WEBVTT 00:00:07.921 --> 00:00:10.361 Following a devastating nuclear war, 00:00:10.361 --> 00:00:14.661 Lilith Iyapo awakens after 250 years of stasis 00:00:14.661 --> 00:00:18.857 to find herself surrounded by a group of aliens called the Oankali. 00:00:18.857 --> 00:00:21.737 These highly evolved beings want to trade DNA 00:00:21.737 --> 00:00:23.157 by breeding with humans 00:00:23.157 --> 00:00:27.517 so that each species’ genes can diversify and fortify the other. 00:00:27.517 --> 00:00:32.257 The only alternative they offer is sterilization of the entire human race. 00:00:32.257 --> 00:00:35.477 Should humanity take the leap into the biological unknown, 00:00:35.477 --> 00:00:38.327 or hold on to its identity and perish? NOTE Paragraph 00:00:38.327 --> 00:00:41.317 Questions like this haunt Octavia Butler’s "Dawn," 00:00:41.317 --> 00:00:44.217 the first in her trilogy "Lilith’s Brood." 00:00:44.217 --> 00:00:47.237 A visionary storyteller who upended science fiction, 00:00:47.237 --> 00:00:50.097 Butler built stunning worlds throughout her work– 00:00:50.097 --> 00:00:53.187 and explored dilemmas that keep us awake at night. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:53.187 --> 00:00:54.996 Born in 1947, 00:00:54.996 --> 00:00:59.046 Butler grew up shy and introverted in Pasadena, California. 00:00:59.046 --> 00:01:01.386 She dreamt up stories from an early age, 00:01:01.386 --> 00:01:04.306 and was soon scribbling these scenarios on paper. 00:01:04.306 --> 00:01:07.236 At twelve, she begged her mother for a typewriter 00:01:07.236 --> 00:01:12.256 after enduring a campy science fiction film called "Devil Girl From Mars." 00:01:12.256 --> 00:01:14.097 Unimpressed with what she saw, 00:01:14.097 --> 00:01:16.707 Butler knew she could tell a better story. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:16.707 --> 00:01:19.437 Much science fiction features white male heroes 00:01:19.437 --> 00:01:22.897 who blast aliens or become saviors of brown people. 00:01:22.897 --> 00:01:26.607 Butler wanted to write diverse characters for diverse audiences. 00:01:26.607 --> 00:01:31.187 She brought nuance and depth to the representation of their experiences. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:31.187 --> 00:01:32.244 For Butler, 00:01:32.244 --> 00:01:35.924 imagination was not only for planting the seeds of science fiction– 00:01:35.924 --> 00:01:40.794 but also a strategy for surviving an unjust world on one’s own terms. 00:01:40.794 --> 00:01:43.372 Her work often takes troubling features of the world 00:01:43.372 --> 00:01:48.182 such as discrimination on the basis of race, gender, class, or ability, 00:01:48.182 --> 00:01:52.125 and invites the reader to contemplate them in new contexts. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:52.125 --> 00:01:53.775 One of her most beloved novels, 00:01:53.775 --> 00:01:55.265 the "Parable of the Sower," 00:01:55.265 --> 00:01:56.805 follows this pattern. 00:01:56.805 --> 00:01:59.565 It tells the story of Lauren Oya Olamina 00:01:59.565 --> 00:02:03.775 as she makes her way through a near-future California, ruined by corporate greed, 00:02:03.775 --> 00:02:06.865 inequality, and environmental destruction. 00:02:06.865 --> 00:02:08.795 As she struggles with hyperempathy, 00:02:08.795 --> 00:02:11.945 or a condition in the novel that causes her to feel others’ pain, 00:02:11.945 --> 00:02:13.855 and less often, their pleasure. 00:02:13.855 --> 00:02:18.325 Lauren embarks on a quest with a group of refugees to find a place to thrive. 00:02:18.325 --> 00:02:23.250 There, they seek to live in accordance with Lauren’s found religion, Earthseed, 00:02:23.250 --> 00:02:24.830 which is based on the principle 00:02:24.830 --> 00:02:28.240 that humans must adapt to an ever-changing world. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:30.710 Lauren’s quest had roots in a real life event– 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:32.950 California Prop 187, 00:02:32.950 --> 00:02:36.950 which attempted to deny undocumented immigrants fundamental human rights, 00:02:36.950 --> 00:02:39.380 before it was deemed unconstitutional. 00:02:39.380 --> 00:02:42.990 Butler frequently incorporated contemporary news into her writing. 00:02:42.990 --> 00:02:47.360 In her 1998 sequel to "The Parable of the Sower," "Parable of the Talents," 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:49.281 she wrote of a presidential candidate 00:02:49.281 --> 00:02:53.591 who controls Americans with virtual reality and “shock collars.” 00:02:53.591 --> 00:02:56.481 His slogan? “Make America great again.” NOTE Paragraph 00:02:56.481 --> 00:02:58.341 While people have noted her prescience, 00:02:58.341 --> 00:03:01.661 Butler was also interested in re-examining history. 00:03:01.661 --> 00:03:03.771 For instance, "Kindred" tells the story of 00:03:03.771 --> 00:03:06.171 a woman who is repeatedly pulled back in time 00:03:06.171 --> 00:03:09.241 to the Maryland plantation of her ancestors. 00:03:09.241 --> 00:03:13.771 Early on, she learns that her mission is to save the life of the white man 00:03:13.771 --> 00:03:15.532 who will rape her great grandmother. 00:03:15.532 --> 00:03:19.662 If she doesn’t save him, she herself will cease to exist. 00:03:19.664 --> 00:03:23.074 This grim dilemma forces Dana to confront the ongoing trauma 00:03:23.074 --> 00:03:26.684 of slavery and sexual violence against Black women. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:26.684 --> 00:03:29.334 With her stories of women founding new societies, 00:03:29.334 --> 00:03:31.864 time travelers overcoming historical strife, 00:03:31.864 --> 00:03:33.774 and interspecies bonding, 00:03:33.774 --> 00:03:38.694 Butler had a profound influence on the growing popularity of Afrofuturism. 00:03:38.694 --> 00:03:40.000 That’s a cultural movement 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.820 where Black writers and artists who are inspired by the past, present and future, 00:03:44.820 --> 00:03:50.200 produce works that incorporate magic, history, technology and much more. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:50.200 --> 00:03:53.100 As Lauren comes to learn in "Parable of the Sower," 00:03:53.100 --> 00:03:55.360 "All that you touch you Change. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.729 All that you Change Changes you. 00:03:57.729 --> 00:04:01.169 The only lasting truth is Change.”