Not Straight, Not White

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272 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 18 halftones, notes, bibl., index

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-5221-4
Published: February 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4696-2684-0
Published: March 2016
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-2685-7
Published: January 2016
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-5019-5
Published: January 2016

John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture

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Awards & distinctions

Bonnie and Vern Bullough Book Award Winner, Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality

A Stonewall Honor Book in Nonfiction, American Library Association Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Round Table

Finalist, Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction, The Publishing Triangle

Finalist, Lambda Literary Award, LGBTQ Studies, Lambda Literary

This compelling book recounts the history of black gay men from the 1950s to the 1990s, tracing how the major movements of the times—from civil rights to black power to gay liberation to AIDS activism—helped shape the cultural stigmas that surrounded race and homosexuality. In locating the rise of black gay identities in historical context, Kevin Mumford explores how activists, performers, and writers rebutted negative stereotypes and refused sexual objectification. Examining the lives of both famous and little-known black gay activists—from James Baldwin and Bayard Rustin to Joseph Beam and Brother Grant-Michael Fitzgerald—Mumford analyzes the ways in which movements for social change both inspired and marginalized black gay men.

Drawing on an extensive archive of newspapers, pornography, and film, as well as government documents, organizational records, and personal papers, Mumford sheds new light on four volatile decades in the protracted battle of black gay men for affirmation and empowerment in the face of pervasive racism and homophobia.

About the Author

Kevin Mumford is professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
For more information about Kevin Mumford, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

“Indispensable for those who reject the erasure of black queerness in American civil rights history."—The Guardian

"It's easy to say that Mumford speaks the truth to power throughout Not Straight, Not White—because he does. Yet, a more nuanced treasure that Mumford gifts us with is a methodology for intimacy—to discover how in our closeness, throughout our vulnerabilities, and by articulating our failures we can (and must somehow) arrive at the love we all, each one of us, so desperately need."—CLA Journal

"A wonderful primer for understanding the cultural context of and many important figures in black gay history."—American Literature

"Mumford offer[s] insight into how generations of black gay men grappled with racial and sexual oppression . . . while also providing blueprints for black gay men today."—Lambda Literary

"A pioneering book."—American Historian

“An amazing reference that gives historical context of Black America around some of the most taboo subjects in our history.”—A&U Magazine