Today’s conversation is with Kevin Rigby, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of African American Studies at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research is concerned with the complex effects and affects of afropessimist theory for thinking through issues of history, culture, and politics, specifically focused on the structure and meaning of Black protest. In this conversation, we explore the place of pessimist theory in Black study, political mobilization and community work, and how Black Studies shapes research and the classroom.