Afrofuturism’s Skepticism: George Schuyler and the Limits of Technology as Liberation

Author: Kelsey Cruz

Field of Study: Human Development

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Will Glovinsky

Easel: 35

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: In 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois predicted that “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.” Soon after, Black writers began to use science fiction to speculate about possible futures and challenge systemic oppression. These works have since been claimed as prototypes of Afrofuturism, an artistic movement that blends science fiction, technology, and African mythology. Yet while science fiction by white authors such as H. G. Wells and T. Shirby Hodge presented technology as a solution to the “problem of the color-line,” early Afrofuturistic fiction questioned whether technology would be truly liberating for black Americans. This study examines how works by Du Bois and George Schuyler’s Black No More (1931) critiqued the popular conception of technology as a solution to racism and social exclusion.