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Running While Black
- Finding Freedom in a Sport That Wasn't Built for Us
- Narrated by: Alison Mariella Désir
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
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Publisher's summary
A searing exposé on the whiteness of running, a supposedly egalitarian sport, and a call to reimagine the industry
“Runners know that running brings us to ourselves. But for Black people, the simple act of running has never been so simple. It is a declaration of the right to move through the world. If running is claiming public space, why, then, does it feel like a negotiation?”
Running saved Alison Désir’s life. At rock bottom and searching for meaning and structure, Désir started marathon training, finding that it vastly improved both her physical and mental health. Yet as she became involved in the community and learned its history, she realized that the sport was largely built with white people in mind.
Running While Black draws on Désir’s experience as an endurance athlete, activist, and mental health advocate to explore why the seemingly simple, human act of long distance running for exercise and health has never been truly open to Black people. Weaving historical context—from the first recreational running boom to the horrific murder of Ahmaud Arbery—together with her own story of growth in the sport, Désir unpacks how we got here and advocates for a world where everyone is free to safely experience the life-changing power of movement.
As America reckons with its history of white supremacy across major institutions, Désir argues that, as a litmus test for an inclusive society, the fitness industry has the opportunity to lead the charge—fulfilling its promise of empowerment.
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Critic reviews
“Running While Black speaks directly to the anguish Black runners live with while running through a white supremacist world. Alison provides readers a behind-the-scenes view of what it is to be Black and a runner: constantly minimized, removed, and erased altogether. Her writing is thought-provoking and provides readers with inspiration to enact change.”—Alysia Montaño, Olympian and six-time USA Outdoor Track and Field 800-meter winner
“In Running While Black, Désir deftly weaves together family histories, Black history, and Black running history to produce a powerful narrative of personal discovery. The quest to belong, to exhale, and to be free resounds off these pages. The act of running while Black is both freeing and risky; it is the breath and the gasp for air. This aptly named book invites us into that contradiction. Désir's journey—and her words—demonstrate the work of carving out space, of building community, challenging racism, and disrupting whitewashed industries. It compels us to lace up and join her on the road.”—Amira Rose Davis, Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas-Austin, author of Can’t Eat a Medal and cohost of the podcast Burn It All Down
“Running While Black by Alison Mariella Désir is a must read for anyone interested in running, the power of sport, racism, and mental health. She skillfully weaves the history of running with the reality of racism and racial restrictions in America while demonstrating how transformative running could be. Reading this book should encourage everyone to support running for everyone.”—Richard Lapchick, PhD, human rights activist, author, founder of the Institute for Sport and Social Justice, and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport
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By: Dave Cullen
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We Gon' Be Alright
- Notes on Race and Resegregation
- By: Jeff Chang
- Narrated by: Jeff Chang
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In these provocative, powerful essays acclaimed writer/journalist Jeff Chang (Can't Stop Won't Stop, Who We Be) takes an incisive and wide-ranging look at the recent tragedies and widespread protests that have shaken the country. Through deep reporting with key activists and thinkers, passionately personal writing, and distinguished cultural criticism, We Gon' Be Alright links #BlackLivesMatter to #OscarsSoWhite, Ferguson to Washington, DC, and more.
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a conversation that needs to happen
- By Angie B on 03-11-17
By: Jeff Chang
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It Was All a Dream
- A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promise to Black America
- By: Reniqua Allen
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Reniqua Allen tells the stories of Black millennials searching for a better future in spite of racist policies that have closed off traditional versions of success. Many watched their parents and grandparents play by the rules, only to sink deeper and deeper into debt. They witnessed their elders fight to escape cycles of oppression for more promising prospects, largely to no avail. Today, in this post-Obama era, they face a critical turning point. Interweaving her own experience, Allen shares surprising stories of hope and ingenuity.
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Great statistics and facts
- By Eve on 05-18-19
By: Reniqua Allen
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The Song and the Silence
- A Story About Family, Race, and What Was Revealed in a Small Town in the Mississippi Delta While Searching for Booker Wright
- By: Yvette Johnson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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"Have to keep that smile", said Booker Wright in the 1966 NBC documentary Mississippi: A Self-Portrait. At the time Wright was a waiter in a Whites-only restaurant and a local business owner who would become an unwitting icon of the civil rights movement. For he did the unthinkable: Before a national audience, he described what life was truly like for the Black people of Greenwood, Mississippi.
