The Afrofuturism display in the J.D. Williams Library included a banner featuring an issue of The Vision, a newsletter written by the UM Afro-American Studies Program in the 1990s, and sample photos.

(Images on banner, left to right:)

• Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY (2021)
• Tribute to Octavia E. Butler in New York City, 5 June 2006
  • Photo of Dan Simon, Sonia Sanchez, Sandra Govan, Merrilee Heifetz, Max Rodriguez by B. Houari.
  • Photo of Samuel R. Delany by B. Houari
• Serengeti Cyborg / Solen Feyissa (2020)

What is Afrofuturism?

• The term Afrofuturism, according to cultural critic Mark Dery, refers to "a speculative fiction that treats African American themes and addresses African American concerns in the context of the twentieth century technoculture—and, more generally, African American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future."
• "Afrofuturism expresses notions of Black identity, agency and freedom through art, creative works and activism that envision liberated futures for Black life." (National Museum of African American History and Culture)

From the UM Collection

Books:

Afro Futurism: A History of Black Futures / edited by Kevin M. Strait, Kinshasha Holman Conwill

Literary Afrofuturism in the Twenty-First Century / edited by Isiah Lavender III and Lisa Yaszek

The Lord of the Sea / M. P. Shiel

Imago / Octavia E. Butler

Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture / Ytasha L. Womack

Black Futures / Edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham

The Dreamer and the Dream: Afrofuturism and Black Religious Thought / Roger A. Sneed

Sound Recordings (LPs)

Ahh ... The Name is Bootsy, Baby! / William "Bootsy" Collins

You're the one / Shango, featuring the Funk Queen

New Amerykah, Part Two: Return of the Ankh / Erykah Badu

Saturnian Queen of the Sun Ra Arkestra / June Tyson "The Voice of Afrofuturistic Science Non-Fiction"

Celestial Love / Sun Ra

Additional Readings:

• Afrofuturism (LibGuide)/ Pratt Institute Libraries
• Julian Chambliss. "What is Afrofuturism? An English Professor Explains" (2022)
• Kymberli M. Corprue. "Afrofuturism and the Future" (2022)
• Mark Dery, Ed. Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture. Durham: Duke UP, 1994.
• Sydney Scott. "A Beginner's Guide to Afrofuturism: 7 Titles to Watch and Read" (2020)