A Black Queer History of the United States

About A Black Queer History of the United States

The first-ever Black history to center queer voices, this landmark study traces the lives of LGBTQ+ Black Americans from slavery to present day

Gender and sexual expression have always been part of the Black freedom struggle

In this latest book in Beacon’s award-winning ReVisioning History series, Professors C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost unearth the often overlooked history of the Black queer community in the United States.

Arguing that both gender and sexual expression have been an intimate and intricate part of Black freedom struggle, Snorton and Bost present historical contributions of Black queer, trans, and gender non-conforming Americans from slavery to the present day to highlight how the fight against racial injustice has always been linked to that of sexual and gender justice.

Interweaving stories of queer and trans figures such as:

• Private William Cathay/Cathay Williams, born female but enlisted in the Army as a man in the mid-1860s
• Josephine Baker, internationally known dancer and entertainer of the early 20th century who was also openly bisexual
• Bayard Rustin, prominent Civil Rights activist whose well known homosexuality was viewed as a potential threat to the movement
• Amanda Milan, a black trans woman whose murder in 2000 unified the trans people of color community,