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Storytelling is an essential component of Black existence, a component so integral to life that many African nations had their own storytellers, or griots, who acted as teachers, genealogists, historians, and praise-singers. These traditions, carried past the door of no return and across oceans to the United States, endured through generations despite enslavement, Jim Crow, and state-sanctioned violence. Therefore, storytelling is not a luxury for Black people, it is vital to our very existence. Yet, despite Black historical use of stories in data collection, analysis, and representation, qualitative research has often failed to recognize this heritage, pushing our sacred practices to the margins of academia. Black researchers are allowed to collect others’ stories but are discouraged from sharing our own. Considering the neglect of story in academic spaces, I use this talk to explore my qualitative journey from Endarkened Storywork to Histofuturism. In telling the story of my work, I honor Black storytelling traditions and highlight alternative ways of thinking about, doing, and writing academic scholarship.