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This expanded
spotlight celebrates
Gay Male African-American
literature. The
African-American
gay male tradition in literature consists of a substantial body
of texts, spans a period of nearly eight decades, and includes some of
the most gifted writers of the twentieth century. It challenges black and white homophobia as well
as straight and queer racism. |
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James Baldwin
in 1955.
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James Baldwin (1924-1987),
a pioneering figure in twentieth-century literature, wrote sustained
and articulate challenges to American racism and mandatory
heterosexuality. |
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Countee Cullen (1903-1946)
was heralded as the "poet laureate" of the Harlem Renaissance. Though
closeted publicly, Cullen included coded references to homosexuality in
much of his poetry. |
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Samuel Delany
(b. 1942) is a
writer of science fiction, memoirs, erotica, cultural studies, and
postmodern criticism. Delaney has won multiple Nebula, Hugo, and Lambda
Literary Awards, and is regarded as one of the finest science fiction
writers of his generation. |
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Melvin Dixon (1950-1992) was
a poet and novelist who refused to stand apart from
the experience of being African-American because of his homosexuality.
Instead, he embraced his community and demanded that his community
embrace him in return. |
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The Harlem Renaissance,
an African-American literary movement of the 1920s and 1930s, is often
hailed as a foundational step in the African-American cultural
tradition. It included several important gay, lesbian, and bisexual
writers. |
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E. Lynn Harris (b. 1955)
writes page-turning novels that appeal to a broad and diverse audience.
His work exposes homosexuality and bisexuality in the black middle
class in a romantic, upbeat way. |
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Essex
Hemphill (1957-1995)
became arguably the
most critically acclaimed and best known openly gay contemporary
African-American poet despite his relatively brief literary career. |
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 Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
left behind an enormous and varied literary legacy. Though he was
closeted, homosexuality was such an important influence on his literary
imagination that many of his poems may be read as gay texts. |
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Randall Kenan
(b. 1963) delineates the richly nuanced internal landscapes of the
diverse inhabitants of his fictional community, Tims Creek, N. C. |
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Related Special
Features |
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Spotlight: African-American Literature: Lesbian
Spotlight:
African-American and African Diaspora Art
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Photo
Credit: Portrait of James Baldwin by Carl van Vechten courtesy
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division |
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