The Neo-Slave Narrative and Afrofuturism have been topics of considerable concern since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The subjects prompt discussion about color prejudice and social justice and thereby promote cross culture understanding. They also raise questions about the past and reflections about the future. In addition, they provoke thought about literature and culture. And, they support appreciation for Critical Race Theory. Therefore, I seek to moderate a panel on the cultural aesthetic of the Neo-Slave Narrative. The session would last 75 minutes. There would be three PowerPoint presentations lasting 18-20 minutes. The event would conclude with a 15-20 Q&A session. I have yet to recruit two panel members. I would deliver a talk entitled "A Neo-Slave Narrative with a Revealing Dress," based on the following abstract:

A fair measure of the conditions confronted by African-Americans relegated to black bondage appears in The Good Lord Bird. The book written by James McBride and published by Riverhead Books in 2013 illustrates how slavery in a land sold on liberty compelled Blacks to mask sneers with smiles and grimaces with grins, as the narrator in the novel does, when the fictional Black boy dons a dress and bonnet. McBride's work amounts to a portrait of a swift break from a bleak past to a bright future relayed through a vehicle that crosses an intersection of fact and fiction. With science fiction touches and bits of Black history and culture, The Good Lord Bird represents a particular form of Afrofuturism.