In 1955, the activist Claudia Jones brought her campaigns to create a fairer, more just world for Black lives, to London. Born in Trinidad in 1915, Jones moved with her family to Harlem, New York, as a girl. Experience there showed her both the harsh, widespread, prejudice against Black people, but also the struggles faced by Black women. Imprisoned in America in the McCarthy era, the British Embassy intervened and Jones was granted political asylum in the UK. In the UK, Jones worked for the British West Indian Diaspora. An active feminist, radical journalist, campaigner and community leader, Jones founded The West Indian Gazette and Afro-Asian Caribbean News in London in 1958. She argued for the vital importance of a newspaper representing the Black community1.
It was at the offices of The West Indian Gazette at 250 Brixton Road in London in the same year the newspaper was launched, that twenty-four year old Iris Anne Berger first met Claudia Jones. Jones understood the social power of art, famously claiming that “a people’s art is the genesis of their freedom” (Jones quoted by Courtman, 2021, in ‘Claudia Jones’ Rebel Heart’). Art was about resisting oppression by actively engendering a humane vision of non-violence. Jones commissioned Berger to create a wall mural celebrating West Indian life at the offices of the newspaper. Jones asked Berger to represent images with a view to cementing inter-cultural links and interracial friendship between the white and black communities.
Between 29th August and 5th September 1958 racial violence by white people against British Afro-Caribbean people erupted in Notting Hill, London. For Jones, the Notting Hill Riots revealed the need for a cultural-artistic solution. “With its long history and roots in resistance to slavery and colonial rule, Carnival was a familiar cultural form that could unite people.” (Courtman, 2021). Jones aimed at healing communities by celebrating West Indian life; by showcasing its vitality, and by seeking to embed West Indian culture as part of British culture through the very first Caribbean Carnival in Britain, the forerunner of the world-famous Notting Hill Carnival. Organized by Jones, it was held on 30th January, 1959, at St. Pancras Town Hall. Berger designed and made front-of-stage red floral decorations celebrating the vibrant, cultured, inspiring ethical vision behind Jones’ carnival of hope. Twenty-four year old Iris Anne Berger attended the carnival herself; a young white woman who cherished and valued interracial friendship; values epitomizing Claudia Jones’ hopes and dreams.
English Heritage announced that in 2023 Claudia Jones’ home in Vauxhall, South London, will be honoured by a Blue Plaque, in recognition of “significant public standing” as the "founding spirit” of the Notting Hill Carnival2.
Berger’s subsequent art has been deeply influenced by her collaboration with Claudia Jones, whom she called “a truly interesting, courageous and inspiring woman”.
1Sandra Courtman (2021) ‘Claudia Jones’ Rebel Heart’ at British Library Online https://www.bl.uk/windrush/articles/claudia-jones-rebel-heart