Before anybody told her that black girls do not grow up to write about futuristic worlds, Butler, the daughter of a shoeshine man and a maid, was already fashioning a place for herself in a white-dominated universe.
By remaining dedicated to her craft, sweeping floors and working as a telemarketer to pay the bills; by suffering the indignities that come with being among the first; and eventually winning a MacArthur Foundation grant, Butler carved a place for herself — and helped write a new world into existence.
As a black female writer, she brought a much needed alternative to a field that was for too long dominated by white males pre-occupied with visions of the future in which race was a non-issue. But of course she didn't become famous by simply being a black woman writing sci-fi; she also wrote damn good stories. Check out the Wikipedia entry about her, and get to know her if you don't already. She'll be badly missed.
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