White Bears in Sugar Land: Juneteenth, Cages, and Afrofuturism
June 19, 2020 2:32 PM Subscribe
"That year, 1878, the 14-year-old boy, if he is not already serving time in a cell or on a plantation, will arrive at his destination and not last the year. Out comes confetti. Emancipation? Freedom? The whole thing was a hoax."
This is a wonderful, dense and heavy piece, that will sit with me for a while. Or I will sit with it. Thank you.
Links and annotations, for myself and anyone else who'd like to read and know more.
Authors mentioned, plus some extra links:
Links and annotations, for myself and anyone else who'd like to read and know more.
Authors mentioned, plus some extra links:
- Tochi Onyebuchi, personal site for the author of this piece, whose first novel, Beast Made of Night, won the Nommo Award in 2018 (Wikipedia)
- Ralph Ellison (Wikipedia), author of Invisible Man and the posthumously published Three Days Before the Shooting... (Wikipedia x3)
- George S. Schuyler (Wikipedia), author of the first alleged science fiction novel by an African American, Black No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, AD 1933-1940 (Internet Archive)
- Mark Bould (personal site), "The Ships Landed Long Ago: Afrofuturism and Black SF"
- Octavia Butler (official site)
- Tananarive Due (official site)
- Sheree Thomas (Wikipedia)
- Samuel Delany (official site)
- Andrea Hairston (official site)
- Colson Whitehead (official site)
- N.K. Jemisin (official site)
- P. Djeli Clark (official site)
- Crystal Hana Kim (official site), author of the Korean War love epic If You Leave Me
- Naima Coster (official site), essayist and novelist
- R.O. Kwon (official site), author of The Incendiaries
- Black Codes or Black Laws (Wikipedia), found around the US, before and moreso after the Civil War
- Fort Bend Independent School District -- The Sugar Land 95: Historic cemetery discovered at the construction site of the James Reese Career & Technical Center
- 1971 Attica Uprising (Wikipedia)
That was an incredible read - thanks for expanding my reading list - and thanks for the additional links, filthy light thief!
posted by invincible summer at 1:43 PM on June 20, 2020
posted by invincible summer at 1:43 PM on June 20, 2020
God that was powerful, I'm still wrapping my head around all the different threads he pulled together.
posted by coolname at 1:13 AM on June 21, 2020
posted by coolname at 1:13 AM on June 21, 2020
I'm only partway through, and only know the half of it ... but every time I try to convince my colleagues at this underfunded small liberal arts college that we should be focusing our curriculum on racial justice and dismantling white supremacy, I can't even make an adequate case because so many of my professional colleagues have no clue about this history or all the components put together here.
I'm very grateful for this, in other words.
posted by allthinky at 10:41 AM on June 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm very grateful for this, in other words.
posted by allthinky at 10:41 AM on June 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by emjaybee at 7:06 PM on June 19, 2020 [1 favorite]