October 1, 2024 • 28 mins
Welcome to the home of Black literature. BLK Lit is a bi-weekly series that delves into the lives and works of literary visionaries in ways you’ve never seen before. Hosted by Jacquees R. Thomas, this podcast is a meditation on the words that move us and the authors who bring those stories to life. In a world of book bans and "fake news," we are honoring the power of writing and reading.
With four episodes dedicated to each luminary—beginning with Octavia Butler—this podcast dives deep to answer how each writer's personal experiences shaped their professional legacies. How did they bend traditional spaces to suit their more expansive visions? And how are we encouraged to do the same with what we’ve learned from them?
Connect:
Jacquees Thomas @_ThatsPeace
Learn More: BLKWritersRoom.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are now listening to Black Lit. Tell stories filled
(00:22):
with facts, make people touch, taste and know, make people feel, feel, feel.
These are words of affirmation from Octavia E. Butler's journal.
(00:44):
These quiet commands that she wrote over the years echoed
across time, pulling us into the world of her making
and her manifestations. My name is Jacquees' Thomas, and you're
listening to Black Live, a podcast about black literature and
(01:06):
the stories behind the storytellers. The truth is not everyone
found the imagination of black writers to be inspiring. For some,
it wasn't a source of admiration, but a perceived threat.
(01:29):
The reality woven through their stories, Our stories, through poetry, prose,
and the heartbeat of every word, challenged the world as
it was known, and that challenge, to those clutching onto
power was dangerous. What others saw as creativity they feared
as rebellion. It wasn't what just black writers dreamed that
(01:53):
unsettled them, but it was the truth that they dared
to tell in a world help bent on silence them.
In a quiet Alabama town in nineteen forty nine, tension
hung in the air like smoke. It was the night
after Invisible Man, a powerful novel by Ralph Ellison was
(02:14):
yanked from the shelves of a local high school. Some
parents had found the book unfit for young minds, claiming
it painted to raw a picture of black life and America.
Soon words spread, and under the cover of darkness, a
group gathered outside of the school. The flames grew hungry
(02:35):
and defiant.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Book book thrown.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Into the fire, their pages curling and blackening, reducing to nothing.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
But this wasn't just an act of censorship.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It was an attempt to erase black voices, to silence
stories that spoke too boldly about oppression, resilience, and the
truth that America wasn't ready to face.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
For those who stood by and watched, it wasn't just
pages burning.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It was history, identity, and another lost chapter disappearing in
the midst of smoke. Across the ocean to the hearts
of West Africa and the small villages under the great
Baobab trees, grios, storytellers and oral historians held the power
(03:26):
to preserve history, culture, and knowledge. These greels were living libraries,
carrying the tales of kings, the wisdom of the elders,
and the remedies of healers in their minds. Every story,
every song, every piece of wisdom was passed down through generations,
(03:48):
safeguarding the legacy of the people. The grio's role was sacred,
for they knew that stories were more than just entertainment.
They were lifelines, actions to ancestors, and protectors of culture.
They understood what so many who burned those books in
(04:08):
Alabama did not, that stories hold power, power to educate,
to heal, to inspire rebellion, and to shape the future.
Across continents, waterways, and in the face of unspeakable violence,
the Greels recorded history and conjured new possibilities. Political prisoners
(04:32):
of the Deep South were reading and writing while black
were acts of treason before and after emancipation. Under candlelight
and through fear of persecution, they diagnosed society's obsession with
hierarchy and use their words to prescribe something better for everyone.
(04:54):
Fast forward to today, we find ourselves in a different America,
but the fire is still burning across the country. We
see an alarming rise of the banning of black literature.
Books by black authors that challenge the status quo, that
confront racism, that tell uncomfortable truths are once again being targeted.
(05:19):
I learned recently The Bluest Eye, one of my sister's
favorite books, is banned in my home state of New Jersey.
Works by Tony Morrison, James Baldwin, Maya Angelo, and Octavia Butler,
among many other voices that have shaped and reshaped the
(05:41):
American narrative, are being pulled from school libraries and curriculums.
They say it is to protect students, but we know better.
