User:Roygbiv99/Black lesbian literature

Black lesbian literature is a subgenre of Lesbian literature and African American literature that focuses on the experiences of black women who identify as lesbians. The genre features poetry and fiction about black lesbian characters as well as non-fiction essays which address the issues faced by black lesbians in society. Prominent figures within the genre include Ann Allen Shockley, Audre Lorde, Cheryl Clarke, and Barbara Smith.

Black lesbian literature is characterized by its central focus on black women's experiences as they are shaped by interlocking systems of oppression like racism, sexism, homophobia, and class discrimination.

Overview
Black lesbian literature emerged out of the Black Feminist movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Dissatisfied with the inability of both the feminist movement of the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement to address the specific forms of oppression experienced by black women, these writers produced critical essays and fictional works which gave voice to their experiences, using Black Feminist theories like intersectionality as tools to carry out their analysis. Through this critical analysis, black lesbian writers and activists were able to use the genre to make necessary interventions in the normative ideologies regarding race, gender, and sexuality which emerged from these larger political movements.

More specifically, the genre allowed black lesbians to examine the homophobia that they encountered in nearly all of their political and community circles. Writer and activist Cheryl Clarke wrote essays like "The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community" and "Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance" which both explore the way that white male patriarchy and white supremacy create the gendered and racialized forms of homophobia that black lesbians experience.

In 1977 the self-proclaimed activist group of black feminists and lesbians known as The Combahee River Collective published a statement in which they outline their main political objectives to fight racism, sexism, homophobia, and class oppression simultaneously. Within the statement the group declares its rejection of Lesbian separatism, deeming it ineffective as a political strategy because it excludes others, namely progressive black men, from joining their cause.

One of the foundational texts of the genre is Ann Allen Shockley's novel, Loving Her. Published in 1974, Loving Her is widely regarded as the first novel to feature a black lesbian protagonist. The book follows the story of Renay, a black woman who leaves her abusive marriage to a black man to enter a relationship with a white lesbian named Terry. Loving Her is considered groundbreaking for its explicit portrayal of lesbian sexuality and it paved the way for black women writers to depict lesbian relationships in their writing.

Shockley followed the publication of Loving Her with two more books,The Black and White of It—a collection of short stories featuring various black lesbian protagonists, which was the first of its kind—and another novel, Say Jesus and Come to Me. Other works began to arrive in the early 1980s which featured black lesbian protagonists like Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple and Audre Lorde's autobiography Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. While both novels explored the development of their characters' sexuality, they also examined the characters' experiences as black women in a sexist and white supremacist society.

Fiction

 * Loving Her, Ann Allen Shockley (1974)
 * The Black and White of It, Ann Allen Shockley (1980)
 * Say Jesus and Come to Me, Ann Allen Shockley (1982)
 * Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde (1982)
 * The Color Purple, Alice Walker (1982)
 * "The Champagne Lady," Hatshepsut's Legacy, SDiane Adamz-Bogus (ca. 1985)
 * Living as a Lesbian, Cheryl Clarke (1986)
 * The Gilda Stories, Jewelle Gomez (1991)
 * Coffee Will Make You Black, April Sinclair (1994)
 * Afrekete: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Writing, Catherine McKinley and L. Joyce DeLaney (1995)
 * Does Your Mama Know?: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories, Lisa C. Moore (1997)
 * "Miss Hannah's Lesson," Callaloo and Other Lesbian Love Stories, LaShonda Barnett (1999)

Non-Fiction

 * The Combahee River Collective Statement, Demita Frazier, Beverly Smith, and Barbara Smith (1977)
 * Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance, Cheryl Clarke (1981)
 * The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community, Cheryl Clarke (1983)
 * Homegirls: A Black Feminist Anthology, Barbara Smith (1983)
 * Black Lesbian in White America, Anita Cornwell (1983)
 * Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Audre Lorde (1984)

* Added Black Lesbian Literature to Combahee River Collective wiki page "See Also" list

Lesbian Literature
In the 1970s, more voices of American lesbians of color began to be heard, including works by Audre Lorde and Jewelle Gomez who paved the way for the new genre black lesbian literature, as well as Paula Gunn Allen Cherrie Moraga, and Gloria Anzaldua.

* Added Black Lesbian Lit to Combahee River Collective list of See Also