The Legacy of Black Sci-Fi and the Futures We're Daring to Build

For Black creators imagining the future is survival work and a radical act of asking "What if?" in a world that spent centuries insisting we had no tomorrow worth discussing.

This legacy runs deep. From Martin Delany's 1859 revolutionary novel Blake to Octavia Butler's unflinching visions of climate collapse and corporate greed, Black writers have used speculative fiction to tear down boundaries and reimagine power itself. Samuel R. Delany brought intellectual rigor that changed the genre's vocabulary. Mike Pondsmith created the entire cyberpunk aesthetic. N.K. Jemisin became the only author to win three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel.

Today's renaissance includes Nnedi Okorafor's Africanfuturism, Sheree Renée Thomas's groundbreaking Dark Matter anthologies, and countless voices proving that the people who imagine the future deserve to live in it.Learn about the legacy and history of of Black Sci-Fi, important figures in Black Sci-Fi and the growth of the genre.