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An Afro-Indigenous Futurism Perspective
Afro-Indigenous Futurism
IN DEPTH
Who were they HISTORICALLY?
'Kitihawa Dreaming,' by Monica Rickert-Bolter
'Explorer,' by Erik Blome
Jean Baptiste Point DuSable may have been born on the island of Haiti around 1745 to a French mariner and a mother who was a slave of African descent. DuSable was educated in France and then, in the early 1770s, sailed to New Orleans. From there, he made his way up the Mississippi River to Peoria, IL, where he married a Potawatomi
woman named Kitihawa (aka Catherine) in a tribal ceremony.
THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
DuSable was the first permanent non-Indigenous settler in Zhegagoynak (Chicago). Kitihawa and Jean-Baptise DuSable founding Zhegogynak is a quintessentially American tale.
Chicago remains their living legacy, even as their story has, until recently, gone untold and lost to time. In efforts to combat erasure, sexism, and the lack of documentation, writers and artists are building resources and raising awareness.
Afro-Indigenous FUTURISM
In the Americas, the connective tissue binding the narratives of the decimated Indigenous and enslaved Africans is colonization and erasure. Original sins are cast in flesh and dyed in blood.
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While true, this is hardly the entirety of either experience. Ultimately, and more importantly, these twin narratives are those of strength, endurance, striving, and redemption— the people and cultures abide.
“You are on Potawatomi Land”
mural by Andrea Carlson
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