Writer Teju Cole, singer Solange Knowles and activist Alicia Garza, who cofounded Black Lives Matter, are among the book's more than 100 contributors.

[2] In addition to traditional media such as painting and essays, Black Futures includes creative works in the form of recipes,[7] Instagram posts, tweets, street art, and communal gatherings.

[12] Koul notes that Wortham and Drew recommend reading with an internet-connected device at hand, to follow threads the book offers out into the world.

[12] Writing in the Chicago Review of Books, Mandana Chaffa agreed Black Futures is "a jumping off point for discussion, rather than a static destination", something to be used as a "divinatory tool": "open anywhere [...] and see where it leads [...] like the best of parties, in which you come across those familiar to you, and through them, new, thought-provoking voices".

[8] For Koul, who is not Black, the cumulative experience creates a call to action—"a question any non-Black person inevitably comes back to again and again throughout the book: If you know the fight, will you join it?"