On top of being entertaining and breaking box office records, Black Panther has animated thoughtful conversations about race and afrofuturism that take seriously the weighty and complex histories which have unfolded over the past five hundred years. Plus, you won’t find a superhero movie with more complex characters. We won’t give away any spoilers, but how about Killmonger’s last line?

Unlike most of the film’s characters who, as native-born Wakandans, seem to have little direct experience with colonization and slavery, Killmonger grew up in the United States, in the Oakland projects, and carries the unequal burden history has placed on his flesh. These distinct realities present some of the central tension of the movie: Which histories are this mythic African nation willing to acknowledge, and how will they draw on these reservoirs of identity as they confront a future of uncertainty and danger?

In “For Freedom,” Rodney Taylor, Sr. writes with a voice that could be that of Killmonger’s uncle. The piece is written in response to Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad with a cadence evocative of both a work song and a steam engine gaining speed. As the work progresses from cotton fields towards freedom, Taylor shows us passing landscapes of the pain and dignity that fuel his journey. By studying these landscapes, we can begin to understand where we are and where we want to go.