. He therefore called his son Buzz. That name has stuck with him ever since. The Fyzabad area was the main bastion of the Butlerite movement. Tubal Uriah Buzz Butler was a fierce defender of workers’ rights and earned his place in Trinidad and Tobago's history for his role during the turbulent days of June 1937. This was the period of the labour riots and the development of the trade union movement in Trinidad & Tobago and in particular of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union.
    [Show full text]
  • Claudia Jones' Communism
    Claudia's Communism We Communists adhere to the fundamental belief that complete and lasting equality of imperialist oppressed nations of peoples can be guaranteed only with the establishment of Socialism. CLAUDIA JONES, "ON THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION FOR THE NEGRO PEOPLE IN THE BLACK BELT," 1946 For even with all the power your Honor holds, how can you decide to mete out justice for the only act which I proudly plead guilty, and one moreover, which by your own prior rulings constitutes no crime-that of holding Communist ideas; of being a member and officer of the Communist Party of the United States? CLAUDIA JONES, "SPEECH TO THE COURT, FEBRUARY, 1953" Claudia Jones offered a consistent and unabashed identification of herself as a communist, as Marxist-Leninist, even in situations when she was in grave danger from the state's punitive mechanisms. Her courtroom speech is ex­ plicit in making her philosophical and ideological positions clear in a public and official place; it was not a plea for leniency, but a demonstration that black women were also thinkers, held ideological positions, and could assert them. Claudia Jones joined the Communist Party USA in her youth because it provided her with the best interpretation of her experience of racism and because it explained best the larger social conditions which she had experi­ enced. The Communist Party at that time was actively engaged in the Scotts­ boro Boys case, 36 defending them from possible lynching and in the process providing examples of black men and women who were activists and com­ mitted communists.
    [Show full text]
  • Left of Karl Marx : the Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones / Carole Boyce Davies
    T H E POLI T I C A L L I F E O F B L A C K C OMMUNIS T LEFT O F K A R L M A R X C L A U D I A JONES Carole Boyce Davies LEFT OF KARL MARX THE POLITICAL LIFE OF BLACK LEFT OF KARL MARX COMMUNIST CLAUDIA JONES Carole Boyce Davies Duke University Press Durham and London 2007 ∫ 2008 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper $ Designed by Heather Hensley Typeset in Adobe Janson by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book. CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Preface xiii Chronology xxiii Introduction. Recovering the Radical Black Female Subject: Anti-Imperialism, Feminism, and Activism 1 1. Women’s Rights/Workers’ Rights/Anti-Imperialism: Challenging the Superexploitation of Black Working-Class Women 29 2. From ‘‘Half the World’’ to the Whole World: Journalism as Black Transnational Political Practice 69 3. Prison Blues: Literary Activism and a Poetry of Resistance 99 4. Deportation: The Other Politics of Diaspora, or ‘‘What is an ocean between us? We know how to build bridges.’’ 131 5. Carnival and Diaspora: Caribbean Community, Happiness, and Activism 167 6. Piece Work/Peace Work: Self-Construction versus State Repression 191 Notes 239 Bibliography 275 Index 295 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS his project owes everything to the spiritual guidance of Claudia Jones Therself with signs too many to identify. At every step of the way, she made her presence felt in ways so remarkable that only conversations with friends who understand the blurring that exists between the worlds which we inhabit could appreciate.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Female Journalists' Advocacy in the Cold
    “IN SELF DEFENSE:” BLACK FEMALE JOURNALISTS’ ADVOCACY IN THE COLD WAR _______________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctorate of Journalism _____________________________________________________ by RACHEL GRANT Dr. Earnest Perry, Dissertation Supervisor May 2018 © Copyright by Rachel Grant 2018 All Rights Reserved The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the dissertation entitled IN SELF DEFENSE: BLACK FEMALE JOURNALISTS’ ADVOCACY DURING THE COLD WAR presented by Rachel Grant, a candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. ____________________________________ Dr. Earnest Perry, Jr. ____________________________________ Dr. Keona Ervin ____________________________________ Dr. Victoria Johnson ____________________________________ Dr. Cristina Mislan ____________________________________ Dr. Yong Volz ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We can’t get caught up in the end of a season without understanding the importance of the journey. I have been waiting to get to this day since I arrived in Columbia, Missouri. The day where all my hard work here would end and a new chapter would begin after the three hardest years of my life. I am grateful for the journey--- all the losses, sacrifices, relationships, successes, tears and laughter. I can say, “I Made It!” This exhilarating ride was not by myself and I want to acknowledge those who made me grow, gave me a hug, prayed with me and supported me in my weakest moments. Thank you to the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism for blessing me with the opportunity to study as the world’s first journalism department.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Is Claudia Jones? Julie-Ann Mccausland
