Afrofuturism A history of Black futures

Artist Alisha Wormsely commissioned a Pittsburgh billboard in 2017 stating, "There Are Black People in the Future," as a statement of hope and defiance. That determination to claim a place in the cultural landscape of the past, present, and future defines Afrofuturism. In this fascinating, eye-popping collection of essays and imagery, the companion volume to an exhibition at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Strait, Conwill, and their collaborators display the range of art, literature, and music that defines the Afrofuturist aesthetic. Whether it's the Mothership gracing the cover of a Parliament Funkadelic album, Jordan Peele's mashup of alien horror and civil rights drama in Lovecraft Country, or Marvel's Black Panther techo fantasy, Afrofuturism confronts the racist fiction of white superiority with the liberatory imagination of a world and universe where Black people thrive. More than a specific art movement, Afrofuturism represents liberation from oppressive spaces and times. The authors trace the lineage of Black speculative fiction back to W. E. B. Du Bois' "race fantasies" and nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Black novelists Martin Delany, Sutton Elbert Griggs, and Pauline Hopkins, who created powerful, liberated Black characters. When contemporary Afrofuturists look to these predecessors and to African traditions, they enact the Ghanaian principle of sankofa, looking back to move their people forward into a golden future.

The companion volume to an exhibition at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, this stunning collection conveys the range, creativity, and dynamism of Afrofuturism and demonstrates its profound impact on popular culture. As conceived in the 1990s by critic Mark Dery (who coined the term), sci-fi novelist Samuel Delany, historian Tricia Rose, and others, Afrofuturism "became a way for writers and artists to explore how technology, fantasy, and ideas about the future could advance Black life." A section on the "theme of space" explains how actor Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on the original Star Trek TV series, helped NASA recruit "more than eight thousand people, including the first African American, Asian, Latino, and female astronauts." Elsewhere, contributors note the influence of Blaxploitation films on Black comic book characters such as Black Lightning and Luke Cage; unearth W.E.B. Du Bois's speculative short story, "The Comet"; discuss the resurgence of Octavia Butler's 1993 novel Parable of the Sower during the Covid-19 pandemic; demonstrate the painstaking work done to create the costumes in the 2018 film Black Panther; and document the spread of Afrofuturism by musicians including Parliament-Funkadelic bandleader George Clinton and reggae pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry. Bursting with bold, captivating images and smart criticism, this is an inspiring tribute to a revolutionary way of looking at the world. Illus. (Mar.)