Thesis Cover
Carbon Copies
Jermaine Reed
A Thesis
Submitted to the English Department
Chicago State University
In Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Master of Arts
April 2020
We approve the thesis of Jermaine Reed entitled: Carbon Copies
Thesis Committee Members:
____________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Nicole Martinez Date
Thesis Committee Advisor
Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing
Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Literature
Chicago State University
_____________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Kelly N. Ellis Date
Second Reader
Department Chairperson
Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Literature
Chicago State University
_____________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Brenda E. Aghahowa Date
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Literature
Chicago State University
© Copyright by Jermaine Reed 2020
All Rights Reserved
Abstract
Carbon Copies is a work of Afrofuturism, Science Fiction about Black people written by a Black person. It follows the adventures of a sixteen-year-old boy living on a future Earth occupied by aliens. The purpose of this work is to explore governmental oppression and human nature to seek freedom. With complicated relationships between people and other people and people and the government, Carbon Copies imagines what first-contact with aliens could mean for humanity as whole. Writing this manuscript took as much reading as it did writing.
DEDICATION
This is dedicated to my wonderful daughters and the powerful women they will grow to become.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge everyone who played a role in my academic success. Those people or entities include God, my family and my committee members. Thank you.
Preface
This story was inspired by my fascination with things Black and things science. Growing up, I loved Science Fiction stories, but I never saw characters who looked like me. With this work, I hope to expand the reach of Afrofuturism. I hope to inspire thousands of Black and brown children to go places they are told they can never go and do things no one thought they could.
Again, I thank every writer who has ever gave me a world to run to when my world was too hard to face. I also want to thank Chicago State University’s English Department. Without the women over there, I could not have hoped for such success as I have had. To my fans, I love you.
CARBON COPIES
by
Jermaine Reed
