From Bayard Rustin to Audre Lorde to Billy Porter, history is filled with pioneering Black queer groundbreakers. Countless figures started movements and created art that let generations know they weren’t alone. Of course, for every name we all know, there are several equally familiar people who kept their private lives very quiet. Now it’s time to acknowledge and celebrate some of the Black queer game-changers who don’t get headlines and specials made about them every year.
If all she ever gave us was A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry’s place in history would be assured. However, her work as a journalist and activist inspired generations to speak their truth through their art. Following her death, her ex-husband donated her personal journals to the New York Public Library, but restricted any mention of her attraction to women. In 2013, those passages were unsealed and Hansberry became a role model to those exploring self-acceptance of their identities.
There is a direct line from Barbara Jordan being the first Black person elected to the Texas Senate in 1966 to Kamala Harris being the first Black woman to be Vice President of the United States. Jordan and her partner Nancy Earl were together for almost 20 years, never publicly announcing their relationship, but also not hiding it. Finding a small piece of happiness in one part of their private lives is something all these figures have in common.
Legendary entertainer, World War II spy and queer icon. Josephine Baker was a truly fascinating woman who lived many lives. Though she had four marriages to men, historians have since come to know that she was bisexual and also had relationships with women, possibly including famed artist Frida Kahlo. There have been many movies and TV series made about Baker’s life, but most have been reluctant to include her bisexuality. Perhaps that’s an aspect of her life Janelle Monáe will examine in their upcoming series.
