Death’s Futurity Death’s Futurity The Visual arTs of africa and iTs diasporas A Series Edited by Kellie Jones and Steven Nelson The Visual Life of Black Power Death’s Futurity Sampada Aranke Duke University Press Durham and London 2023 © 2023 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer ic a on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by Dan Ruccia Project Editor: Ihsan Taylor Typeset in Futura and Portrait by Westchester Publishing Services, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Aranke, Sampada, author. Title: Death’s futurity : the visual life of black power / Sampada Aranke. Other titles: Visual arts of Africa and its diasporas. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2023. | Series: The visual arts of Africa and its diasporas | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2022028095 (print) lccn 2022028096 (ebook) isBn 9781478019305 (paperback) isBn 9781478016663 (hardcover) isBn 9781478023937 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Black Panther Party. | Black power—United States— History—20th century. | Black Arts movement—United States—History— 20th century. | Political art—United States—History—20th century. | African Americans in art. | African American art—History—20th century. | Politics in art. | Social problems in art. | Bisac: social science / Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies | arT / History / Contemporary (1945–) Classification: lcc e185.615 .a736 2023 (print) | lcc e185.615 (ebook) | ddc 322.4/20973—dc23/eng/20220815 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028095 lc ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028096 Cover art: Detail of Attica Book, edited by Benny Andrews and Rudolf Baranik. Illustrations; 11 in. × 14 3/16 in., 1972. Courtesy of Thom Pegg, Black Art Auction. Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges the Dean of Faculty and the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which provided funds toward the publication of this book. Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Millard Meiss Publication Fund of caa. Contents Acknowl edgments vii Introduction The Visual Life of Black Power 1 1 “1,000 Bobby Huttons” 21 2 Fred Hampton and 53 the Po litic al Life of Objects 3 George Jackson’s Murder and 90 Fugitive Imaginaries Epilogue The United States of Attica 135 Notes 147 Bibliography 171 Index 181 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments That books often open with thanks has always felt right. These intellec- tual endeavors are never really singular and as such are collective forms of study, dissonance, thoughtfulness, and care. In that spirit, I start this one with endless gratitude for all t hose who fought and continue to fight for Black liberation, and especially to Bobby Hutton, Fred Hampton, and George Jackson. I hope this book embodies some of the energy you gave as a testament to how your murders have never left us and remain within the revolutionary aims of t oday. Thank you to the artists and visionaries whose works grace these pages, who remind us that politics means little without art, and crucial to any idea of revolution is an idea of seeing and living anew. The enormity of this undertaking would have been impossible with- out the endless support of my intellectual and personal community. First thanks goes to Benjamin Jones, my thought partner and lifelong collabora- tor. Thank you for always lending mind, eyes, heart. This proj ect lives today because of the endless support of Kemi Adeyemi, Nicole Archer, Megan Bayles, Delinda Collier, Huey Copeland, Nijah Cunningham, Andrea Dooley, duskin drum, Armin Fardis, Hannah Feldman, Jeremy M. Glick, Keith Hennessy, Benjamin Jones, Nick Mitchell, Amy Mooney, Jed Murr, Magalí Rabasa, Leigh Raiford, Nikolas Oscar Sparks, Omar Ricks, Blake Stimson, Krista Thompson, Julia Bryan- Wilson, and Frank B. Wilderson III, who engaged so many early conversations and iterations of this proje ct and who always came back with rigor, enthusiasm, and some of the most in- sightful engagements with this proje ct. Thank you. Death’s Futurity would not have made it without the ongoing, refined, and incredibly careful attention of Huey Copeland, Hannah Feldman, Amy Mooney, and Krista Thompson—a writing group of my a ctual dreams. I’m so humbled to be in a thought- experiment with you four. I am indebted to Penelope Deutscher’s generous support of this book through multiple invitations. I especially want to highlight the workshop “Decolonizing Critical Theory: Decolonial Aesthetics and Epistemic Viol ence” and thank Mlondi Zondi and Le’ah Kaplan for their fine- tuned engagement and the book workshop “Appropriation and Its Discontents” Penny cohosted with Huey Copeland, and am so incredibly grateful to æryka hollis o ’neil, Jordan Mulkey, Harrison Graves, and Alex Weheliye for their incredibly thought- ful responses to the book. I am especially grateful to the dean’s office at the School of the Art Institute for providing generous support for this proje ct. There are so many colleagues that have invited me to share versions of this research along the way. Thank you to Andrew Aisenberg, Kirk Ambrose, Katie Anania, Janet Dees, Joan Giroux, Mark Godfrey, Carlos Jackson, Tirza Latimer, Richard Martin, Deborah Obalil, Rachel Schreiber, Krista Thompson, and Zoé Whitley for the invitations. Teaching at the San Francisco Art Institute was undoubtedly trans- formational, as my students and colleagues taught me about how artistic practices are crucial to any and all conceptions of research. My colleagues at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago make teaching, publishing, and partying look easy. Your ongoing support, incredible dedication to the lives of art and artists, and your ability to make the university fun is seri- ously unparalleled. I am so grateful to every one who has made and sup- ported me along this journey. Thank you to Ken Wissoker who guided this proje ct into publication and has believed in it since day one. Thank you to Ryan Kendall for so kindly shepherding me through the proj ect. My parents, Aai and Baba, who have encouraged me to take on my pas- sions, regardless of how idealist or unknown they seem, and my brother viii Acknowl edgments Sarang, who taught me how to study and party, are woven into this book. This book is dedicated to my f amily, Benjamin, Nina, and Lorenzo, who make home a place and a feeling. Fi nally, thank you for reading this book. I hope that what comes next generates the radical spirit, dedication, and energy that comes with radical critique, unwavering movement building, and revolutionary art. Acknowl edgments ix