The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture recently announced the date of their new exhibit celebrating Afrofuturism.
Scheduled for opening on March 24, the exhibit, titled “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures,” focuses on the influence of the genre on popular culture. The history of the genre is also celebrated as it connects its impact on the history of the country in general.
The exhibit as a whole will be divided into sections. Titled “The History of Black Futures,” the first section discusses the roots of the genre. The second section, “New Black Futures’ ‘ explores how Afrofuturism influenced modern-day culture through their ideas and criticism. The third and final section, “Infinite Possibilities,” celebrates Afrofuturism’s impact on ideas of tech, freedom, the outer world, and the media; it highlights music, movies, comic books, animation and technology that transcends this world into the next.
Amongst the objects included in the exhibit are Vernon Reid’s guitar, the typewriter of Octavia Butler and Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther costume. George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic wig and the “The Wiz” costume of André De Shields are also included.
“To think on Afrofuturism is to consider what the National Museum of African American History and Culture has long been dedicated to—that is, the bright future that Black people imagined and brought into being while confronting a perilous present,” said the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the museum, Kevin Young, per the press release announcing the exhibit. “Afrofuturism has also long been a mix of celebration and resistance, musicality and theatricality, achievement and survival.”
Coming into fruition in the 20th century, Afrofuturism is a culture that reimagines Black history and the African diaspora into other worlds. Rooted in science fiction, Afrofuturism extends to social, political, musical, film and comic book realms, amongst others. Although the genre originated during the mid-1900s, the term “Afrofuturism” was coined in 1993 by writer Mark Dery. In his essay, “Black to the Future,” Dery discussed the similarities in African-American science fiction, finding the similarities and defining them as a form of “afrofuturism.”
Many figures have been associated with pioneering this genre. Now known as masters of the craft, writers such as Octavia Butler and Samuel R. Delany have shaped Afrofuturist literature with their novels. As for music, among the many artists who created the Afrofuturist sound are Sun Ra, George Clinton, Afrika Bambaataa, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Jimi Hendrix.
