Afrofuturism is alluded several times in Tolson’s poem Libretto for the Public of Liberia. Two moments in the text that help you think about what Afrofuturism is or could be are in the line 59 and line 70. In the text Tolson writes “Before Liberia was, Songhai was: before America set the raw foundling on Africa’s Doorstep…” He also writes “Europe bartered Africa crucifixes for red ivory, Gewgaws for black pearls, pierres d’aigris for green gold: Soon the rivers and roads become clog almanacs!” Both of these quotes matter because it is vital to understand how colonization and Europeans affected Africa’s future using exploitation before you can understand Afrofuturism and what it could have been had imperialism not happened. This is important to the course so far because the narrative that Africa is uncivilized and without culture is often pushed by people like Hegel because it is unaligned with standards and cultures of Europeans.
A part of the poem that was difficult for me to understand was the section on The Futureafrique. At first I was extremely confused on what it was but then I began to understand that it was the Author’s way of speaking on a future of Africa with high technological and architectural advancement which reminded me of Black Panther.