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Exceeded every expectation
- By ZeeJ84 on 05-23-21
By: Yvette Johnson
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Shortest Way Home
- One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future
- By: Pete Buttigieg
- Narrated by: Pete Buttigieg
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Once described by The Washington Post as "the most interesting mayor you've never heard of", Pete Buttigieg, the 36-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has improbably emerged as one of the nation's most visionary politicians. First elected in 2011, Buttigieg left a successful business career to move back to his hometown, previously tagged by Newsweek as a "dying city", and transformed it into a shining model of urban reinvention.
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Reveals a Person Wise & Experienced & Literate
- By dbbks3 on 03-17-19
By: Pete Buttigieg
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Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness
- What It Means to Be Black Now
- By: Touré, Michael Eric Dyson
- Narrated by: Touré
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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A provocative look at what it means to be Black today. This audiobook includes excerpts from over 100 interviews with Rev. Jesse Jackson, Cornel West, Skip Gates, Melissa Harris-Perry, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Glenn Ligon, Malcolm Gladwell, Paul Mooney, NY Gov. David Paterson, Harold Ford, Jr., Soledad O'Brien, Kamala Harris, Chuck D, Questlove, and others.
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Food for Thought
- By Sara on 12-22-11
By: Touré, and others
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When They Call You a Terrorist
- A Black Lives Matter Memoir
- By: Patrisse Cullors, asha bandele, Angela Davis - foreword
- Narrated by: Angela Davis - foreword, Angela Davis, Patrisse Cullors
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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When They Call You a Terrorist is the essential audiobook for every conscientious American. From one of the cofounders of the Black Lives Matter movement comes a poetic audiobook memoir and reflection on humanity. Necessary and timely, Patrisse Cullors' story asks us to remember that protest in the interest of the most vulnerable comes from love.
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Everyone should listen!
- By Mary J. Bunker on 01-26-18
By: Patrisse Cullors, and others
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Fully Alive
- Discovering What Matters Most
- By: Timothy Shriver
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when we are all more rudderless than ever, we look for the very best teachers and mentors to guide us. In Fully Alive, an unusual and gripping memoir, Timothy Shriver shows how his teachers have been the world's most forgotten minority: people with intellectual disabilities. In these pages we meet the individuals who helped him come of age and find a deeper and more meaningful way to see the world.
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Eye opening book
- By Robert J. Herman on 06-05-15
By: Timothy Shriver
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A Mighty Long Way
- My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School
- By: Carlotta Walls LaNier, Lisa Frazier Page, Bill Clinton - foreword
- Narrated by: Carlotta Walls LaNier
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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When 14-year-old Carlotta Walls walked up the stairs of Little Rock Central High School on September 25, 1957, she and eight other Black students only wanted to make it to class. But the journey of the “Little Rock Nine”, as they came to be known, would lead the nation on an even longer and much more turbulent path, one that would challenge prevailing attitudes, break down barriers, and forever change the landscape of America.
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Disappointing
- By SWF in Minneapolis on 04-27-24
By: Carlotta Walls LaNier, and others
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The Fire This Time
- A New Generation Speaks About Race
- By: Jesmyn Ward
- Narrated by: Cherise Boothe, Michael Early, Kevin R. Free, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward takes James Baldwin's 1963 examination of race in America, The Fire Next Time, as a jumping-off point for this groundbreaking collection of essays and poems about race from the most important voices of her generation and our time.
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Delusion shattering
- By Matthew A. Burnett on 06-12-20
By: Jesmyn Ward
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Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies
- Amazing Women on What the F-Word Means to Them
- By: Scarlett Curtis - curator
- Narrated by: Rosie Akerman, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Grace Campbell, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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A diverse group of celebrities, activists, and artists open up about what feminism means to them, with the goal of helping listeners come to their own personal understanding of the word.
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4.5/5 Estrellas
- By Airy on 01-27-21
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Patriarchy Blues
- Reflections on Manhood
- By: Frederick Joseph
- Narrated by: Preston Butler III, Novell Jordan
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In this thought-provoking collection of essays, poems, and short reflections, Frederick Joseph contemplates these questions and more as he explores issues of masculinity and patriarchy from both a personal and cultural standpoint. From fatherhood, and “manning up” to abuse and therapy, he fearlessly and thoughtfully tackles the complex realities of men’s lives today and their significance for society, lending his insights as a Black man.
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Great read!
- By BlissfullyT on 11-15-23
By: Frederick Joseph
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Sign My Name to Freedom
- A Memoir of a Pioneering Life
- By: Betty Reid-Soskin
- Narrated by: Betty Reid-Soskin
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In Betty Reid Soskin’s 96 years of living, she has been a witness to a grand sweep of American history. When she was born in 1921, the lynching of African-Americans was a national epidemic, blackface minstrel shows were the most popular American form of entertainment, white women had only just won the right to vote, and most African-Americans in the Deep South could not vote at all. From her great-grandmother, who had been enslaved until her mid-20s, Betty heard stories of slavery and the times of terror and struggle for Black folk that followed.
