Claudia Jones (21 February 1915 – 24 December 1964) was an important figure in the British racial justice movement after being exiled from the US in 1955 because of her involvement in the Communist Party. Claudia Jones: A Life in Exile by Marika Sherwood (Lawrence Wishart, 2021) is the first book to chart the work of this visionary and pioneer, focusing on her time in Britain, where she fought against racial discrimination and set up the West Indian Gazette and an indoor carnival for Caribbean culture. 

To mark the beginning of Black History Month we are honouring the histories of radical Black feminist activism with an excerpt from Claudia Jones: A life in Exile. Sherwood’s biography gives fascinating insight into Jones’ role in different Black activist organisations amid the racist political climate and anti-Black violence of the late 1950s, which led to the Notting Hill riots in 1958:

Edna Bonhomme on the origins of the reproductive justice movement and its fight for bodily autonomy.

The term “welfare queen” emerged in 1974 with a white woman. Based in Chicago, Mrs Linda Taylor was accused by the Department of Public Aid of allegedly syphoning $154,000 from public funds. Although it began with a white woman, it took on a new life two years later, when Ronald Reagan began his presidential campaign. Vehement against the poor, Reagan told the New...