Black Lesbian in White America and Other Writings -- Briona Simone Jones

Black lesbian feminist, essayist, journalist, poet, author, and cultural worker, Anita Cornwell wrote extensively about her experiences as a Black lesbian in the United States during the twentieth century exposing the innerworkings of heteropatriarchy, misogyny, racism, the Jim Crow South, and white supremacy. A scholar of Black Lesbian Studies, Cornwell wrote the first collection of essays by a Black lesbian, <i>Black Lesbian in White America, </i> published by Naiad Press in 1983. These essays chronicle her experiences battling against misogyny, homophobia, and racism. Her writing also attends to love and familial loss. This reprint of Cornwell's classic essays on being black and lesbian, include a groundbreaking interview that Cornwell did with Audre Lorde. <i>Black Lesbian in White America and Other Writings</i> also includes previous unpublished poetry by Cornwell and features a revelatory introduction by scholar Briona Simone Jones.<br><br><b>Author:</b> Briona Simone Jones, Anita Cornwell<br><b>Publisher:</b> Sinister Wisdom<br><b>Published:</b> 06/03/2025<br><b>Pages:</b> 184<br><b>Binding Type:</b> Paperback<br><b>ISBN:</b> 9781944981778<br><p><b>About the Author</b><br>Briona Simone Jones is an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut and the editor of <i>Mouths of Rain.</i> Anita Cornwell (1923-2023) was a Black lesbian feminist, essayist, journalist, poet, author, and cultural worker. Cornwell studied journalism at Temple University and graduated in 1