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How she stressed Creole, but I guess it was a badge if honor not being regular black.
- By Satisfied customer on 05-21-24
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Just Like Us
- The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America
- By: Helen Thorpe
- Narrated by: Paula Christensen
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Just Like Us tells the story of four high school students whose parents entered this country illegally from Mexico. All four of the girls have grown up in the United States, and all four want to live the American dream, but only two have documents. As the girls attempt to make it into college, they discover that only the legal pair see a clear path forward. A coming-of-age story about girlhood and friendship, as well as the resilience required to transcend poverty, Just Like Us is also a book about identity.
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I wanted to listen but...
- By PurpleSage on 03-22-14
By: Helen Thorpe
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Acts of Faith
- The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation
- By: Eboo Patel
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Acts of Faith is a remarkable account of growing up Muslim in America and coming to believe in religious pluralism, from one of the most prominent faith leaders in the United States. Eboo Patel's story is a hopeful and moving testament to the power and passion of young people - and of the world-changing potential of an interfaith youth movement.
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Waited three years for this audiobook
- By Eva on 08-29-13
By: Eboo Patel
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Outcasts United
- An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference
- By: Warren St. John
- Narrated by: Lincoln Hoppe
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals.
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great story, lackluster narration
- By CRE on 02-19-13
By: Warren St. John
What listeners say about Running While Black
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 10-25-22
Life changing!
This book is so well put together! I learned, I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I received advise…I now feel like I know what I am to do. - A Black Man That Runz
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- Jennifer Green
- 01-04-23
Prepare to Question Everything You Thought You Knew About Running
Essential reading for runners and non-runners alike. The wealth of history shared in these pages, along with the stories of the intentional
erasure of Blackness from the running story in our country was heartbreaking but so illuminating at the same time. It was amazing to see my own thoughts and feelings reflected and validated in so many ways during Alison’s story and I definitely have a deeper appreciation for the trailblazers of this sport as well as those fighting now for our place at the starting line and in history after reading this.
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- Earnest
- 06-13-23
Amazing Read!
This is a masterpiece of reality, grit, dedication and making space for all runners. This book has transformed me in ways I can not explain. Thank you for this gift!
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-30-22
Excellent Insight
This was an excellent book that I thoroughly enjoyed. It truly spoke to the same feelings and experiences that I have had since taking up running.
The author does an excellent job breaking down the history of distance running in this country. This was an inspiring read that I will definitely make reference to.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-25-23
Black & Brown
I thoroughly loved this book from beginning to end! Alison you hit the nail on the coffin. I appreciate you sharing your story and being raw. I think more people should share and be raw because that’s when the realness comes to surface. I plan to follow in your footsteps and make my voice heard. I am Adrian from Brooklyn who knows Alison and can tell you that she’s is an amazing BLACK WOMAN who is making waves and I LOVE IT!!
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- Bruno Garcia
- 11-29-22
Powerful.
Alison’s narrative shares the powerful perspective of how far the collective running community needs to go to be inclusive to black (and brown) participants. Filled with personal experience and historical moments, this is a great book, read by the author.
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- Sarah
- 11-17-23
Must read
Runner or not, everyone should listen to/read this book. I’ve learned more than I ever have about the Black history of running from Désir than I likely would have in the span of my life otherwise. Please do yourself a favor and listen to/read this book.
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- Katherine A
- 11-29-22
Brilliant, heartfelt, and real
I loved this, loved it even more in Alison’s voice which makes her own words come alive. A must listen/read for all runners, this gave me new perspective as well as validated a lot of what I knew, but maybe didn’t know how to change. She is direct, but also speaking straight from her soul. This is a powerful story for anyone in the running community or anyone who longs to be there. Running has a long way to go, but if more of us read these words and respect these stories, we can get there!
I finished it in a day! :)
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- Kindle Customer
- 02-19-23
Great Read
As a black woman runner, who does diversity work, I resonated with a lot that Alison shared. I hope that runners and others of all backgrounds will find the value in the book and do what they can for true inclusion and belonging.
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- monster
- 10-30-22
Should be required listening
This should be required listening for anyone who works in the running industry & anyone who loves running. The author blends personal stories with history & theory to create a 360-degree view of the running industry’s complicity & perpetuations of systemic oppression & white supremacy. Highly recommend.
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