Aaron Robertson

'Impressive ... a meaningful contribution to the wider literature on American utopianism'

'An extraordinary work of history and memoir... mines the tension between “running from hell” and “racing toward paradise,” and finds beauty in seemingly impossible dreams.'

'An entrancingly rich odyssey of observation and storytelling, The Black Utopians returns us to forgotten and unknown histories of the ongoing search for a fairer, more equitable America ... reminds us that integral to Black struggle has been an unbreakable sense of hope, resistance, and joy.'

John Keene, author of Punks: New & Selected Poems and Counternarratives

'An indispensable resource for all those who dream of horizons, and who imagine unimaginable worlds.'

Alex Zamalin, author of Black Utopia: The History of an Idea from Black Nationalism to Afrofuturism

'At a time when signs of dystopia and despair abound, The Black Utopians takes us on a journey to a place—as much inside as around us—where stubborn hopefulness pushes back against the sirens of impossibility.'

Ruha Benjamin author of Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want and Imagination: A Manifesto

'A richly braided and beautifully written account that combines history, personal memoir, and journalism ... A deeply original and major contribution to the literature of utopia.'

Akash Kapur, author of Better to Have Gone: Love, Death and the Quest for Utopia

'Robertson's voice is exquisitely clear-eyed, searching, and expansive, offering a perspective as wise as it is intimate. From the postbellum settlement of Promise Land, Tennessee, to the radical social movements of Detroit, The Black Utopians unearths again and again crucial legacies of Black resistance.'

Adrian Shirk, author of Heaven is a Place on Earth: Searching for an American Utopia

'At a time when signs of dystopia and despair abound, The Black Utopians takes us on a journey to a place—as much inside as around us—where stubborn hopefulness pushes back against the sirens of impossibility. In these pages, utopia is not fanciful and fleeting escapism, but the sweat-soaked soil of freedom dreams and fugitive imagination—nowhere and everywhere at once.'

How do the disillusioned, the forgotten, and the persecuted not merely hold on to life but expand its possibilities and preserve its beauty? What, in other words, does utopia look like in black? 
 
These questions animate Aaron Robertson’s exploration of Black Americans’ efforts to remake the conditions of their lives. Writing in the tradition of Saidiya Hartman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robertson makes his way from his ancestral hometown of Promise Land, Tennessee, to Detroit – the city where he was born, and where one of the country’s most remarkable Black utopian experiments got its start. Founded by the brilliant preacher Albert Cleage Jr., the Shrine of the Black Madonna combined Afrocentric Christian practice with radical social projects. Central to this endeavour was the Shrine’s chancel mural of a Black Virgin and child, the icon of a nationwide liberation movement that would come to be known as Black Christian Nationalism. 
 
Alongside the Shrine’s story, Robertson reflects on a diverse array of Black utopian visions, from the Reconstruction era through the countercultural fervour of the 1960s and 1970s and into the present day. By doing so, Robertson showcases the enduring quest of collectives and individuals for a world beyond the constraints of systemic racism. 
 
The Black Utopians offers a nuanced portrait of the struggle for spaces – both ideological and physical – where Black dignity, protection, and nourishment are paramount. This book is the story of a movement and of a world still in the making – one that points the way toward radical alternatives for the future. 
 
A TIME Book of the Year 
A New York Times Book of the Year

Aaron Robertson

Praise for The Black Utopians

'Impressive ... a meaningful contribution to the wider literature on American utopianism'

'An extraordinary work of history and memoir... mines the tension between “running from hell” and “racing toward paradise,” and finds beauty in seemingly impossible dreams.'

'An entrancingly rich odyssey of observation and storytelling, The Black Utopians returns us to forgotten and unknown histories of the ongoing search for a fairer, more equitable America ... reminds us that < ...

'Impressive ... a meaningful contribution to the wider literature on American utopianism'

'An extraordinary work of history and memoir... mines the tension between “running from hell” and “racing toward paradise,” and finds beauty in seemingly impossible dreams.'

'An entrancingly rich odyssey of observation and storytelling, The Black Utopians returns us to forgotten and unknown histories of the ongoing search for a fairer, more equitable America ... reminds us that < ...

'Impressive ... a meaningful contribution to the wider literature on American utopianism'

'An extraordinary work of history and memoir... mines the tension between “running from hell” and “racing toward paradise,” and finds beauty in seemingly impossible dreams.'

'An entrancingly rich odyssey of observation and storytelling, The Black Utopians returns us to forgotten and unknown histories of the ongoing search for a fairer, more equitable America ... reminds us that < ...

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