    Who is Claudia Jones? Julie-Ann McCausland Introduction Claudia Vera Jones née Cumberbatch, was a Trinidad and Tobago-born journalist and activist who, at eight years old, migrated to the United States from Port of Spain, Trinidad, in the British West Indies (Boyce Davies 159). Jones’ mother and father had arrived in the United States two years earlier, in 1922, when their economic circumstances had worsened as a result of the drop in the cocoa trade, which had impoverished the West Indies and the entire Caribbean (Boyce Davies 159). Like many Black people who migrated from the West Indies, Jones’ parents hoped to find fortunes in the United States, where ‘‘gold was to be found on the streets’’ and the dreams of rearing one’s children in a ‘‘free America’’ were said to be realized (Boyce Davies 159). However, the lie of the American dream was soon revealed, as Jones, her three sisters and her parents suffered exploitation and indignity at the hands of the white families and from the legacy of Jim Crow national policy (Boyce Davies 159). Jones attended Wadleigh High School where she was active in the Junior National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Two years before she graduated high school, Jones’ mother died of spinal meningitis at the age of thirty-seven (Boyce Davies xxiv). Later, Jones was committed to Sea View Sanatorium for almost a year after having been diagnosed with tuberculosis (Boyce Davies xxiv). After graduating high school, Jones gained employment in a laundry, a factory, a millinery and in sales (Boyce Davies xxiv).
    [Show full text]
  • Influential-Black-Britons-Book
    YOUR STORY, OUR HISTORY Inspirational stories exploring the lives of black Britons who have impacted UK laws and equal rights. learning.parliament.uk Contents This resource contains Olaudah Equiano stories of influential Having bought his way out of slavery, Olaudah wrote important black Britons who have letters to parliamentarians influencing the new laws that finally impacted UK laws and ended slavery. equal rights. Launched to mark Black History Mary Prince Month 2020, this Her powerful story of slavery helped to change the views resource can be used of Parliament and those of the British people. throughout the academic year to embed stories of Claudia Jones important black Britons Civil rights activist Claudia Jones, started her own newspaper across the curriculum. to share stories of black British people. She is also the founder of the Notting Hill carnival celebrating Caribbean culture. Lord Learie Constantine Famous cricketer, equal rights champion and the first black member of the House of Lords. Bernie Grant MP One of the first black African MPs ever to be voted into the House of Commons in 1987 and life-long fighter for equal rights. Eniola Aluko Decorated British footballer and trained solicitor who bravely shone a light on racism and bullying in football at a select committee. Tell your own story Students can use the templates to create their own portraits and stories of the inspirational people featured, or of their own local or family black history hero. Activities • Who is your black history hero? • Changing laws Created by Machel Bogues and Holly Greenland Illustrated by Onyinye Iwu Published September 2020 Please share your feedback UK Parliament is committed to producing learning resources that are accurate, high-quality and accessible, your feedback is important to make this happen: [email protected] Olaudah Equiano (around 1745 – 1797) Olaudah Equiano was born in a place he called ‘Eboe’ in what is now southern Nigeria.
    [Show full text]
  • You're Listening to ​A People's Anthology​. Produced by Boston
    You’re listening to A People’s Anthology. Produced by Boston Review, this is a new podcast ​ ​ that highlights and explore key texts from US history, with our first six episodes surfacing a few important documents related to the urban rebellions of the 1960s and 70s. The next six episodes focus on a range of figures from Claudia Jones to the Combahee River Collective. What ties the works together is that they are all, in our judgement, important contributions to the era of social upheaval in cities during the mid-twentieth century. The texts touch on racism, incarceration, housing struggles… feminism, Communism, and more. In each episode, I’ll introduce the text with the help of historians and researchers close to each topic. Then we’ll hear the text itself, performed by some of our favorite poets and scholars... I’m your host, Rosie, and I hope you’ll stick around and join the book club! ———————- This is episode one, on Claudia Jones’s 1949 essay, An End to the Neglect of the Problems of ​ the Negro Woman!, introduced and read by Carole Boyce Davies ​ ———————- “I was just teaching a class and we showed the Karl Marx site and her next to it, and it never fails to blow students minds away! [LAUGHS] There she is - left of Karl Marx as I call her.... Her life and her experience position her in a way that was able to take ideas that were pretty consistently articulated in the communist party and then make them palatable for black women, workers, black people, and this positions her then left of karl marx where is buried in highgate cemetery london.” One of the key figures in black feminist, communist thought, Claudia Jones was born in 1915 in Port Au Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