It's an attempt to stuff out voices, to erase histories,
and to bury the stories that demand to be heard.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
There is a battle brewing in the United States, a
battle over education. From the American Library Association shows that
last year, between January first and the end of August,
air work six hundred and ninety five attempts to ban
or restrict library materials across the country.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
More than twenty five hundred books were banned in US schools.
If one author, I felt, one artist is silenced, we're
all in danger of the same.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
We found that authors of color, and especially women of color,
were much more likely to be banned.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Black literature continues to thrive New Creo's author's poets. Activists
are putting pen to paper every day to ensure that
these stories are passed on no matter how many bookshelves
are emptied. It's a new chapter and a very old
and redundant fight, but one that remains just as vital
(06:57):
today as it did when that first book was thrown
into the fires in Alabama. Black books and writers are
pathways to unlearning, understanding, and rethinking everything around us. Black
authors bring important perspectives to the center stage across genres,
but right now readers are being blocked from the opportunity
(07:21):
to learn from them. That's where we come in to
remind you that black literature is the past, present, and future.
Octavia Estelle Butler has appeared on dozens of book ban lists,
and she represents everything we're trying to preserve and amplify
(07:42):
here on Black lit. Her assertion that literacy was probably
a lot more popular when it was the forbidden fruit
brings true in so many unfortunate ways today. Butler's kindred
as well as powerable of the Sower, which is a
test to the power of fiction to threaten systems of
(08:03):
oppression with her imagination. When Tony Morrison first discovered that
her own novel was being banned from prisons for their
potential to incite riots.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
She took it as an affirmation.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
She thought to herself, how powerful is that I could
tear up the whole place.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
My parents have write their own children what to read.
They don't have the right to tell mine.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
For many, a book is a sanctuary, an escape patch,
a way to travel through time. When I was growing up,
that's what books were for me, a portal to somewhere
far beyond the limits of my reality. I wanted to
feel something outside of my own world, and as time passed,
(08:52):
I yearned not to just escape, but to be present
and to truly play a role in creating my reality.
Books began to take on new dimensions. Their meanings began
to evolve at different stages of my life, each story
finding me at the precise moment it was meant to.
(09:14):
This is the magic of a great book. It has
the power to change the very rhythm of your life.
It can lift you from the ordinary, open your perspective,
and expand the borders of your imagination. A great book
(09:36):
can stop time all together. Octavia Butler was one of
the first writers to truly stop time from me. The
first book of hers that landed in my hands wasn't
her debut nor her second, but one that arrived exactly
(10:00):
when I was ready for it. In the early nineteen nineties,
Octavia Butler sat down to write a story set in
the future, a future she envisioned as the year twenty
twenty four. With airy precision, Butler predicted a world very
(10:22):
much like the world we live in today, and her
predictions are rather her warnings of economic inequality, social collapse,
and the struggle for community resilience. She wrote these possibilities
and the powerable of the sewer. Her vision remains as
(10:45):
relevant and as haunting as ever, making it only fitting
that we begin this series with the mother of black
sci fi. You've got to make your own world, whether
you were a part of the greater society or not.
(11:06):
You Octavia Butler is often referred to as a black
sci fi writer, though she didn't like being pigeonholed into
any one genre. A good story is a good story,
she once said. If what I am writing reaches you,
then it reaches you, no matter what title is stuck wanted.
(11:32):
Far too often, Butler found that readers wouldn't let themselves
lean into a story based on how a book was categorized.
She often felt and expressed that science fiction and black
people are judged by their worst elements. MSS Butler preferred
the blanket term writer so she could remove limitations and
(11:56):
meet new readers on the page. But the facts remain
that Butler was one of the few black women writing
science fiction in the nineteen seventies and eighties, so one
would wonder why this genre? Why science fiction?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
There are no closed doors?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Gave me the chance to comment on every aspect of humanity.
