Black Like Us- Selected Works Book Discussion

in honor of Black History Month, GMBCF will be reading selected works from Black Like Us.

Winner of the 2003 Lambda Literary Award for Fiction Anthology

Showcasing the work of literary giants like Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and writers whom readers may be surprised to learn were "in the life," Black Like Us is the most comprehensive collection of fiction by African American lesbian, gay, and bisexual writers ever published. From the Harlem Renaissance to the Great Migration of the Depression era, from the postwar civil rights, feminist, and gay liberation movements, to the unabashedly complex sexual explorations of the present day, Black Like Us accomplishes a sweeping survey of 20th century literature.

Reading Selections:

1. Foreward (pg 6-7)
2. Section Introduction: 1900–1950
   THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
   “…the perfumed orchid of the New Negro Movement” (pg 19-56)
3. Langston Hughes (pg 97-99)
4. Blessed Assurance
5. Wallace Thurman
6. From Infants of the Spring
7. Section Two Introduction: 1950–1980
   THE PROTEST ERA
   “I dream of your freedom/as my victory…”
8. Samuel B Delany
9. Aye, and Gomorrah
10. James Baldwin
11. From Another Country
12. Section Three Introduction: 1980–2000
    COMING OUT BLACK, LIKE US
    “Now I speak and my burden is lightened…”
13. Melvin Dixon
14. From Vanishing Rooms
15. Steve Corbin
16. From a Hundred Days from Now
17. James Earl Hardy
18. From B-Boy Blues