“For better or for worse, I am often spoken of as the first African-American science fiction writer. But [among] the ranks of what is often referred to as proto-science fiction, there are a number of black writers. [M. P. Shiel, Martin Delany, Sutton E. Griggs, Edward Johnson…] I believe I first heard Harlan Ellison make the point that we know of dozens upon dozens of early pulp writers only as names […] we simply have no way of knowing [how many] were not blacks, Hispanics, women, native Americans, Asians, or whatever. Writing is like that.” Samuel R. Delany