Her novels and short stories explored themes of race, gender, power,
and identity. In my favorite part, most of them usually
featured strong black female protagonists. There isn't a subject you
(12:36):
cannot tackle by way of science fiction, she said this,
and I couldn't agree more. But for much of its history,
science fiction was dominated by white men. If we consider
writers to be a part of an ecosystem, a constellation,
if you will, then the sky was peppered with bright
(13:00):
white stars only, no planets or moons to bring other
colors and textures to the forefront, No new galaxies, no
new worlds to imagine or will into existence, Only bright
white stars. Someone long before Octavia used sci fi as
(13:34):
a euphemism as a way to express the harsh realities
of being black in America, confronting the divisiveness between the
colors of white versus black, using fantasy to explore perspectives
that otherwise did not exist. One of the very first
narratives that we can reference in the history of science
(13:57):
fiction through the lens of a black rold, writer W. E. B.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Du Boys envisioned a world that was catastrophic.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
After a comet wipes out nearly the entire population, reducing
the bustling streets to silence and the underbelly of a bank,
A black man toils away, regulated to the dirty vaults,
(14:34):
where he is often sent to do the least desirable work.
But today, however, those vaults saved him, and he is
one of the only two survivors. Jim is a black man,
and the other survivor, Julia, a white woman. Together, Jim
(15:00):
and Julia roamed the empty city side by side, navigating
the ruins of a once vibrant metropolis, mourning those they've lost,
yet grateful for the breath still in their lungs. They
cling to one another, an unlikely pair brought together by survival,
(15:23):
forced into a fragile inter dependence. I was not even yesterday.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Jim says, his voice heavy with reflection.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Julia looks at him, her eyes narrowing as she weighs
his words.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
And your people were not my people, she replies softly.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
But today he hesitates, glances at him. Jim is not
just a black man in this moment, He is a man.
Death and its cruel simplicity is both the leveler and
(16:21):
the revealer. For a time, the catastrophe strips away the
societal barriers between them and the face of such unimaginable loss.
They are simply two human beings, bound by survival and
the hope for a new beginning. But their epiphany is
(16:49):
short lived. As they discover survivors beyond New York, the
weight of old systems begins to settle back into place.
The vel is lowered in Julia, in particular, starts to
retreat into the familiar frameworks of race and class that
(17:10):
had shaped her life before the comet. The world's calamity
may have momentarily united them, but society's deep divisions are
not so easily erased. This haunting tale of race, identity,
and social class is a part of a short story
(17:33):
called the Comic, written in nineteen twenty by W. E. B.
Du Bois, known for his towering contributions to civil rights,
you might be surprised to learn that du Bois was
also one of the earliest black science fiction writers. He
(17:54):
used the genre as a medium for advocacy and reinvention,
pushing readers to reconsider their place in society. The Comet
is often cited as one of the earliest examples of
how science fiction can open up new ways of seeing
(18:15):
the world, an expansive genre that allows us to imagine, critique,
and transform the societies we live in. To Boys reveals
the possibilities of a world where race and class distinctions dissolve,
(18:35):
but he also shows us how fragile those possibilities can be.
The real challenge, he suggests, is not surviving catastrophe, but
dismantling the systems that divide us. Even when the world
as we know it is turned to ash, even when
(18:57):
the sky as far as the eyes can see are
covered with white, bright stars, only.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Du Boys and.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Black writers of his time proved you could be a
serious writer, not only by documenting the past, but also
in working with the unknown future. They were innovative, yet
remained siloed. The first efforts to truly diversify the genre
(19:30):
led to the Golden Age of science fiction. In the
nineteen thirties and forties. Writers like George Schuler and Samuel
Delaney all published works that explored intercalactic and metaphysical themes
alongside critiques of race, technology, and politics. These writers understood
(19:54):
that a country unwilling to face itself could be motivated
through innovative and sol versive plots. But it wasn't until
the nineteen sixties and seventies, with the rise of the
feminist and afrofuturist movements, that we began to truly see
a reimagining of who can take up space in the future.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
When I was twelve, I discovered science fiction, liked it,
and I was often collecting rejection slips.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Sci Fi is more than aliens and space exploration.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Sci Fi is.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Our imagination, our ideas before they become a reality. It
is a limitless radical thought. It's our dreams or simply
an ideal lover. Sci fi is yesterday, tomorrow, and today.
