Jessica Huntley's Pan-African Life: The Decolonizing Work of a Radical Black Activist

Author:   Claudia Tomlinson (Independent Scholar and London Metropolitan Archives, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN:  

9781501394553


Pages:   256
Publication Date:   03 October 2024
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Not yet available   Availability explained
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

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Jessica Huntley's Pan-African Life: The Decolonizing Work of a Radical Black Activist


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Overview

A powerful biography that presents analysis of a black working-class woman who rose from a tenement slum in intensely racialized British Guiana to become a leading anti-colonialism, workers’ rights and women’s liberation activist in Britain. Jessica Huntley's Pan-African Life celebrates Huntley's importance as a leading figure in the Windrush-era resistance to the multiple, racialized injustices faced by black settlers, children and communities in Britain. Claudia Tomlinson details how Huntley became the elder stateswoman of radical black activism of her era through participation in decolonization movements and actions such as the Black Parents Movement and the International Bookfair of Radical Black and Third World Books, as well as her foundational role at Bogle L’Ouverture Publications, the leading black-led, pan-African publishing house and its associated radical bookshop. Based on extensive archival research and over 40 interviews with Huntley’s closest family members, associates, comrades, authors, artists and friends, this book affords readers an opportunity to take a long-lensed view of the historical roots of the many contemporary racial injustices re-invigorated in recent debates. Tomlinson re-writes the history of a period and a struggle often told through a master discourse that is male, middle-class and privileged. In so doing, she shows how Jessica Huntley’s fight for justice and the rights of all black people in Britain provides a useful lens into UK-based, black literary and cultural expression in the 20th century.

Full Product Details

Author:   Claudia Tomlinson (Independent Scholar and London Metropolitan Archives, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic USA
ISBN:  

9781501394553


ISBN 10:   150139455
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   03 October 2024
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available   Availability explained
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

List of Figures Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. Growing Up, Rising Up 2. Raised to Resist 3. The Emerging Activist 4. National Freedom and Women’s Emancipation 5. ‘Bound with the Chains of Colonialism and Imperialism’ 6. Struggles in Male Ranks 7. An Old Fight in a New Place 8. Finding a Foothold in Activism in Britain 9. Becoming West Indian in Britain 10. ‘A Political Act’, Bogle L’Ouverture Publication’s Early Work 11. ‘A New Alternative in Publishing’ 12. ‘To Re-Write Our Own History’: A Black Publishing Strategy 13. Growing a Pan-African Publishing Tradition 14. ‘The Atmosphere Was Electric in the Shop’: Bookshop Activism 15. ‘Matriarch of the Movement for Black Rights in Britain, the World’ 16. Fighting for Decolonization in Independent Guyana 17. Publishing Activity in Bogle L’Ouverture’s Later Period 18. The Bookshop Goes Back Home Appendix A: Oral History Interviews Bibliography Index

Reviews

Jessica Huntley’s Pan-African Life offers a deeply inspiring exploration of Jessica Huntley’s early anti-colonial activism in British Guiana (Guyana), her confrontations with racism after migrating, and her crucial role in radical Black publishing in Britain. Claudia Tomlinson’s thorough research makes this book essential for anyone dedicated to understanding the workings of decolonization and women’s emancipation, while presenting a story that has not been told before. * Nigel Westmaas, Professor of Africana Studies, Hamilton College, USA * This powerful and accessible account of Jessica Huntley’s life’s work tracks her principled commitment to and involvement in anti-colonial, anti-racist and antiimperialist activism in the Caribbean and the UK. It enriches the archive of the Black radical activist tradition, foregrounding the central place of Black women in creating and sustaining movement and organizing – decolonizing infrastructures of transformation – from below. * Alissa Trotz, Professor of Caribbean Studies and Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto, Canada *


Author Information

Claudia Tomlinson is a writer and researcher on Guyanese, Caribbean, African and Black British History and Politics. She has a Ph.D. in History. and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her writing has been featured in History Matters Journal, The Huffington Post UK, The Independent, Stabroek News (Guyana) and the Gleaner (Jamaica) among other publications.

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