In 2018, Pittsburgh artist Alisha Wormsley created and posted what many considered to be a “controversial” billboard in the East Liberty neighborhood of the city. The billboard contained a single sentence that read: “There are black people in the future.” The simple statement was a profound one; in the context of a gentrifying neighborhood where black residents were being rapidly displaced, the billboard critiqued community planning strategies that expunge and erase black communities. But more than a critique, the billboard was also indicative of a particular artistic practice, mode of study and social engagement that has come to be known as “Afrofuturism.” In this episode, Secunda is joined by De'Anna Daniels, Jaison Oliver, and Dr. Jessica Davenport to explore Afrofuturism and its creative and cultural possibilities for community-building.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For more on Wormsley, click here.

Drexciya

Adrienne Maree Brown - Octavia's Brood

Rhiana Gunn Wright - New Consensus Green New Deal

The Intercept - A message From the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

How It Feels to Be A Colored Me - Zora Neale Hurston

Aaron Douglas - Painter

The Comet - W. E. B. DuBois

Zone 1, Underground Railroad, Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead

Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments - Saidiya Hartman

John Jennings

Kenitra Brooks

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs

Parable of the Talents - Octavia Butler

Jessi Jumanji - Artist

Alondra Nelson - Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination

Black Panther

CREDITS
Produced, edited, and mixed by Luke Brawner
Co-Produced by Dr. Jessica Davenport
Music licensed through PodcastMusic.com
Artwork designed by Heather Hale

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