Chapter 2: Author's Note – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Rio Cortez opens her Author’s Note by introducing two terms that shape Golden Ax: Afropioneerism and Afrofrontierism. She links these ideas to Afrofuturism while grounding them in her own family’s westward migration. Cortez explains that the work is autobiographical yet also a work of imagined history, born from her childhood wonder at being a Black girl in Utah with a long family history there. She describes the central question driving the book: “How does a story begin?” – a question that resonates for those whose histories were disrupted by slavery.

Cortez then traces her family’s journey: they were enslaved in Louisiana, and after Reconstruction, the first free generation moved West, likely inspired by the California Gold Rush. Key ancestors include her second and third great-grandfathers: Paul C. Howell, who became Utah’s first Black police detective, and his son Abner Howell, an early Black convert to the Mormon church. Abner’s conversion created enduring tensions around race and faith; Mormons did not allow Black men to hold priesthood until 1978, which restricted full participation. Cortez acknowledges two primary sources for her research: a 1950s–60s pamphlet by Kate B. Carter and a self-published book by her great-great-aunt Byrdie Langon. She concludes by claiming the term “Afropioneer” for her ancestors, emphasizing that their story is vast and that they imagine themselves into existence.

Key Events

Introduction of Afropioneerism and Afrofrontierism – Cortez defines new terms to describe Black frontier experience.
Family enslaved in Louisiana – The ancestral story begins with enslavement.
Post-Reconstruction migration West – The first free generation moves to Utah, possibly during the Gold Rush.
Paul C. Howell becomes first Black police detective in Utah – A notable ancestor’s achievement.
Abner Howell converts to Mormonism – This creates complex racial and religious dynamics that persist.
1978 Mormon priesthood policy change – Context for the faith’s racial restrictions.
Research from family memories and two publications – Cortez relies on The Story of the Negro Pioneer and Utah and the Early Black Settlers.
Claiming the term Afropioneer – Cortez asserts a name for her family’s legacy.

Character Development

Although the Author’s Note is not a narrative chapter, it reveals the author’s personal arc from childhood wonder to adult understanding.

Rio Cortez – Grows from a girl questioning her presence in Utah to a poet who mines hidden history and coins terms to name her experience.
Paul C. Howell – Mentioned as the first Black police detective in Utah; symbolizes early Black achievement in the West.
Abner Howell – His Mormon conversion represents the complex intersection of race, faith, and belonging.
Byrdie Langon – Cortez’s great-great-aunt; her self-published book preserves family history.

These are not developed as fictional characters but as historical figures whose stories shape the author’s identity.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Afropioneerism / Afrofrontierism – The central motif: envisioning Black presence in the American frontier as both historical fact and imaginative act.
Hidden history – The note underscores how the Black West has been erased and must be actively recovered.
Imagination and existence – Cortez claims that her family “imagines themselves into existence,” linking survival to creative self-definition.
Race and faith – The tensions within Mormonism regarding Black participation are shown as a persistent family legacy.
The cosmos and the land – The poems reflect both the outer landscape of the West and the inner cosmic imagination of the Afropioneer.

Why This Chapter Matters

This Author’s Note serves as the conceptual key to Golden Ax. Without it, a reader might not recognize the deliberate blending of autobiographical history and speculative reclamation. Cortez provides the vocabulary needed to understand the collection’s mission: to reframe the Black pioneer not as a marginal figure but as a central, imaginative force. It also grounds the poems in specific genealogical facts, making the personal political. For anyone studying the book, this chapter is essential for interpreting the poetry’s references to the West, Mormonism, and ancestral resilience.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Cortez invent the terms “Afropioneerism” and “Afrofrontierism” rather than use existing labels like pioneer or frontiersman?
She wants to center Black experience and imagination within the frontier narrative. Existing terms often erase Black presence; her coinage reclaims space for her family’s specific history and connects it to Afrofuturism’s speculative tradition.

2. How does Abner Howell’s Mormon conversion create “complex tensions around race and faith” for Cortez’s family?
Abner’s conversion occurred when the Mormon church restricted Black men from holding priesthood (allowed only after 1978). This created a paradox: belonging to a faith that excluded full participation. The tension remains unresolved in the family and is part of the inherited complexity Cortez explores.

3. What role does imagination play in the Author’s Note according to Cortez?
Imagination is both a childhood coping mechanism (she wondered if aliens put her in Utah) and a deliberate artistic strategy. She states that her family “imagine[s themselves] into existence,” suggesting that for colonized people, self-definition is an act of creative resistance.