Black Futures
Author: Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham
Publisher: One World
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.
Cover Description
An archive of collective memory and exuberant testimony
A luminous map to navigate an opaque and disorienting present
An infinite geography of possible futures
What does it mean to be Black and alive right now?
Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham have brought together this collection of work--images, photos, essays, memes, dialogues, recipes, tweets, poetry, and more--to tell the story of the radical, imaginative, provocative, and gorgeous world that Black creators are bringing forth today. The book presents a succession of startling and beautiful pieces that generate an entrancing rhythm: Readers will go from conversations with activists and academics to memes and Instagram posts, from powerful essays to dazzling paintings and insightful infographics.
In answering the question of what it means to be Black and alive, Black Futures opens a prismatic vision of possibility for every reader.
Review
First and foremost: I’m not an Own Voices reviewer for this book, nor was this book written for me. But it’s been widely acclaimed by people it was written for, and since its publication, it’s become a New York Times Editors’ Choice and Roxane Gay’s first-ever book club book (among a lot of other praise!).
Still, I’m really, really glad I read it. Black Futures is not the kind of book you sit down and read cover to cover; it’s more like a gorgeous, moving, inspirational (and at times heavy) coffee table book, although calling it that feels like a disservice. It’s so much more than a coffee table book. It’s a celebration, an amplification, a deep-dive, a time capsule of a culture. A gift to everyone who reads it, but especially to the Black community. I was blown away by the breadth and detail and research and love that went into creating it. This book is a triumph.
This isn’t the point AT ALL, but as a sort of bonus benefit, I also think that it’s a really powerful tool for white allies like me to glimpse and learn more about what it’s like to be Black in America, without asking Black people to do the labor of educating us. I plan to buy a copy and read it in even closer detail, piece by piece, over time, multiple times.
Thank you to One World for the digital review copy via NetGalley.