Description: A biography of radical black reformer, publisher, bookshop owner and Caribbean politician Jessica Huntley (1927-2013).
Brief description: Claudia Tomlinson is a writer and researcher on Guyanese, Caribbean, African and Black British History and Politics. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society with a Ph.D. in History. She is author of a book chapter, 'How West Indian Students and Migrants Cooperated in Fighting Racialised Injustices in Britain 1950s-1970s', in Many Struggles: New Histories of African and Caribbean People in Britain, edited by Hakim Adi, (2023). She is also author of a chapter, 'Post-War Organising by People of African and Caribbean Heritage', in the forthcoming book Routledge Handbook of Contemporary British History, editors Sarah Crook and Sarah Kenny (2025). Her writing has also been featured in History Matters Journal, The Huffington Post UK, The Independent, Stabroek News (Guyana) and the Gleaner (Jamaica) among other publications.
Review Quotes:
"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