Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual African American Fiction

Black Like Us should be on every bookshelf of people of color. I was born in Harlem and raised in Brooklyn; my affinity for the Harlem Renaissance period is strong even today. Each chapter is divided from the1900?s ? 2000, and they are appropriately named. A small biography is placed before the excerpt and what book it was taken from. Devon W. Carbado sectioned the book into different time periods.During the Protest Era a quote jumped off the pages at me "To be white male in America and realize your gayness and find out your opressed is a very different thing than being oppressed all your life as a woman of color." In Harlem during the 1920?s we witnessed a cultural firecracker with books like never before. I wonder how many of those books were written from Wallace Thurman's boarding house at 136th Street called the ?Niggerati Manor?? There is an American Folk saying; if you want to keep something secret from black folks put it between the covers of a book. Nowadays that is not the case. With titles like Black Like Us and The Greatest Taboo by Delroy Constantine curiosity is winning. Black Like Us makes me feel proud of the many literary giants included in this work, empowering and sending us love. It is the stories and quotes from this book that will keep Black Like Us as a reference tool on reader's shelves for years to come. Julie Blackwomon offers an excerpt from Voyages Out 2 titled "Symbols," a short story that reflects Julie's own life. She makes a very intriguing statement, "coming out of the closet is more than just a "gay thing" It is my hope that authors like these in Black Like Us help to cease the homophobia in the gay and heterosexual African American community. I thoroughly enjoyed this treasure and how it examines literature.

In this world of the politically correct parry, it's good to know that the folks at Cleis Press do not suffer from the "me too" school of publishing. With BLU, readers are taken on an omnibus of writers that expand traditional boundaries of race and sexual preference. And it's about time. If you care about expanding your consciousness and folks who seek to shed light where there was none or little, then get a copy of BLU and get on the bus.

Black Like Us is a must have for those who love history and literature--gay, straight, black, white or otherwise. The introductory essays alone are worth the price of admission. B.L.U. is an instant classic.

Books that are "important," significant historically, academically, and politically, are more often than not, BORING. BLACK LIKE US is anything BUT boring. I collect anthologies but rarely have I read one from cover to cover. The collection of work from Queer Black Writers is composed in such a way that engages the reader from start to finish. The accompanying essays from Carbado and Weise are insightful and written with great intelligence and love for the work. What are you doing reading this review? Buy this BOOK now! And look, the darn thing is on SALE!

I echo the congratulations that certainly must be coming to you from many of those in the industry who recognize how superb this collection is. This book entertains and educates. The editors of this collection are to be commended for their dedication to this project. Work this important comes so infrequently, I recommend that everyone pick up this book to show your support for great literature.