Black Resource Guide

Inspired by BLM Pratt's 2021 Teach In theme, Black Futures & Utopias, Pratt Library created a libguide on Afrofuturism. In this guide, you can find an explanation of Afrofuturism and its origins, book and multimedia recommendations, and links to other reading lists.

First published in 1955, this book, widely considered a classic of photographic visual literature, was reprinted by public demand several times.This renowned, life-affirming collaboration between artist Roy DeCarava and writer Langston Hughes honors in words and pictures what the authors saw, knew, and felt deeply about life in their city.

Freedom, a Fable is an illustrated artist's book with text and pop-up silhouettes. At first glance it appears to be a nineteenth-century children's book, but it is decidedly not. It tells the story of an enslaved woman whose life after emancipation veers far from her dreams of meritocracy, revealing that Freedom, a Fable is not just the title of the work but is also the lesson to be learned.

A photographic exhibit portfolio produced by the New York State Council on the Arts for the New York Museums Collaborative in 1971.

Transforming Hate (2007-present) is a project comprised of folded origami cranes, photographs, installations, artist books, other image-text narratives, and workshops with local community organizations. In this work, historical elements are used as a framing device to construct the evolution of our shared identity.

In this, her first book, artist LaToya Ruby Frazier (born 1982) offers an incisive exploration of the legacy of racism and economic decline in America's small towns, as embodied by Braddock, Pennsylvania, Frazier's hometown. The work also considers the impact of that decline on the community and on her family, creating a statement both personal and truly political.

From artist Carrie Mae Weems: "I am interested in history and memory and stories as told by ordinary everyday people. In this artist's book, historical elements are used as a framing device to construct my own personal narrative within our society's shared history of trauma.

One of the most intriguing photographers of her generation, Deana Lawson's subject is black expressive culture and her canvas is the African Diaspora. 'Deana Lawson: An Aperture Monograph' features forty-five beautifully reproduced photographs and an extensive interview with the filmmaker Arthur Jafa.