    [Show full text]
  • Pioneers & Champions
    WINDRUSH PIONEERS & CHAMPIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTENTS WINDRUSH PIONEERS Windrush Foundation is very grateful for the contributions Preface 4 David Dabydeen, Professor 82 to this publication of the following individuals: Aldwyn Roberts (Lord Kitchener) 8 David Lammy MP 84 Alford Gardner 10 David Pitt, Lord 86 Dr Angelina Osborne Allan Charles Wilmot 12 Diana Abbott MP 88 Constance Winifred Mark 14 Doreen Lawrence OBE, Baroness 90 Angela Cobbinah Cecil Holness 16 Edna Chavannes 92 Cyril Ewart Lionel Grant 18 Floella Benjamin OBE, Baroness 94 Arthur Torrington Edwin Ho 20 Geoff Palmer OBE, Professor Sir 96 Mervyn Weir Emanuel Alexis Elden 22 Heidi Safia Mirza, Professor 98 Euton Christian 24 Herman Ouseley, Lord 100 Marge Lowhar Gladstone Gardner 26 James Berry OBE 102 Harold Phillips (Lord Woodbine) 28 Jessica Huntley & Eric Huntley 104 Roxanne Gleave Harold Sinson 30 Jocelyn Barrow DBE, Dame 106 David Gleave Harold Wilmot 32 John Agard 108 John Dinsdale Hazel 34 John LaRose 110 Michael Williams John Richards 36 Len Garrison 112 Laurent Lloyd Phillpotts 38 Lenny Henry CBE, Sir 114 Bill Hern Mona Baptiste 40 Linton Kwesi Johnson 116 42 Cindy Soso Nadia Evadne Cattouse Mike Phillips OBE 118 Norma Best 44 Neville Lawrence OBE 120 Dione McDonald Oswald Denniston 46 Patricia Scotland QC, Baroness 122 Rudolph Alphonso Collins 48 Paul Gilroy, Professor 124 Verona Feurtado Samuel Beaver King MBE 50 Ron Ramdin, Dr 126 Thomas Montique Douce 52 Rosalind Howells OBE, Baroness 128 Vincent Albert Reid 54 Rudolph Walker OBE 130 Wilmoth George Brown 56
    [Show full text]
  • A Celebration of Black History in the Uk Contents
    Great Black Briton: A CELEBRATION OF BLACK HISTORY IN THE UK CONTENTS Foreward/Message to readers ................................................................3 Influential People ........................................................................................4 Influential Movements ............................................................................16 Further resources ....................................................................................22 Lead and Be Led information ...............................................................23 2 | Great Black Britain FOREWORD As young Black people in the UK, we movement. By Black people entering spaces believe that it is essential to have a means of politics, journalism, art, entertainment, of support and continuous celebration of sport we are changing the narrative and our efforts to society. Growing up in the UK deciding how we want to be perceived. We with a curriculum that places importance on want to celebrate those who have worked educating British culture without including endlessly to transform and create new the significant contributions of Black Britons narratives and histories for Black Brits and is disheartening. inspire many locally and globally. A vast majority of schools educate their We hope this booklet of Black excellence will pupils on Black British history that has either inspire you to fight against the oppressive, been taught over previous years which racist and classist system that regularly can be diluted version of history or focused ignores, undermines and harms communities on Black suffering. Raising awareness of colour. We have only named a few about the importance of celebrating Black amazing figures and movements that have History in Britain in will allow students and attempted to break racist structures, but staff to have a better understanding of the we urge you to find out more about these history that goes on within the country powerful moments in history and learn about that has shaped many people’s lives.
    [Show full text]
  • 192538-Trilbytv-Black-Pioneers.Pdf
    B L A C K P I O N E E R S Martin Luther King Jr The prominent civil rights leader and activist. King believed that non-violent direct action was the most powerful way to gain freedom for oppressed people. He said that marches and sit-ins were the best way to force communities to confront issues rather than ignore them. His 'I have a dream' speech is regarded as one of the finest in history and led to the passing of the USA's Civil Rights Act in 1964. Copyright © 2020 Trilby Multimedia Ltd B L A C K P I O N E E R S Mary Mahoney The first African American woman to work professionally as a nurse. Since she was young, Mahoney had wanted to be a nurse. She got a position as a cook, janitor and washerwoman at a hospital when she was 18 and worked hard to get into nursing school. After graduating she not only was a great nurse, but she worked hard to encourage and inspire more black young women to get into nursing. Copyright © 2020 Trilby Multimedia Ltd B L A C K P I O N E E R S Alexandre Dumas Author who is best known for 'The Three Musketeers' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. Dumas wrote many short stories and novels, mostly about crime, scandals and historical figures. His writing was very popular and he was well known across France where he lived, as well as much of Europe. His books were translated into over 100 languages and he is the most widely read French author in the world.
    [Show full text]