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Joan Jones

About

Joan Carol Jones was a Canadian businesswoman and civil rights activist who was born in the United States and raised in Ontario, Canada. She was married to Black Nova Scotian and internationally known political activist Rocky Jones, whom she influenced to become more active in the issues of black activism causes espoused by Malcolm X and writer James Baldwin, during the black radicalism period of the 1960s. Together they were among the founders of Kwacha House, an interracial youth club in Halifax and were later instrumental in bringing Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panther Party to Halifax. They adopted the radicalized language of the Panthers and organized with Carmichael's help the Black United Front, taking on issues of police brutality, employment and housing discrimination in the black community.