Tuesday, April 7, 2026 @ 7 PM via Zoom
Registration Required: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/NputVxglQViF_dZN1Cn2yA
Freedom fighter. Activist. Singer. Builder. Time traveler. Disruptor. Iconic. Designer. Afrofuturism encompasses all of these descriptors that contribute to it being a multi-faceted identity.
This presentation takes listeners on a journey that shares varying ways to engage with how Afrofuturism continues to embody the above descriptors, center Black stories, while also culturally evolving within the pop culture landscape. In this talk, Dr. Gipson explores the blossoming relationship between Afrofuturism and pop culture as seen through literature, fashion, architecture, comics, film & television, and music.
This event is co-sponsored by the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum and the Pennington Public Library as part of the “Beyond the Page” community reading initiative.
About the Presenter: Grace D. Gipson, PhD, is an assistant professor of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she teaches courses on theories and foundations in Africana Studies, Blackness in pop culture, and Black media narratives. Her current project, Reclaiming Her Time: Exploring Black Futures in the Black Female Superhero (University Press of Mississippi), seeks to examine and chronicle the layered experiences of Black superheroine characters and Black creatives’ narratives and how their identities transcend from comic book fiction to reality. Dr. Gipson’s research can also be found in the Audible lecture series “From the Wiz to Wakanda: Afrofuturism in Pop Culture.” Outside the classroom, you can find Dr. Gipson co-hosting the video podcast Conversations with Beloved and Kindred, and contributing her personal and professional thoughts on pop culture via blackfuturefeminist.com.
This event is part of our 2026 Beyond the Page – an initiative designed to broaden our imaginations and understanding of our world, our neighbors, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. The featured book Exhalation contains nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories, where author Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest question s, along with new quandaries only he could imagine. Please visit PenningtonLibrary.org/2026BeyondThePage for a full calendar of events and more information.