The Black Utopians

The Black Utopians (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) is Robertson’s exploration of the efforts of Black Americans to reshape their lives. Drawing from the work of Saidiya Hartman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, he traces his journey from Promise Land, Tennessee, to Detroit, both his own birthplace and the place where one of the country’s foremost and most remarkable Black utopian experiments was created. The Shrine of the Black Madonna pioneered Black Christian Nationalism, centering on a mural of a Black Virgin and child and combined Afrocentric faith with social activism. Members of the Shrine raised families communally and established the country’s largest Black-owned farm, in an attempt to create a paradise for Black people that persists today. Robertson examines other Black utopian visions, stretching from the Reconstruction era to modern times, highlighting the ongoing fight for spaces where Black dignity and liberation are central. Robertson offers hope for a radical future beyond the poison of systemic racism.