Black Sun / Black Son: An AfroFutures Syllabus
#BlackSunBlackSon A Twitter Chat Q&A Presented by The CultSTATUS Arts Haven.
Black Sun / Black Son
Black Sun/Black Son: An AfroFutures Syllabus
Curated & Presented By The CultSTATUS Arts Haven
A Twitter Chat Q&A Hosted on August 21st, 2017
THE VISION: Founded by Constance SHERESE Collier-Mercado A Black Woman Writer/Artist and self-proclaimed “Anthropologist of the Arts” in search of all the culture she can get … The CultSTATUS Arts Haven is a multidisciplinary cultural & creative petri-dish which seeks to provide a safe space for the connection {and intersection} of writers, artists, wanderers, social instigators, scientists, activists, educators, and other critical thinkers rooted in a desire to elevate the African Diaspora and uplift Communities of Color. This radical arts clinic works to foster an holistic environment of Immersion & Experimentation with a commitment to achieving social equity from the chaos. ---------------
THE EVENT: Curated and presented by The CultSTATUS Arts Haven, this community discussion staged as a Twitter Chat Q&A, coincides with the politically charged month known as Black August and the 2017 North American Total Eclipse which is occurring for the first time in 38 years. What is Black August? How is the idea of a Solar Eclipse subverted to fuel this concept of liberatory struggle? Who were/are those leading the charge in the past and today? Where will this new iteration of organizing for freedom take us? Is there room for a healing nature as well? These ideas and more are discussed on the afternoon of Monday, August 21st, 2017. ----------------
Black Sun/Black Son harnesses the Black August legacy of righteous political rebellion and the awe-inspiring beauty of the 2017 Solar Eclipse to use as metaphor for Black Progress. It challenges old cycles of obscured vision & purpose to be replaced instead with a fiery conviction toward bold self/rediscovery. What lie yet on the horizon for a People of the Sun? A collective time of cooling off? or Supernova? ----------------------------------
CONTENTS: I. II.
Black August - A Political Primer on Resistance. N.A.S.A. - from the Space Race to “Post-Race” in America.
III.
Retinal Patterns - Sun Spot, Blind Spot, or Willful Ignorance?
IV.
Shade. ---------------
V.
Corona - The Crown Ain’t Worth Much. ---------------
VI. VII. VIII. IX.
Black Boy Joy. Zodiac - Mapping A People’s Journey. Time Capsule (2:40 / 2024) - Where Do We Go from Here? Black Sun / Black Son - Liberation as the Birth of a New Star. ---------------
X.
Acknowledgements
BLACK AUGUST A Political Primer on Resistance
â€œâ€Ś a month of divine meaning, of repression and radical resistance, of injustice and divine justice; of repression and righteous rebellion; of individual and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us."
- Mumia Abu-Jamal
Soledad Brother - George Lester Jackson
If They Come in the Morning - Angela Y. Davis
Blood in My Eye - George Lester Jackson
Assata: An Autobiography - Assata Olugbala Shakur
Strategies for Freedom: The Changing Patterns of Black Protest - Bayard Rustin
Imprisoned Intellectuals: America’s Political Prisoners - Joy James, PhD
The Struggle is My Life - Nelson Mandela
Marissa Alexander Justice Project (MarissaAlexander.org) - Marissa Alexander
The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives - William Still
Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom - Catherine Clinton
Pay It No Mind: The Life & Times of Marsha P. Johnson (documentary) - Michael Kasino
Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and The Underground Railroad - Jacqueline Tobin & Raymond G. Dobard
Revolutionary Suicide - Huey P. Newton
Black August (film) - Samm Styles
Whose Streets? (documentary) - Sabaah Folayan
Jonathan P. Jackson - 17y.o., Father, Revolutionary, Dead.
Dr. Mutulu Shakur
Happy Birthday, Marsha - Reina Gossett & Sasha Wortzel
Black Muslim Solidarity - Ramadan 1979
N.A.S.A. from the Space Race to “Post-Race” in America
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race - Margot Lee Shetterly
100 Year Starship / Team Pleiades (DrMae.com) - Dr. Mae Jemison
Space Challenger: The Story of Guion Bluford - James Haskins
Ghana Sat 1 (anusstl.com) - Ghana Satellite Team
Merlin’s Tour of the Universe - Neil deGrasse Tyson
The Offing Magazine/Back of the Envelope - EiC, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Saturn’s Child - Nichelle Nichols & Margaret Wander Bonanno
Beyond Uhura - Nichelle Nichols
Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier - Neil deGrasse Tyson
Aftermath - LeVar Burton
Jeanette Epps/International Space Station
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez/Cuban Cosmonaut
RETINAL PATTERNS Sun Spot, Blind Spot, or Willful Ignorance?
