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The bawdy genderqueer lesbian singer who helped shape the sound of the Harlem Renaissance
Gladys Bentley was on top of the world until the Lavender Scare forced her back into the closet.
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“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” centers a very real & very queer Black woman
The film is based on a fictional play. But the titular character – and her bisexuality – was real.
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The Harlem Renaissance was as Queer as it was Black
Beginning a century ago, Black LGBTQ entertainers & writers expressed their identities freely. We have them to thank for much of our present society.
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This gender non-conforming blues singer was a Harlem Renaissance super star
She was famous for her bawdy performances and a chorus line of eight effeminate male dancers.
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Richard Bruce Nugent, the queer rebel of the Harlem Renaissance
The “bizarre and eccentric vagabond poet” was open about his sexuality, and then married a woman.
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Meet the Harlem Renaissance dancer who made sure lesbian history wasn’t forgotten
Harlem Renaissance dancer, domestic worker, archivist, philanthropist, early lesbian activist; in her lifetime, Mabel Hampton was many, many things.
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This gay sculptor focused on black male beauty during the Harlem Renaissance
Richard Barthé was one of America’s best sculptors – and he didn’t shy away from his sexuality.
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How a bi black dancer from St. Louis helped the Resistance liberate France from Nazis
Josephine Baker became a celebrity in France. When Germany invaded, she used her skills for espionage.
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Meet 4 historic icons who made the Harlem Renaissance ‘as gay as it was black’
“Nobody was in the closet. There wasn’t any closet.”