Butler found, however, that most readers have an ideada in
(21:00):
their head of what science fiction is based on the
more popular and white projects like Star Wars. Octavia Butler's
writings landed and she was a shooting star that transformed
everything and everyone around her. Her novels were groundbreaking, and
(21:22):
her portrayal of black characters and speculative fiction that could
be both fantastical and real. Elements like space and time
travel are juxtaposed by climate change, white supremacy, and other
isms facing humans on Earth. It is Butler's gift for
(21:42):
blurring these lines that inspired other writers to run towards
science fiction and the future rather than away from it.
Butler's gift was not limited to making predictions or harsh
warnings for the future. She also used time travel as
(22:05):
a way to review the dark corners of history. As
a black woman myself, my life has been a journey
of exploration of self, of truth, of identity. Much like
many African Americans. The quest for our roots can only
stretch so far into the paths before the records grow dark,
(22:28):
before the bloodline is muddled by history. But that doesn't
mean that the journey stops. Writers like Butler call out
to us from the woodworks, pulling back the veil so
we can dive deeper. Discovering not only who we are,
but the greater history surrounding us and the future we
(22:49):
have a hand in shaping. Through her words, we are
able to step outside of time into the magic of
what it means to wield our imagination. Writing wasn't just
a storytelling for Butler. It was about the power to create.
She designed worlds, and within those worlds she wrote herself
(23:11):
in creating spaces where she and others like her, those
who might be overlooked by the greater society, could exist
with all the richness and depth of any hero. Writing
was her way of saying, I am here and I matter.
My doorway into her world was with Kindred. Now this
(23:34):
wasn't her first book, but it was my first of hers,
and whenever someone asked me where to start with Butler,
that's where I recommend. Kindred is one of her more
subtle science fiction concepts. Even though it incorporates time travel,
the plot is embedded in a truth that resonates with
the history of this country. That is the beauty of
(23:56):
sci fi. No matter how fantastical the world of a
science fiction may seem. At its core, the story addresses
issues were grappling with in the present day now. As
Kindred her best work, I can't say for sure. She
would tell you that it was good, and she would
also tell you that she hated Survivor. Perhaps a lot
(24:18):
of people would agree that Kindred is one of her
best works, definitely one of the most popular. But if
I'm being honest, Kindred isn't my favorite of her books.
But nevertheless, it took me somewhere I hadn't been before.
It brought me into a story that was both familiar
(24:42):
and strange, a journey through time and identity that made
me stop in my tracks.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
And just feel.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Time bends under Butler's pen, and in doing so, she
invites us to step into her worlds, not to escape,
but to confront the realities of the past, question the
choices of the present, and get active towards creating an
alternative future one we can only hope is less bleak
(25:17):
than those depicted in her writings. Octavia Butler is the
author of thirteen critically acclaimed an award winning books. As
the first science fiction author to receive the prestigious Macauthur
Foundation Grant, also known as the Genius Grant, Butler is
a true pioneer within her field, She once said that
(25:40):
writers use absolutely everything that happens to them in their work.
As we express an undying gratitude for missus Butler and
for the writer she became, let's also explore just what
molded said creativity. Who is Octavia? What made her so
(26:02):
disgruntle with the way things were that she picked up
her pen and used stories to insist there has to
be more out of life and definitely more for our future.
Over the next few weeks, we intend to bring you
behind the curtain to understand Octavia Butler beyond her resume.
(26:27):
Who is Octavia the woman some would say a prophet?
What is it about her work that transcends the written word,
turning her stories into movements, philosophies, and even religions. What
makes her writing stand apart from the others, What gave
(26:49):
it life beyond the page? And in some cases, what
made her imagination dangerous? Black List is a Black Effect
original series in partnership with iHeart Media. I Jackie's Thomas
(27:12):
and the creator and executive producer, alongside Dolly s Bishop.
