k
February 1994 T PAGE 25 Q-Notes
Blacks in history
Continued from page 19
and lesbians. However, so many were in
volved in heterosexual relationships while
frequenting the gay “buffet flats” (after-
hours spots, usually in someone’s apart-
ment),'speakeasies, costume balls and pri
vate parties, that to list them as gay-identify
ing would be to do so without proper docu
mentation. Such luminaries as author/poet
Langston Hughes (identified by a few histo
rians as gay, straight by some and bisexual by
others), novelist Wallace Thurman, dancer
Josephine Baker, actress/singer Ethel Wa
ters and sculptor Richmond Barthe were
sexually ambiguous and cannot therefore,
fairly be labeled as homosexual.
Some, and surely not all, of the black
homosexuals in our history (in alphabetical
order) include:
James Baldwin (1924-1987)—James
Baldwin was an accomplished author, but
when his portrait appeared on the cover of
Time magazine in 1963, the story ran under
the “National Affairs.” This was due to
Baldwin’s politics. As early as the 1940s, he
became a spokesman for the growing racial
problems in the Lf .S. and as an active partic
ipant in the civil rights struggle, Baldwin’s
writings challenged all Americans on a dou
ble front—race and sex. In addition to
novels, he also wrote essays, collected in
Notes of a Native Son and Nobody Knows My
Name, as well as two plays.
Jan Creoli (?-1646)—An entry in “The
Calendar of [Dutch] Historical Manuscripts”
records the punishment enacted upon Jan
Creoli for “...sodomy; second offense; this
crime being condemned of God (Gen., C. 19;
Levit., C. 18:22, 29) as an abomination, the
prisoner is sentenced to be conveyed to the
place of public execution, and there choked
to death, and then burnt to ashes...” Creoli’s
execution is included here because it is one
of the earliest documentations of homosex
uality within the Black population of the
United States.
Countee Cullen (1903-1946)—^Most not
ed for his collection of poems, Co/or(1925),
Countee Cullen is perhaps one of the finest
poets to emerge from the Harlem Renais
sance. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa,
regularly contributed poetry to major liter
ary magazines and taught in the New York
City public schools. Although he wished to
be known as a poet rather than a “Negro
poet,” much of his work contains striking
racial themes.
Alberta Hunter (1897-1984)—Alberta
Hunter was a jazz singer who desperately
fought to conceal her lesbianism. A contem
porary of jazz greats “Ma” Rainey and Bessie
Smith, Hunter, while definitely not gay-
identifying, is included here because the
music^ “My Castle’s Rockin’,” which chron
icles her life, dramatically portrays the dis
crimination and prejudice faced by Black
gays and lesbians.
Alain Locke (1886-1954)—Head of the
department of philosophy at Howard Uni
versity, Washington, D.C., for over 40 years,
Locke was the first Black Rhodes scholar
and received his Ph.D. from Harvard. He
edited the 1925 anthology The New Negro
which brought attention to the Harlem Re
naissance, and he is credited with bringing
white patronage to Harlem’s fledgling writ
ers and artists. As an essayist, anthologist
and critic, he wrote extensively on philoso
phy, cultural and interracial relationships,
literature, music, drama and the fine arts.
Audre Lor de (1934-1992)—Audre Lorde
authored 13 books of poetry and essays, was
named poet laureate of New York State in
1991, CO founded Kitchen Table: Women of
Color Press (the only U.S. publisher of liter
ature for women of color), and became a role
model for lesbians fighting against breast
cancer. She was also a champion of gay
rights, speaking on our behalf at the 1983
March on Washington for Jobs, Peace, and
Freedom which marked the 20th anniversary
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a
dream” speech.
Gertrude Malissa “Ma” Rainey (1886-
1939)—”Ma” Rainey has been unquestion
ably dubbed “Mother of the Blues,” and no
biographer doubts her lesbianism. Her song
“Prove It on Me Blues” admits her prefer
ence for male attire and female companion
ship, but dares the listener to “prove it” on
her. That song, in defense ofher lesbian life,
was quite astonishing for the time period and
potentially damaging to her career.
Bessie Smith (1894-1937)—Bessie Smith
was a powerful blues singer who wrote much
ofher won material. Sometimes labeled “too
black” for an entertainer of the ’20sand ’30s,
Smith was her own woman in every respect.
Although married to a man, her love affairs
with women were hardly hidden and some of
her songs included references to lesbian re
lationships. Viewed as too coarse, bad-
mannered, obscene and rough. Smith proved
that talent can be its own success.
A’Lelia Walker (1885-1931)— A’Lelia
Walker, heiress to the Walker hair straight
ening process, was the richest Black woman
in America during the early years of this
century. She threw lavish parties during the
1920s and is credited by several historians
with providing the appropriate atmosphere
for creativity and growth within Harlem’s
Black community, bringing together Blacks
and Whites, straights and gays, artists and
patrons. Her “at home” parties and her hair
salons were visited equally and openly by
Blacks and Whites and straights and gays for
the first time in U.S. history. A’LeliaWalker
was the catalyst for the Harlem Renaissance,
her politics an early form of gay rights.
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