Apr 29, 2025

Sinners and the Legacy of Black Horror in Art

Like many of you who have and who will go to see Coogler’s widely acclaimed Sinners, every second of the Mississippi-set vampire-horror spectacle was spine-tingingly delicious. It was also a relief to see that the legacy of the masterful depiction of Black horror in art still has a long and prosperous shelf-life.

As a publishing house who has historically handled narratives like The Marrow Thieves and Hadriana In All My Dreams, Sinners reinvigorated our commitment to building a list that showcases the past, present and future of expansive global Black storytelling, continuing to give space to a global community of writers telling rooted stories that expand our understanding of how narrative can be laid out.

The highest grossing original film since the Covid-19 pandemic, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is a vampire-gangster-Western, centred on the role of music in moving oral histories from one generation to the next. It’s also a haunting analysis of identity, cultural memory, vampirism and hoodoo.

Set in 1932 Mississippi, it follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B Jordan), who return to their hometown after working for Al Capone in Prohibition-era Chicago. Set on opening a Juke Joint, it’s not long before the oxymoron of seeking freedom in Jim Crow Mississippi catches up with them in supernatural encounters rooted in vampirism and mysticism steeped in musical context.

Image credit: People.com

In his research, Jerry Rafiki Jenkins, the author of “The Paradox of Blackness in African American Vampire Fiction”, found that stories of Black vampires date back to pre-colonial Africa. However, historically, depictions of Black vampires have been used to thwart progress towards racial equality. This cartoon (pictured below), published in The News and Observer ahead of North Carolina’s infamous 1898 election, depicts a racist caricature of a Black vampire terrorizing White men and women.

Image credit: Levine Museum of the New South

“There was this fear that Black people were going to stay in political power. And so, one way to depict them as scary and monstrous was to depict them as vampires, because we know what’s supposed to happen to vampires,’’ says Kendra R. Parker, an associate professor of African American literature at Georgia Southern University.

Nevertheless, over time Black writers and film-makers have reclaimed the Black vampire archetype, using it to confront themes like generational trauma, exploitation and resistance. Sinners and the legacy of Black horror, uses the supernatural creatures as an allegory for the dominance, power and exploitation caused by white supremacy.

Image credit: Screen Rant

The vampires in Sinners serve as metaphors for both overt and subtle forms of white supremacy. Some are literal Klansmen feeding off Black bodies in a way that reflects the violence of the Jim Crow era, while others offer false promises of success in exchange for culture and identity. It’s a clear critique of how systemic racism disguises itself as opportunity, only to drain communities dry.

If you Loved Sinners and want more stories that explore the undead and white supremacist relationships to our mysticisms, we have a book or two for you…

The Marrow Thieves envisions a dystopian future where Indigenous people are hunted for their bone marrow - the key to restoring humanity’s ability to dream. Like Sinners, it examines how marginalised communities are commodified and hunted for their cultural essence.

Hadriana In All My Dreams, set in 1930s Haiti, blends voodoo, Catholicism and magical realism. It follows a young woman who collapses at her wedding, is buried and resurrects as a zombie, becoming part of her town’s collective memory. The novel, much like Sinners, uses mysticism and eroticism to reveal vital truths about the nature of humanity.

The Marrow Thieves and Hadriana In All My Dreams are available to purchase at jacarandabooks.co.uk or anywhere books are sold.

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