Chanelle Collins is the director of production. It is written
by myself and Bria Baker, our researcher and producer is
Jabari Davis, and the mix and sound design is by the.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Humble Duane Crawford.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Special thanks to Julius Steukes, Christians Wicker, Dimitrius Sadler, Chinwa Green,
and Bob Cohen. Join me next week as we continue
the conversation on Octavia Butler's life and work. Also, if
you're looking to become a writer or in search of
(27:53):
a supportive writing community, join me for a free creative
writing session on my website writers room dot com, b
LK writers room dot com, or hit me up directly
for more details at underscore t h A T s
P E A c E.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
That's pece P
Speaker 1 (28:15):
S P, s P s P s P s
You are now listening to Black Lit. Tell stories filled
(00:22):
with facts, make people touch, taste and know, make people feel, feel, feel.
These are words of affirmation from Octavia E. Butler's journal.
(00:44):
These quiet commands that she wrote over the years echoed
across time, pulling us into the world of her making
and her manifestations. My name is Jacquees' Thomas, and you're
listening to Black Live, a podcast about black literature and
(01:06):
the stories behind the storytellers. The truth is not everyone
found the imagination of black writers to be inspiring. For some,
it wasn't a source of admiration, but a perceived threat.
(01:29):
The reality woven through their stories, Our stories, through poetry, prose,
and the heartbeat of every word, challenged the world as
it was known, and that challenge, to those clutching onto
power was dangerous. What others saw as creativity they feared
as rebellion. It wasn't what just black writers dreamed that
(01:53):
unsettled them, but it was the truth that they dared
to tell in a world help bent on silence them.
In a quiet Alabama town in nineteen forty nine, tension
hung in the air like smoke. It was the night
after Invisible Man, a powerful novel by Ralph Ellison was
(02:14):
yanked from the shelves of a local high school. Some
parents had found the book unfit for young minds, claiming
it painted to raw a picture of black life and America.
Soon words spread, and under the cover of darkness, a
group gathered outside of the school. The flames grew hungry
(02:35):
and defiant.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Book book thrown.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Into the fire, their pages curling and blackening, reducing to nothing.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
But this wasn't just an act of censorship.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It was an attempt to erase black voices, to silence
stories that spoke too boldly about oppression, resilience, and the
truth that America wasn't ready to face.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
For those who stood by and watched, it wasn't just
pages burning.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It was history, identity, and another lost chapter disappearing in
the midst of smoke. Across the ocean to the hearts
of West Africa and the small villages under the great
Baobab trees, grios, storytellers and oral historians held the power
(03:26):
to preserve history, culture, and knowledge. These greels were living libraries,
carrying the tales of kings, the wisdom of the elders,
and the remedies of healers in their minds. Every story,
every song, every piece of wisdom was passed down through generations,
(03:48):
safeguarding the legacy of the people. The grio's role was sacred,
for they knew that stories were more than just entertainment.
They were lifelines, actions to ancestors, and protectors of culture.
They understood what so many who burned those books in
(04:08):
Alabama did not, that stories hold power, power to educate,
to heal, to inspire rebellion, and to shape the future.
Across continents, waterways, and in the face of unspeakable violence,
the Greels recorded history and conjured new possibilities. Political prisoners
(04:32):
of the Deep South were reading and writing while black
were acts of treason before and after emancipation. Under candlelight
and through fear of persecution, they diagnosed society's obsession with
hierarchy and use their words to prescribe something better for everyone.
(04:54):
Fast forward to today, we find ourselves in a different America,
but the fire is still burning across the country. We
see an alarming rise of the banning of black literature.
Books by black authors that challenge the status quo, that
confront racism, that tell uncomfortable truths are once again being targeted.
(05:19):
I learned recently The Bluest Eye, one of my sister's
favorite books, is banned in my home state of New Jersey.
Works by Tony Morrison, James Baldwin, Maya Angelo, and Octavia Butler,
among many other voices that have shaped and reshaped the
(05:41):
American narrative, are being pulled from school libraries and curriculums.
They say it is to protect students, but we know better.
It's an attempt to stuff out voices, to erase histories,
and to bury the stories that demand to be heard.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
There is a battle brewing in the United States, a
battle over education. From the American Library Association shows that
last year, between January first and the end of August,
air work six hundred and ninety five attempts to ban
or restrict library materials across the country.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
More than twenty five hundred books were banned in US schools.
