We observe Pride Month in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots, a rebellion against police brutality that broke out in New York City in June 1969. This year, as protests against the systemic criminalization and destruction of Black lives endure across the country, we are increasingly reminded of this history. We owe the birth of the modern lgbtq rights movement to black and brown trans and queer people who sparked this rebellion 51 years ago.
Our country’s violent history against Black people is inexorably linked to its violent history against LGBTQ people.
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Below, we’ve compiled a list of anti-racist readings written by, about, and for black lgbtq people. We ask that you join the fight against white supremacy and help us honor the lives of nina pop, tony mcdade, george floyd, ahmaud arbery, breonna taylor and many others by listening to and learning from black queer voices. if you can, buy these titles at an African-American owned bookstore near you.
as acclaimed black lesbian activist angela davis said, “in a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”
white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide by dr. carol anderson from the civil war to our combustible present, white rage reframes our ongoing conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposing black progress in america.
james baldwin’s giovanni’s room in 1950s paris of expatriate americans, love affairs and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. With a keen and inquisitive imagination, James Baldwin’s now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of love and creates a moving and highly controversial tale of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.
Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonant symbolic power, and an anger that is both relentless and compassionate, Baldwin tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy. Discovering the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a Pentecostal church in Harlem on a Saturday in March 1935. Baldwin’s interpretation of his protagonist’s spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention opened up new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves.
Lashonda Barnett’s Jam on the Vine Jam on the Vine chronicles the life of pioneering African-American journalist Ivoe Williams through the early 20th century. In unflinching prose, we follow Ivoe and her family from the Deep South to the Midwest. jam on the vine is an epic take on the injustices that defined an era and a compelling tale of a complicated history only we thought we knew.
the jericho brown lore the lore details the normalization of evil and its history at the intersection of the past and the personal. Brown’s poetic concerns are both broad and intimate, and in essence a distillation of the incredibly human: what is security? who is this nation? Where does freedom really reside? Poems of fatherhood, legacy, blackness, weirdness, adoration, and trauma are propelled into stunning clarity by Brown’s mastery.
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hoodwitch: poems by faylita hicks hoodwitch is a repossession of power for black women and non-binary people whose bodies have become the very weapons used against them. Hoodwitch tells the story of a young man who discovers that he is “something he can & will survive / a whole century of hunting.” Through a series of poems based on childhood photographs, Hicks invokes the spirits of mothers and daughters, sex workers and widows, to conjure an alternative to their own untimely deaths and the deaths of those they have already lost.
bad feminist by roxane gay roxane gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color as she takes readers on a journey through the culture of recent years and comments on the state of feminism today. Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and on-point look at the ways the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call to arms for all the ways we still need improvement, coming from one of our cultural critics. most interesting and important.
speak no evil by uzodinma iweala a revelation shared between two privileged teenagers from very different backgrounds sets off a chain of events with devastating consequences. speak no evil explores what it means to be different in a fundamentally conformist society and how that difference manifests itself in our internal and external struggles. is a novel about the power of words and self-identification, about who can speak and who has the power to speak for other people.
black. queer. southern. women.: an oral history by e. patrick johnson Drawn from the life narratives of over seventy queer black women who were born, raised, and continue to reside in the American South, this book powerfully reveals how these women experience and express race. , sexuality and gender. , and class identities, all linked by a place where such identities have generally placed them on the margins of society.
no tea, no shade: new writing in black queer studies by e. patrick johnson no tea, no shadow brings together nineteen essays from the next generation of scholars, activists, and community leaders working on black gender and sexuality. Contributors to this collection tell new truths about the Black queer experience while exemplifying the codification of Black queer studies as a rigorous and important field of study.
how we fight for our lives: memoir of saeed jones jones tells the story of a young black gay man from the south who fights to make a place for himself in his family, within his country, within his own hopes, wishes and fears. he draws readers back to his childhood and adolescence, to tumultuous relationships with his family, to fleeting adventures with lovers, friends, and strangers. each piece draws from a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and pain: a portrait of what we all do for each other, and each other, as we strive to become ourselves. .
passing as nella larsen Clare is married to a racist white man who is unaware of his African-American heritage and has severed all ties to his past after deciding to “pass” as a white woman. Clare’s childhood friend Irene, just as Clara, has chosen to remain within the African-American community. Clare’s interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for her black identity that she abandoned and will never be able to embrace again, and she is forced to deal with her decision to pass as white in a way that is both tragic and revealing.
A Garden for Black Children by WJ Lofton A Garden for Black Children invites the reader into a world where difficult questions are unpacked and the answers are presented raw, extremely intimate, and with a breath of their own. Each poem applauds the humanity of black people, which is often overlooked in America. inspired by the tragedy, the continuous shootings of unarmed black men and women, the author elaborates a battle cry that not only sows pain but determines hope; a chance to see a better tomorrow.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde addresses sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and proposes social difference as a vehicle for action and change. her prose is incisive, unflinching and lyrical, reflecting the struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope.
