Black Future Fest is a multi-site, month-long celebration focusing on Afrofuturistic art, fashion and community imagination in Iowa City. Host Charity Nebbe speaks with Black Future Fest organizer Latasha DeLoach. The festival features a city-wide reading of Octavia Butler's classic novels, Parable of the Sower and Kindred. They discuss Butler’s work with author and professor Venise Berry.
Then — in 1910, a boy named Lee Swearengin was committed to the Glenwood institution for people with severe disabilities. The 11-year-old Swearengin was not disabled, but he spent the next 47 years of his life in the institution. Against all odds, he also contributed a great deal to archeology and our understanding of Iowa’s early history. Bill Whittaker, the associate director of the Office of the State Archaeologist, shares Swearingin’s remarkable story.
Guests:
- LaTasha DeLoach, festival organizer, Iowa City Senior Center coordinator
- Venise Berry, professor of journalism and African American Studies, University of Iowa
- Bill Whittaker, associate director, Office of the State Archaeologist