If one author, I felt, one artist is silenced, we're
all in danger of the same.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
We found that authors of color, and especially women of color,
were much more likely to be banned.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Black literature continues to thrive New Creo's author's poets. Activists
are putting pen to paper every day to ensure that
these stories are passed on no matter how many bookshelves
are emptied. It's a new chapter and a very old
and redundant fight, but one that remains just as vital
(06:57):
today as it did when that first book was thrown
into the fires in Alabama. Black books and writers are
pathways to unlearning, understanding, and rethinking everything around us. Black
authors bring important perspectives to the center stage across genres,
but right now readers are being blocked from the opportunity
(07:21):
to learn from them. That's where we come in to
remind you that black literature is the past, present, and future.
Octavia Estelle Butler has appeared on dozens of book ban lists,
and she represents everything we're trying to preserve and amplify
(07:42):
here on Black lit. Her assertion that literacy was probably
a lot more popular when it was the forbidden fruit
brings true in so many unfortunate ways today. Butler's kindred
as well as powerable of the Sower, which is a
test to the power of fiction to threaten systems of
(08:03):
oppression with her imagination. When Tony Morrison first discovered that
her own novel was being banned from prisons for their
potential to incite riots.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
She took it as an affirmation.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
She thought to herself, how powerful is that I could
tear up the whole place.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
My parents have write their own children what to read.
They don't have the right to tell mine.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
For many, a book is a sanctuary, an escape patch,
a way to travel through time. When I was growing up,
that's what books were for me, a portal to somewhere
far beyond the limits of my reality. I wanted to
feel something outside of my own world, and as time passed,
(08:52):
I yearned not to just escape, but to be present
and to truly play a role in creating my reality.
Books began to take on new dimensions. Their meanings began
to evolve at different stages of my life, each story
finding me at the precise moment it was meant to.
(09:14):
This is the magic of a great book. It has
the power to change the very rhythm of your life.
It can lift you from the ordinary, open your perspective,
and expand the borders of your imagination. A great book
(09:36):
can stop time all together. Octavia Butler was one of
the first writers to truly stop time from me. The
first book of hers that landed in my hands wasn't
her debut nor her second, but one that arrived exactly
(10:00):
when I was ready for it. In the early nineteen nineties,
Octavia Butler sat down to write a story set in
the future, a future she envisioned as the year twenty
twenty four. With airy precision, Butler predicted a world very
(10:22):
much like the world we live in today, and her
predictions are rather her warnings of economic inequality, social collapse,
and the struggle for community resilience. She wrote these possibilities
and the powerable of the sewer. Her vision remains as
(10:45):
relevant and as haunting as ever, making it only fitting
that we begin this series with the mother of black
sci fi. You've got to make your own world, whether
you were a part of the greater society or not.
(11:06):
You Octavia Butler is often referred to as a black
sci fi writer, though she didn't like being pigeonholed into
any one genre. A good story is a good story,
she once said. If what I am writing reaches you,
then it reaches you, no matter what title is stuck wanted.
(11:32):
Far too often, Butler found that readers wouldn't let themselves
lean into a story based on how a book was categorized.
She often felt and expressed that science fiction and black
people are judged by their worst elements. MSS Butler preferred
the blanket term writer so she could remove limitations and
(11:56):
meet new readers on the page. But the facts remain
that Butler was one of the few black women writing
science fiction in the nineteen seventies and eighties, so one
would wonder why this genre? Why science fiction?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
There are no closed doors?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Gave me the chance to comment on every aspect of humanity.
Her novels and short stories explored themes of race, gender, power,
and identity. In my favorite part, most of them usually
featured strong black female protagonists. There isn't a subject you
(12:36):
cannot tackle by way of science fiction, she said this,
and I couldn't agree more. But for much of its history,
science fiction was dominated by white men. If we consider
writers to be a part of an ecosystem, a constellation,
if you will, then the sky was peppered with bright
(13:00):
white stars only, no planets or moons to bring other
colors and textures to the forefront, No new galaxies, no
new worlds to imagine or will into existence, Only bright
white stars. Someone long before Octavia used sci fi as
(13:34):
a euphemism as a way to express the harsh realities
of being black in America, confronting the divisiveness between the
colors of white versus black, using fantasy to explore perspectives
that otherwise did not exist. One of the very first
narratives that we can reference in the history of science
(13:57):
fiction through the lens of a black rold, writer W. E. B.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Du Boys envisioned a world that was catastrophic.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
After a comet wipes out nearly the entire population, reducing
the bustling streets to silence and the underbelly of a bank,
A black man toils away, regulated to the dirty vaults,
(14:34):
where he is often sent to do the least desirable work.
