Today’s episode is with award-winning writer, scholar and activist Frank B. Wilderson III. Frank is known as the Godfather of Afropessimism: a critical theory that positions anti-blackness as the antidote for the psychic well-being of society. Did that sound heady? Well, pull out our pen and paper. Frank’s curiosity and fearlessness in revealing hard truths, takes us on a scholarly journey that will surely require some unpacking.
In part two of today’s episode, Frank reminds us to be fearless in the pursuit of knowledge, even if that knowledge reveals unhealthy truths.
Strap in, as Frank takes us on a ride exploring the foundational tenets Afropessimism along with his own thoughts about reconciliation, activism, and what it means to be a Black individual living in a state of social consciousness and racial reckoning.
Please share some of your thoughts on today's episode with us over on twitter and instagram at @blackimagination. To watch this episode go, visit, and subscribe to our youtube channel The Institute of Black Imagination. You can find this and more content over on IBI Digital at, blackimagination.com. And without further ado, the profound Frank B. Wilderson III.
People and ideas mentioned
More information on what isAfropessimism
Jared Sexton - Professor, African American Studies
Marxism thought of Karl Marx
Professor David Marriott History of Consciousness
Historical and cultural sociologist Orlando Patterson
What to Read
Afropessimism by Frank B. Wilderson
Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid by Frank B. Wilderson III
The Future Is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity, and Radical Hope in Education by Michael J. Dumas, Carl A. Grant, Ashley N. Woodson
Whither Fanon?: Studies in the Blackness of Being by David Marriott
Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study, with a New Preface by Orlando Patterson
The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero's Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches by Manning Marable, Myrlie Evers-Williams
What to listen to
