Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Afrofuturism, as defined by UCLA Magazine, can be understood as “a wide-ranging social, political, and artistic movement that dares to imagine a world where African-descended peoples and their cultures play a central role in the creation of that world.” Can you think of some recent popular examples of Afrofuturistic media, whether in film, TV, or books? Why is Afrofuturism important?

Teaching Suggestion: One of the most popular examples of Afrofuturism in recent history is Marvel’s Black Panther franchise. You can opt to discuss this TIME article that discusses the participation of Black Panther in the Afrofuturism movement, and/or have students call out aspects of Black Panther that seem to merge African diasporic culture and an altered vision of the future. As for the importance of Afrofuturism, it may be beneficial to guide students to understand that Afrofuturism empowers African American readers to reimagine a future in which their community thrives, upending the historical reality in which African culture has widely been oppressed. Students can read more about the importance of Afrofuturism in Blerd’s “

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