But today, however, those vaults saved him, and he is
one of the only two survivors. Jim is a black man,
and the other survivor, Julia, a white woman. Together, Jim
(15:00):
and Julia roamed the empty city side by side, navigating
the ruins of a once vibrant metropolis, mourning those they've lost,
yet grateful for the breath still in their lungs. They
cling to one another, an unlikely pair brought together by survival,
(15:23):
forced into a fragile inter dependence. I was not even yesterday.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Jim says, his voice heavy with reflection.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Julia looks at him, her eyes narrowing as she weighs
his words.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
And your people were not my people, she replies softly.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
But today he hesitates, glances at him. Jim is not
just a black man in this moment, He is a man.
Death and its cruel simplicity is both the leveler and
(16:21):
the revealer. For a time, the catastrophe strips away the
societal barriers between them and the face of such unimaginable loss.
They are simply two human beings, bound by survival and
the hope for a new beginning. But their epiphany is
(16:49):
short lived. As they discover survivors beyond New York, the
weight of old systems begins to settle back into place.
The vel is lowered in Julia, in particular, starts to
retreat into the familiar frameworks of race and class that
(17:10):
had shaped her life before the comet. The world's calamity
may have momentarily united them, but society's deep divisions are
not so easily erased. This haunting tale of race, identity,
and social class is a part of a short story
(17:33):
called the Comic, written in nineteen twenty by W. E. B.
Du Bois, known for his towering contributions to civil rights,
you might be surprised to learn that du Bois was
also one of the earliest black science fiction writers. He
(17:54):
used the genre as a medium for advocacy and reinvention,
pushing readers to reconsider their place in society. The Comet
is often cited as one of the earliest examples of
how science fiction can open up new ways of seeing
(18:15):
the world, an expansive genre that allows us to imagine, critique,
and transform the societies we live in. To Boys reveals
the possibilities of a world where race and class distinctions dissolve,
(18:35):
but he also shows us how fragile those possibilities can be.
The real challenge, he suggests, is not surviving catastrophe, but
dismantling the systems that divide us. Even when the world
as we know it is turned to ash, even when
(18:57):
the sky as far as the eyes can see are
covered with white, bright stars, only.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Du Boys and.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Black writers of his time proved you could be a
serious writer, not only by documenting the past, but also
in working with the unknown future. They were innovative, yet
remained siloed. The first efforts to truly diversify the genre
(19:30):
led to the Golden Age of science fiction. In the
nineteen thirties and forties. Writers like George Schuler and Samuel
Delaney all published works that explored intercalactic and metaphysical themes
alongside critiques of race, technology, and politics. These writers understood
(19:54):
that a country unwilling to face itself could be motivated
through innovative and sol versive plots. But it wasn't until
the nineteen sixties and seventies, with the rise of the
feminist and afrofuturist movements, that we began to truly see
a reimagining of who can take up space in the future.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
When I was twelve, I discovered science fiction, liked it,
and I was often collecting rejection slips.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Sci Fi is more than aliens and space exploration.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Sci Fi is.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Our imagination, our ideas before they become a reality. It
is a limitless radical thought. It's our dreams or simply
an ideal lover. Sci fi is yesterday, tomorrow, and today.
Butler found, however, that most readers have an ideada in
(21:00):
their head of what science fiction is based on the
more popular and white projects like Star Wars. Octavia Butler's
writings landed and she was a shooting star that transformed
everything and everyone around her. Her novels were groundbreaking, and
(21:22):
her portrayal of black characters and speculative fiction that could
be both fantastical and real. Elements like space and time
travel are juxtaposed by climate change, white supremacy, and other
isms facing humans on Earth. It is Butler's gift for
(21:42):
blurring these lines that inspired other writers to run towards
science fiction and the future rather than away from it.
