Introduction : Reading the writing on the wall -- Racing robots and making slaves : how the past informs the future -- Proslavery thought and the black robot : selling household appliances to Southern belles -- The true cult of humanhood : displacing repressed sexuality onto mechanical bodies -- The tragic mulatto and the android : imitations of life in literature and on the silver screen -- AI (artificial identity) : the new negro -- From Fritz Lang to Janelle Monae : black robots singing and dancing -- Conclusion : When the revolution comes.