Afrofuturism and Toni Morrison

The following article taken from:

https://afrofuturist.sites.grinnell.edu/key-writings/paul-gilroy-living-memory-a-meeting-with-toni-morrison/

Link to essay

Key Afrofuturists

A key work in Afrocentrism was the 2000 anthology by Sheree Renée Thomas, titled Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora and then the followup Dark Matter: Reading the Bones in 2004. For her work she interviewed Octavia Butler (often considered one of the primary writers of Afrofuturist speculative fiction), the poet and writer Amiri Baraka (formerly known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka), Sun Ra (composer and musician, proponent of a cosmic philosophy), Samuel Delany (an African American science fiction writer and literary critic who identified as gay), Marilyn Hacker (a Jewish poet and educator who identified as lesbian and who was married for a time to Delany), and others.

Others sometimes included in Afrofuturism include Toni Morrison (novelist), Ishmael Reed (poet and essayist), and Janelle Monáe (songwriter, singer, actress, activist).

The 2018 movie, Black Panther, is an example of Afrofuturism. The story envisions a culture free of Eurocentric imperialism, a technologically advanced utopia.

Citation: Lewis, Jone Johnson. (2020, August 27). Afrofuturism: Imagining an Afrocentric Future. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/afrofuturism-definition-4137845

Writings on Afro-futurism

Shephard, W. A. (2019). "Temples for tomorrow": African american speculative fiction and historical narrative (Order No. 28113120). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2467154527). Retrieved from http://pvamu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/temples-tomorrow-african-american-speculative/docview/2467154527/se-2?accountid=7062

Cosimini, S. (2019). Imagined cemeteries: Mortuary rituals, racial terror, and the american literary canon (Order No. 22617875). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2316838712). Retrieved from http://pvamu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/imagined-cemeteries-mortuary-rituals-racial/docview/2316838712/se-2?accountid=7062

Mark Bould. (2007). The Ships Landed Long Ago: Afrofuturism and Black SF. Science Fiction Studies, 34(2), 177–186. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4241520

Selected fiction books by Toni Morrison available at John B. Coleman Library

Beloved by Toni Morrison
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 B4 1987 c.2
ISBN: 0394535979
Publication Date: 1987-08-12
Beloved, novel by Toni Morrison, published in 1987 and winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The work examines the destructive legacy of slavery as it chronicles the life of a Black woman named Sethe, from her pre-Civil War days as a slave in Kentucky to her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Afterword by)
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 B55 1994
ISBN: 0452273056
Publication Date: 1994-09-01
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression.
Jazz by Toni Morrison
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 J38 2004
ISBN: 1400076218
Publication Date: 2004-06-08
The majority of the narrative takes place in Harlem during the 1920s South.
Sula by Toni Morrison
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 S8 2004
ISBN: 1400033438
Publication Date: 2004-06-08
Morrison’s Sula is a story of motherhood, friendship, and love. It follows two girls, Nel and Sula, from childhood to adulthood and describes the way their deep bond is tested by societal norms
Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 T37 1981
ISBN: 0394423291
Publication Date: 1981-03-12
This novel portrays a love affair between Jadine and Son, two Black Americans from very different worlds

Beloved by Toni Morrison--Interview

Beloved--Video

Most recent books by Toni Morrison on order at John B. Coleman Library

Books currently unavailable at the John B. Coleman Library.

Page will be updated when books are available.

Non-fiction books by Toni Morrison available at John B. Coleman Library

Toni Morrison by Carolyn C. Denard (Editor)
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 Z464 1994
ISBN: 9781604730197
Publication Date: 2008-06-01
Toni Morrison: Conversations includes interviews with the Nobel Laureate that bring into the foreground Morrison's comments on American literature and society, the academy, and her own work
The Dancing Mind by Toni Morrison
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 D36 1996
ISBN: 037540032X
Publication Date: 1996-12-24
On the occasion of her acceptance of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters on the sixth of November, 1996, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison speaks with brevity and passion to the pleasures, the difficulties, the necessities, of the reading/writing life in our time
Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison
Call Number: PS173.N4 M67 1992
ISBN: 0674673778
Publication Date: 1992-05-01
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination is a 1992 work of literary criticism by Toni Morrison.
Remember by Toni Morrison
Call Number: LC214.2 .M67 2004
ISBN: 061839740X
Publication Date: 2004-05-03
Toni Morrison has collected a treasure chest of archival photographs that depict the historical events surrounding school desegregation. These unforgettable images serve as the inspiration for Ms. Morrison"s text--a fictional account of the dialogue and emotions of the children who lived during the era of "separate but equal" schooling. Remember is a unique pictorial and narrative journey that introduces children to a watershed period in American history and its relevance to us today

Toni Morrison Writing Program: Toni Morrison and Afro-futurism