A Pasadena school is the nation’s first named after Octavia Butler — and it’s her alma mater (The 19th)
Photo courtesy of Patti Perret/The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
The late science-fiction novelist hoped to broaden the horizons of Black children. Her former junior high has a STEAM focus and serves more than 90 percent students of color.
By Nadra Nittle, The 19th, November 4, 2022
When science-fiction writer Octavia Butler was growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, school was a struggle. With undiagnosed dyslexia, she didn’t excel in class. Outside of it, the shy student lacked the social skills of her more gregarious peers. And her height — she grew to be six feet tall — made her even more self-conscious.
“It’s tough to be a loner kid with a dream who’s very tall,” said Tananarive Due, an American Book Award-winning author and UCLA lecturer who teaches Black horror and Afrofuturism, including Butler’s work.
But it was during her painfully insecure middle school years in Pasadena, California, that Butler first demonstrated an aptitude for writing, capturing the attention of teachers who encouraged her to keep at it. Today, one of the schools in which she felt so awkward bears her name.
In September, Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy became Octavia E. Butler Magnet, the only school in the nation named for her. The decision was first made in the spring and comes during the same year an FX television series based on her 1979 novel “Kindred” is set to debut, with a December 13 premiere date on Hulu that will expose her work to a new audience.