About BLCK BTTM

 

The name BLCK BTTM is representative of an intersection between contemporary literature, Black historical art, and the culture ties of food as a tool to cultivate community.

The literature influence comes from Toni Morrison's novel 'Sula', where a Black community known as the Bottom thrives in the face of white supremacy and resistance. In the 1920's, at the height of the Jazz Age, The Black Bottom dance created by rural Black southerners became a hit when it made its way to main stream American culture, and Ma Rainey titled a song after it. And lastly, food has always been an expression of love, and community. So much so that any nana's pot is crisp to its core at the bottom because of its overuse and durability. While the bottom of a cup of coffee, the last drop seemingly the tastiest, knowing you'll be able to start your day off full of good energy leaves a residue that, of course, is Black at the Bottom. 

BLCK BTTM Social House is influenced by the spirit of Black Radical vanguard organizations. Our collection centers honest history about/by and for Black, Afro-Caribbean, and other BIPOC communities that have historically been influenced by the African Diaspora. We seek to reconnect the People of African Diaspora and allies through visual and contextual art by providing culturally diverse engagement and a space rooted in literature, liberation, self-discovery and community.

Literature, when accessible, has the power to show us ourselves. Through this, there is hope that one can see others and learn to dismantle the limiting constructs that keep us apart. BLCK BTTM encompasses the diversity that is our family and is an extension to those who might sometimes feel like they don't have one to call their own. 

BLCK BTTM believes in universal human dignity and rejects all forms of oppression with specific regard for anti-blackness in western ideology. We believe in change, revolution, restitution, and reparations.

We anticipate that you soon will too.

All Peace. All Love. All Life.