Butler's gift was not limited to making predictions or harsh
warnings for the future. She also used time travel as
(22:05):
a way to review the dark corners of history. As
a black woman myself, my life has been a journey
of exploration of self, of truth, of identity. Much like
many African Americans. The quest for our roots can only
stretch so far into the paths before the records grow dark,
(22:28):
before the bloodline is muddled by history. But that doesn't
mean that the journey stops. Writers like Butler call out
to us from the woodworks, pulling back the veil so
we can dive deeper. Discovering not only who we are,
but the greater history surrounding us and the future we
(22:49):
have a hand in shaping. Through her words, we are
able to step outside of time into the magic of
what it means to wield our imagination. Writing wasn't just
a storytelling for Butler. It was about the power to create.
She designed worlds, and within those worlds she wrote herself
(23:11):
in creating spaces where she and others like her, those
who might be overlooked by the greater society, could exist
with all the richness and depth of any hero. Writing
was her way of saying, I am here and I matter.
My doorway into her world was with Kindred. Now this
(23:34):
wasn't her first book, but it was my first of hers,
and whenever someone asked me where to start with Butler,
that's where I recommend. Kindred is one of her more
subtle science fiction concepts. Even though it incorporates time travel,
the plot is embedded in a truth that resonates with
the history of this country. That is the beauty of
(23:56):
sci fi. No matter how fantastical the world of a
science fiction may seem. At its core, the story addresses
issues were grappling with in the present day now. As
Kindred her best work, I can't say for sure. She
would tell you that it was good, and she would
also tell you that she hated Survivor. Perhaps a lot
(24:18):
of people would agree that Kindred is one of her
best works, definitely one of the most popular. But if
I'm being honest, Kindred isn't my favorite of her books.
But nevertheless, it took me somewhere I hadn't been before.
It brought me into a story that was both familiar
(24:42):
and strange, a journey through time and identity that made
me stop in my tracks.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
And just feel.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Time bends under Butler's pen, and in doing so, she
invites us to step into her worlds, not to escape,
but to confront the realities of the past, question the
choices of the present, and get active towards creating an
alternative future one we can only hope is less bleak
(25:17):
than those depicted in her writings. Octavia Butler is the
author of thirteen critically acclaimed an award winning books. As
the first science fiction author to receive the prestigious Macauthur
Foundation Grant, also known as the Genius Grant, Butler is
a true pioneer within her field, She once said that
(25:40):
writers use absolutely everything that happens to them in their work.
As we express an undying gratitude for missus Butler and
for the writer she became, let's also explore just what
molded said creativity. Who is Octavia? What made her so
(26:02):
disgruntle with the way things were that she picked up
her pen and used stories to insist there has to
be more out of life and definitely more for our future.
Over the next few weeks, we intend to bring you
behind the curtain to understand Octavia Butler beyond her resume.
(26:27):
Who is Octavia the woman some would say a prophet?
What is it about her work that transcends the written word,
turning her stories into movements, philosophies, and even religions. What
makes her writing stand apart from the others, What gave
(26:49):
it life beyond the page? And in some cases, what
made her imagination dangerous? Black List is a Black Effect
original series in partnership with iHeart Media. I Jackie's Thomas
(27:12):
and the creator and executive producer, alongside Dolly s Bishop.
Chanelle Collins is the director of production. It is written
by myself and Bria Baker, our researcher and producer is
Jabari Davis, and the mix and sound design is by the.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Humble Duane Crawford.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Special thanks to Julius Steukes, Christians Wicker, Dimitrius Sadler, Chinwa Green,
and Bob Cohen. Join me next week as we continue
the conversation on Octavia Butler's life and work. Also, if
you're looking to become a writer or in search of
(27:53):
a supportive writing community, join me for a free creative
writing session on my website writers room dot com, b
LK writers room dot com, or hit me up directly
for more details at underscore t h A T s
P E A c E.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
That's pece P
Speaker 1 (28:15):
S P, s P s P s P s
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