Black Futures

June 1, 2020

Writer/curator Drew and Wortham, a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine, bring together essays and images, recipes and memes, tweets and poetry to show how today's black creators are striking us straight in the hearts and minds with the materials they put out there. In the end, this collection aims to answer the question: What does it mean to be black and alive right now?

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 21, 2020
Curator Drew and New York Times Magazine writer Wortham probe the meaning of Black identity and offer a “series of guideposts” to the future of the Black experience in this multifaceted and visually arresting anthology of essays, poems, and art. Political activist De’Ara Balenger energetically details the fight against voter suppression and the rise of current Black progressives including Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, while photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier combines text and image in her devastating portrait of the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Mich. Other pieces highlight LGBTQ and Afro-Indigenous subcultures in the Black community, explore how agricultural knowledge passed down by enslaved Africans has provided sustenance and empowerment to Black Americans, incisively analyze the White House portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama, showcase Black avatars from the video game The Sims, and ask, “what does it mean to teach history if Whiteness is not centralized in the classroom?” Bold graphics, vibrant artwork in a plethora of styles and media, and contributions from activists, scholars, and journalists across a wide range of experiences and perspectives showcase the multidimensionality of Black voices in America. This unique and imaginative work issues a powerful call for justice, equality, and inclusion. Agent: Daniel Greenberg, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary.

Starred review from October 15, 2020
Loosely arranged into categories like Power, Joy, and Ownership and designed like an art-exhibition catalog, Black Futures is an intriguing and beautiful book meant to inspire. Art curator Drew and New York Times Magazine culture writer Wortham sought to answer the question, What does it mean to be Black and alive right now? . To this end, they have curated conversations, art, poetry, and essays by an incredible array of creative people. Some contributors will be familiar to many?Hanif Abdurraqib, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Eve L. Ewing, Samantha Irby?but readers will also likely discover new-to-them voices, covering topics as wide-ranging as poet June Jordan, artist Kerry James Marshall, the viral meme "Muslamic ray guns," and even a fantastic ode to shea butter. Punctuated throughout with photography and other artwork and using vibrant colors smartly, the book is as interesting visually as intellectually. In their introduction, the editors state that one of their intentions with this book is to encourage readers to follow their interests into a deep warren of rabbit holes and discoveries. They succeed; every reader will engage with this work differently, and will be able to come back to it again and again for inspiration.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2020
A dynamic mixed-media exhibition of Black creativity and culture. "What does it mean to be Black and alive right now?" Born of a social media exchange between curator and activist Drew and New York Times Magazine staff writer Wortham, this unique collaboration seeks to answer that question. The work is vivid, juicy, thick--as fecund as all of Black culture--and equal parts anthology, scrapbook, and art exhibition. The editors and contributors make clear the "infinite" nature of Blackness via more than 500 crammed pages of essays, art, interviews, and ephemera organized around broad themes that include "Power," "Joy," and "Black is (Still) Beautiful." The "Invited to the Cookout" section features pictures of the social media posts that birthed the Black Lives Matter movement and a survival guide instructing "How To Survive a Police Riot," which includes useful, pointed directives--e.g., "Be alert for spies and paid agents....Do not respond to unknown calls for action of mass meetings. Act as if your life depended on everything you do." In "Power," we learn about Dust II Onyx, a tarot deck that lovingly mines the power of Black custom and imagery, as well as the inventive legacy of African farmers: "Our ancestral grandmothers in the Dahomey region of West Africa braided seeds of okra, molokhia, and Levant cotton into their hair before being forced to board transatlantic slave ships." Ziwe Fumudoh explores how the Twitter hashtag #ThanksgivingWithBlackFamilies revealed the unique humor and tradition of a Black holiday, and Teju Cole offers an essay about the photography of Roy DeCarava, who captured the civil rights movement with contemplative pictures that played with the shadow and light of Black skin. In addition to introducing readers to numerous unknown artists, the editors of the volume include a host of luminaries: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Samantha Irby, Dawoud Bey, Hanif Abdurraqib, Zadie Smith, and Kiese Laymon. A must-own compendium illustrating the richness, joy, and power of the modern Black experience.

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