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zami: a new spelling of my name by audre lorde zami is a fast-paced chronicle. From the author’s vivid memories of her childhood in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde’s work is cyclical. she especially recounts the bonding of women who have molded her. Lorde puts into play the trade of exuberant description and characterization of her. she keeps unfolding page after page.
Dangerous Black Girl: On Race, Queerness, Class, and Gender by Mia Mckenzie Mckenzie’s nuanced analysis of intersecting systems of oppression digs deep to reveal the complicated truths of an experience of multiple marginalization . Mckenzie tackles the toughest questions of our time with clarity and courage, in language accessible to academics and non-academics alike. she is fearless and vulnerable, demanding and responsible.
brown white black: an American family at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and religion by nishta j. mehra brown white black is a portrait of nishta j. mehra’s family: his wife, who is white; his adopted son, shiv, who is black; and his experiences dealing with rigid American ideas of race, gender, and sexuality. mehra writes candidly about his efforts to protect and protect shiv from racial slurs on the playground and intrusive questions from strangers while educating his son about the realities and dangers of being black in america . She talks about growing up in the racially polarized city of Memphis; come out as queer; being an adoptive mother who is brunette; and what it’s like to constantly face people’s confusion, worry, and expectations of her son and her family.
redefining reality: my path to femininity, identity, love & all the more for janet mock with unflinching honesty and moving prose, janet mock conveys her experiences growing up young, multiracial, poor, and trans in America, offering readers accessible language while imparting vital insight into the unique challenges and vulnerabilities. of a marginalized and misunderstood population. Although it is certainly a tale of one woman’s search for herself at all costs, Reality Redefined is a powerful vision of possibility and self-fulfilment, pushing us all toward greater acceptance of others, and of ourselves. ourselves, showing like never before how unapologetic and real.
Not Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis by Kevin Mumford This captivating book recounts the history of black gay men from the 1950s to the 1990s, tracing how the major movements of the time, from civil rights to black power, gay liberation, and AIDS activism, helped shape cultural stigmas surrounding race and homosexuality. mumford explores how activists, artists, and writers refuted negative stereotypes and rejected sexual objectification. Examining the lives of famous and little-known black gay activists, he looks at the ways in which movements for social change both inspired and marginalized black gay men.
the women of brewster place by gloria naylor gloria naylor weaves together the stories of seven women who live in brewster place, a desolate inner-city sanctuary, creating a powerful and moving portrait of the strengths, struggles, and hopes of black women in america. vulnerable and resilient, generous and open-hearted, these women forge their lives in a place that both threatens and protects: a common prison and a shared home. Naylor presents loving and painful human experiences with simple eloquence and rare insight.
Time at Two Crossroads: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin Edited by Donald Weise and Devon W. Carved in 1956, Bayard Rustin taught Martin Luther King Jr. nonviolent strategies during the montgomery bus boycott, thus launching the civil rights movement. Widely hailed as the founding father of modern black protest, Rustin achieved international notoriety in 1963 as the openly gay organizer of the March on Washington. Long before the March on Washington, Rustin’s leadership placed him at the forefront of social protest. his gay identity, however, became a point of contention with the movement, and the controversy even involved the king himself. Time at Two Crossroads offers an inside look at many of the defining political moments of our time, chronicling five decades of Rustin’s commitment to justice and equality.
the truth that never hurts: writings on race, gender and freedom by barbara smith as one of the first writers in the united states to vindicate black feminism for black women, barbara smith has been pioneered work on defining black women’s literary traditions and making connections between race, class, sexuality, and gender. Smith’s essay “Towards a Black Feminist Critique” is often cited as a major catalyst for opening up the field of Black women’s literature.
Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems by Danez Smith Don’t Call Us Dead opens with a harrowing sequence that imagines a life after death for black men shot by police, a place where suspicion , violence, and pain are forgotten and replaced with the safety, love and longevity they deserved here on earth. Smith then moves on to desire, mortality—the dangers experienced in skin, body, and blood—and a positive HIV diagnosis. “some of us are killed / to pieces,” smith writes, “some of us all at once.”
black on both sides: a racial history of trans identity by c. riley snorton the story of christine jorgensen famously told trans personification in the post-war era. Her celebrity, however, has obscured other mid-century trans narratives, those lived by African Americans like Lucy Hicks Anderson and James McHarris. its erasure of trans history masks the profound ways in which race has figured prominently in the construction and representation of transgender subjects. in black on both sides, c. Riley Snorton identifies multiple intersections between blackness and transgenderism from the mid-19th century to current anti-black and anti-trans legislation and violence.
The Color Purple of Alice Walker Released to unprecedented acclaim, The Color Purple established Alice Walker as a major voice in modern fiction. This is the story of two sisters, one a missionary in Africa and the other a child bride living in the South, who maintain their loyalty and mutual trust through time, distance and silence. beautifully imagined and deeply compassionate, this classic novel of American literature is filled with passion, pain, inspiration, and an indomitable love of life.
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