Long Distance Runners tells the extraordinary story of a network of pioneering Black radical women – Claudia Jones, Shirley Graham Du Bois, Vicki Garvin, Louise Thompson Patterson and Eslanda Robeson – whose fearless activism reshaped the 20th-century fight for Black liberation.

Tionne Alliyah Parris explores their enduring influence, revealing how their transnational networks and strategies laid the groundwork for subsequent movements. They were exiled not only from the frontlines of U.S. activism but from our memory of Black radical activism. By bringing their overlooked contributions back into focus, this book redefines our understanding of the Civil Rights and Black Power eras, showcasing these women as unseen architects in the global struggle for liberation. The strategies these women developed – anti-war activism, transnational approaches, grassroots organizing, and working-class solidarity – are just as relevant today as global conflicts escalate and movements for justice face increasing repression.

Tionne Alliyah Parris is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the David Bruce Centre for the Study of the Americas, hosted at the University of Keele. She specializes in 20th century Black radicalism.

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