© Toyin Ojih Odutola, ‘Looking at the Sunrise and Calling It Dusk’, 2016
Brown Girl in the Ring - Nalo Hopkinson
The Broken Kingdoms - N.K. Jemisin
The Black Parade - Kyoko M.
Naughts & Crosses Series - Malorie Blackman
The Devil in Silver - Victor LaValle
Let’s Play White - Chesya Burke
Black No More - George S. Schuyler
SHADE.
© Terion Montgomery, ‘Blocking Shade’, 2017
Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delaney
Starting Friction - Tenea D. Johnson
Sycorax’s Daughters - Kinitra Brook, PhD; Linda D. Addison; & Susana Morris, PhD
Streets of Shadows - Maurice Broaddus & Jerry Gordon
Zone One - Colson Whitehead
The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle
Sundown Towns - FIYAH Literary Magazine, Issue Three
CORONA The Crown Ain’t Worth Much
“… I know I watch the teeming masses of Black thousands split open the blazing sun in the name of the fading son I know there’s always going to be another dead Black body in Summer until we run out of houses for Black angels in the New Heaven where every Black grandma is Jesus to somebody and Sunday afternoon’s always on repeat after the knee’s been pressed to that old wooden church floor and we prayed for Black children climbing up that long ladder to the promised land and no one falls asleep to a chorus of bullets and don’t nobody turn on the news and see someone who got their baby’s eyes and it smells like chicken is always in the pan even when chicken ain’t in the pan and the song on the radio is always something that you and your grandma know and your name is still alive in someone’s mouth. My name is still alive in my father’s mouth …”
© Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, ‘The Crown Ain’t Worth Much’, 2016
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N.K. Jemisin
Meji: Books One & Two - Milton J. Davis
The Crown Ain’t Worth Much - Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps - Kai Ashante Wilson
Knights of Breton Court Series - Maurice Broaddus
The Kundalini Equation - Steven Barnes
When the World Wounds - Kiini Ibura Salaam
BLACK BOY JOY.
© Hebru Brantley, ‘Advertisement #59’, 2015
The Galaxy Game - Karen Lord
Kaya Abaniah and the Father of the Forest - Wayne Gerard Trotman
The Joys of Being a Little Black Boy - Valerie Reynolds
A Taste of Honey - Kai Ashante Wilson
The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad - Minister Faust
The Everleaf Series - Constance Burris
ZODIAC Mapping A People’s Journey
Nova - Samuel R. Delaney
Santeria Habitat Series - Kenya Wright
Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology - Milton J. Davis & Charles R. Saunders
The Telescoping Effect, Part One - Rasheedah Phillips
Salsa Nocturna: Stories - Daniel Jose Older
Veterans of the Psychic Wars - Wayne Gerard Trotman
The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson
Filter House - Nisi Shawl
TIME CAPSULE (2:40 / 2024) Where Do We Go from Here?
Joplin’s Ghost - Tananarive Due
Steamfunk! - Milton J. Davis & Balogun Ojetade
Redeemer - Balogun Ojetade
R/evolution - Tenea D. Johnson
Immortal Series: Books One to Four - Valjeanne Jeffers
The Voices of Martyrs - Maurice Broaddus
Stigmata - Phyllis Alesia Perry
Little Miss Strange - Winston Blakely
Electric Arches - Eve Ewing
Hayward’s Reach: Tales of the Twilight Continuum - Thaddeus Howze
BLACK SUN / BLACK SON Liberation as the Birth of a New Star
The Imaro Series - Charles Saunders
Luke Cage - Marvel Comics & Netflix
Destroyer - Victor LaValle
Miles Morales: Spider Man - Jason Reynolds
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand - Samuel R. Delaney
Smoketown - Tenea D. Johnson
The Best of All Possible Worlds - Karen Lord
Rebirth - FIYAH Literary Magazine, Issue One
The World Breach Series - DaVaun Sanders
Acknowledgements
With much appreciation, we thank the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Black Lives Matter, & the Black Theology Project whose many resources for Black August made this syllabus more robust.
All artwork and book references inclusive of all rights therein belong to their respective creators, with specific acknowledgement made to Toyin Ojih Odutola, Terion Montgomery, Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, & Hebru Brantley.
Although not hosted this year at the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture & History, we continue to be grateful for their willingness to host our initial AfroFutures Syllabus, Hoo-Doula/Voo-Doula, and their ongoing guidance & support since that time.
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