Author Aaron Robertson is coming to mid-Michigan to talk about his book “The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America.”
His book tells the stories of Black Americans trying to create self-sufficient communities – but not just to escape oppression.
"It's a range of efforts by Black Americans to create spaces where they could live with dignity, freedom and self-determination,” Robertson said. “These were communities built not just to escape racism, but to cultivate wholeness — whether through economic autonomy, cultural pride, spiritual exploration or collective care. "
In an interview with WKAR, he described the Black Utopians: people who were “Black social visionaries from the 19th to the 21st centuries who were attempting to make the world kind of a more, better and prosperous place for Black people,” Robertson said.
His book reveals a family connection to this history of Black utopias.
“My own grandfather was born in a small, all-Black town in Tennessee called Promise Land,” he said. “This was one of many of the sort of post-bellum freedom colonies that were established throughout the United States after the Civil War.”
Robertson was born in Detroit, home to what he calls a significant Black utopian experiment. He said the Shrine of the Black Madonna was “a kind of counter-cultural Black nationalist church” that was founded in 1967 by pastor Albert Cleage Jr. It advocated for Black self-determination and a reinterpretation of Christian teachings to support the social and political needs of Black people.
Robertson writes about Black utopian visions, from Reconstruction through the countercultural spirit of the 1960s and 1970s, and into the present day. He said the dream of a Black Utopia is a reoccurring one – often brought on by hard times.
“When the ground beneath us seems to be shifting in a really negative and destructive way, that is when I think communities tend to find ways to support one another,” Robertson said. “And I think that that is happening now.”
In addition to being a writer, Robertson describes himself as an editor and a literary translator.
Robertson will speak at the Capital Area District Libraries’ Foster Community Center April 15 and the Charlotte Community Library April 16, as part of the Library of Michigan’s 2025 Notable Books Tour.
Capital Area District Library is a financial supporter of WKAR.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.