Happy Juneteenth! In celebration of this holiday, the Krupp Library has assembled an exhibit that combines texts about Black history with texts that harken towards the future. Read more to learn about the significance of Juneteenth as a holiday, as well as Afrofuturism, the cultural aesthetic that uses science fiction and technoculture to envision Black futures.
What is Juneteenth?
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1st, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, legally changed the status of millions of African Americans in Confederate states from enslaved to free; however, this was only enforceable in areas under Union control. Even after the Civil War ended in April 1865, many people still lived in bondage.
Juneteenth National Independence Day, colloquially shortened to 'Juneteenth,' is a United States federal holiday celebrated annually on the 19th of June. It refers to June 19th, 1865, the day that Union General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas. Though the last enslaved people were not legally freed until the 13th Amendment's ratification in December 1865, June of that year marked the freedom of the vast majority.
Juneteenth celebrations began as early as the following summer, and began to spread throughout the nation during the Great Migration after World War II. Solidarity Day, a civil rights movement march and rally that served as part of the Washington D.C. Poor People's Campaign in 1968, was held on Juneteenth, after which the holiday developed much grassroots support. It was officially established as a federal holiday by the Biden Administration in 2021. Modern celebrations often involve family cookouts or barbecues, musical performances, and storytelling.
"At its very core, Juneteenth is this affirmation that we are here, and we will continue to be here. We will continue to struggle in the face of many challenges."
Kelly E. Navies, Museum Specialist of Oral History at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
What is Afrofuturism?
The term "Afrofuturism" was coined by critic Mark Dery in his 1994 Essay "Black to the Future." It is a term that references and explores the way that Black authors have used elements of science fiction, technology, and fantasy to create narratives of Black liberation and empowerment. Kevin Strait, Curator of Popular Culture, Television and Film, Political and Social History at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, defines Afrofuturism as "an evolving concept expressed through a Black cultural lens that reimagines, reinterprets, and reclaims the past and present for a more empowering future for African Americans."
Afrofuturism extends to film, music, literature, art, and beyond. 2018's Black Panther film is one prominent film example, while Janelle Monae's album Dirty Computer, which released the same year, is considered a musical example. The term has been retroactively applied to texts like Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (1952) and Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower (1993); modern literary examples of Afrofuturist books include Rivers Solomon's An Unkindness of Ghosts (2017), Nnedi Okorafor's Binti series (2015), and N.K. Jemison's Broken Earth trilogy (2015).
On Display
Items displayed in this exhibit include these texts and more! All books in this exhibit are available for circulation. Ask a library staff member for assistance and we will happily check it out to you!
The Black Speculative Arts Movement: Black Futurity, Art + Design by Reynaldo Anderson (2019, Lexington Books).
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (2016, Seven Stories Press).
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed (2021, Liveright Publishing Corporation).
Afrofuturism Rising: The Literary Prehistory of a Movement by Isiah Lavender III (2019, The Ohio State University Press).
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (2018, Tom Doherty Associates, LLC).
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (2017, Akashic Books).
Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures by Kevin Michael Angelo Strait (2024, Smithsonian Books).
Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction by Sheree R. Thomas (2022, Tom Doherty Associates).
Ebooks
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy (2017, Abrams ComicArts).
Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction by André M Carrington (2016, University of Minnesota Press).
Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements by Walidah Imarisha (2015, AK Press).
Black and Brown Planets: The Politics of Race in Science Fiction by Isiah Lavender III (2014, University Press of Mississippi).
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha Womack (2013, Lawrence Hill Books).
Additional Resources from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture
Afrofuturism Explained: A Conversation with Curator Kevin Strait