The annual Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture, organised by the NUJ Black Members’ Council, honours the pioneering journalist and radical activist.
Taking place during Black History month, this year’s event will be hosted by the NUJ Guardian chapel at the Guardian’s office in King’s Cross on Tuesday 20 October.
The lecture will be delivered by guest speaker Nesrine Malik, Guardian columnist, on “the Black diaspora and our right to our stories and experiences, and the value and challenge of that in a white-curated media environment in the throes of backlash against racial equity.”
Claudia Jones was an internationally renowned activist who worked to link the theories of Black liberation to practical action. Jones was born in Trinidad in 1915 and moved to New York with her family where she encountered poverty and discrimination. She was deported in 1955 for her political activism and came to live in the UK, establishing the first Black newspaper, The West Indian Gazette and Afro-Asian Caribbean News, before co-founding the Notting Hill Carnival.
This year’s lecture comes at an important time with the far right fuelling disinformation as well as a toxic and hostile environment for communities and journalists from marginalised groups.
The evening will also honour the union’s current George Viner Memorial Fund scholars. The union’s charity aims to improve diversity and inclusion in the British and Irish media, offering bursaries to scholars to support them in their studies and career so that more Black journalists can shape the news agenda and narratives.
Please note that this event is open to NUJ members only and invited guests. Timing to be confirmed soon. Tickets are free, but registration is required. Refreshments will be provided. The union will provide an attendee list to the Guardian for the purposes of security.
