K. Tempest Bradford

Between Boundaries

  • About
    • Contact
      • Reprint and Translation Requests
      • Interview and Speaker Requests
      • Contributor Request
    • Appearances
  • My Writing
    • Fiction
    • Non-Fiction
  • Support My Work
  • Appearances
    • Invite Me To Speak
  • Classes
  • Press & Interviews

Powered by Genesis

Tempest Challenge: Black History Month Edition

February 1, 2017 by Tempest

February Tempest Challenge Day 1

Black History Month 2017 has already gotten off to a dubious start, at least in Washington. Not that this is very surprising. Within that rambling mess of a speech you may note that the specific names mentioned are the names we always hear during February’s festivities–King, Parks, Tubman, Douglass–names that reflect the narrowness of most Black History teachings. Most white people (and, sadly, far too many Black people and other POC) will only hear about Slavery and The Civil Rights Struggle as if these are the only two significant periods in Blackness and as if the people associated with those eras are the only people worth remembering. This is bullshit, of course. Let’s change that.

The Tempest Challenge has been on a hiatus, and the vids will continue to be as I work out what I want to do with that project over the long term. For this, though, I don’t need vids, just a blog.

Here’s what I challenge you to do every day during the month of February: Read something by a Black person that isn’t only about pre-Civil War American slavery, the Civil War, or the Civil Rights Era.

Read fiction, non-fiction, articles, letters, whatever, as long as it’s written by a Black person. Don’t limit your definition of Black Person to African-Americans. Black covers the African diaspora and writers currently in Africa and is not limited to people descended from those brought to the Americas as slaves.

Every day this month I or someone who is awesome will offer you a suggestion here for what to read. Feel free to drop your own suggestions in the comments. Use the #TempestChallenge hashtag on Twitter or Instagram to share your favorite reads.

To get us started, my first suggestion is The Space Traders, a short story by Derrick Bell. You can read it online or you can pick up a copy of Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora and read it there.

There are two pieces of fiction that so effected me that they jacked me up for years after reading them. The first was Kindred by Octavia Butler. The other is The Space Traders. Thought they’re very different stories, the reason they jacked me up so hard is the same. They are both so true that it scared me as a Black person. With Kindred, I easily pictured myself as Dana and thought about what would happen to me if I found myself in her position. I didn’t think I would have survived. It scared me to think that. With The Space Traders, I pondered what would happen if the incident that kicks off the story happened in America right then (I first read this in the early 2000s when Bush 2 was in office) and realized that it would play out as written, which was an upsetting thought.

Bell published this story in 1992. One might have been lulled into thinking that it wasn’t prophetic during the eight years Obama was in office. I challenge anyone to read that story today and tell me that it’s not entirely possible.

If you don’t think so, then you don’t know your Black History.


Next in series

Table of contents for Tempest Challenge: Black History Month

  1. Tempest Challenge: Black History Month Edition
  2. Black Women in 19th Century American Life | Tempest Challenge BHM
  3. The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker | Tempest Challenge BHM
  4. Scott Woods: Just Read Everything He Writes | Tempest Challenge BHM
  5. Eartha Kitt’s Biographies | Tempest Challenge BHM
  6. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters | Tempest Challenge BHM
  7. Melissa Harris-Perry at ELLE | Tempest Challenge BHM
  8. Why Black Stories Matter – Adam H.C. Myrie | Tempest Challenge BHM
  9. Sun Ra and Afrofuturism | Tempest Challenge BHM
  10. My Life, My Love, My Legacy by Coretta Scott King | Tempest Challenge BHM
  11. Parable of the Sower / Parable of the Talents by Octavia E Butler | Tempest Challenge BHM
  12. Linda Addison Will Scare You (In A Good Way) | Tempest Challenge BHM
  13. Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris | Tempest Challenge BHM
  14. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi | Tempest Challenge BHM
  15. 1984 & About Writing by Samuel R. Delany | Tempest Challenge BHM
  16. Anthologies & Collections | Tempest Challenge Black History Month
  17. Linkspam | Tempest Challenge Black History Month
  18. August Wilson’s Plays | Tempest Challenge BHM
  19. Support Black Authors, Artists, & Creatives | Tempest Challenge Black History Month

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Google
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Email

Filed Under: Tempest Challenge Tagged With: Black History Month, Tempest Challenge

Comments

divider with ancient egyptian scarab I'm writing an AfroRetroFuturist novel set in a matriarchal ancient Egypt where queer women of color rule the sand and sky. Want to know more? Read about it here. Want to help make it happen? Support my work!

Comments

  1. Sumana Harihareswara says

    February 2, 2017 at 9:55 am

    I thank you for this challenge!

    I comment here to recommend Andrea Lee’s Russian Journal. It’s her memoir of living in the Soviet Union, and I found it vivid and thought-provoking.

  2. Gayathri (@gayathrikamath) says

    February 2, 2017 at 3:52 pm

    omg, wtf bbq. Space Traders is hard to read only because we DO see it unfolding exactly, this way.

    The level of racism, anti-blackness is so prevalent that people will sit around arguing about a nazi’s right to earn money speaking hate, vs entire groups of people’s rights to BE SAFE from Nazis.

    ugh.

Support me on Patreon
I'm writing a historical fantasy set in a matriarchal, Black African Ancient Egypt. Support my work on Patreon and you can help make this book a reality (and read parts of it as I write)!

Recent Posts

  • New Seminar: Should Authors Write Characters Different From Themselves?
  • Originality 20: Creating a Fake World People Can Believe In
  • Class Coming Up This Summer: Novelette & Novella Writing Workshop
  • Scholarships Available for Alethea Kontis’ Teen Writing Workshop
  • Next Writing the Other Class: Dialect and Dialogue Deep Dive

Subscribe to my Monthly Newsletter

Get Social

twitter tumblr google_plus facebook
instagram youtubeemail rss

Originality Podcast
A podcast exploring the roots of creative genius.

The Write Gear Podcast
A podcast exploring the analog and digital tools writers use to write.

Tempest Challenge
I Challenge You to Stop Reading White, Straight, Cis Male Authors for One Year

Latest Fiction-ings

Clockwork Cairo
"The Copper Scarab" in Clockwork Cairo
In the Shadow of the Towers
"Until Forgiveness Comes" in In the Shadow of the Towers
Diverse Energies
"Uncertainty Principle" in Diverse Energies

Witty Conversation

  • Jaymee Goh (@jhameia) on An Open Letter To My Facebook Followers
  • Tempest on A Place For Commentary on Cultural Appropriation
  • Tempest on A Place For Commentary on Cultural Appropriation
  • Tempest on A Place For Commentary on Cultural Appropriation
  • izeitlin54 on A Place For Commentary on Cultural Appropriation

Time Machine

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.