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The Bull-Jean Stories
Fiction. African-American studies. Gay and lesbian studies. Using traditional storytelling and nontraditional verse to chronicle the course of love returning in the lifetimes of one woman-loving-woman named bull-dog-jean, the bull-jeanstories give cultural documentation and social commentary on African-American herstory and survival. Set in the rural South of the 1920s, the bull-jean stories herald the spirit of African-American people.
109 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Sharon Bridgforth
21 books25 followersBridgforth is RedBone Press author of" love conjure/blues" and the Lambda Literary Award winning, "the bull-jean stories". She, Omi Osun Joni L. Jones and Lisa L. Moore are co-editors of "Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project", University of Texas Press. Anthologies that feature her work include: "solo/black/woman: Scripts, Interviews, and Essays", Eds. E. Patrick Johnson and Ramon Rivera-Servera, Northwestern University Press; "Blacktino Queer Performance", Eds. E. Patrick Johnson and Ramon Rivera-Servera, Duke University Press; ."Windy City Queer: GLBTQ Dispatches from the Third Coast", Ed Kathie Bergquist, University of Wisconsin Press; "First Person Queer: Who We Are (So Far), Eds. Richard Labonte & Lawrence Schim"el, Arsenal Pulp Press; "New Monologues For Women By Women", Eds. Liz Engelman & Tori Haring-Smith, Heinemann; and "Is This Forever, Or What?: Poems & Paintings From Texas", Ed. Naomi Shihab Nye, Greenwillow. Her "River See: Theatrical Jazz Performance Installation" script is featured in Obsidian Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Issue 43.1. Bridgforth's current project, "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Home" will premiere in 2018. An imagined "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Home" performance is published in "Imagined Theatres: Writing for a Theoretical Stage".
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 29, 2011
Excellent, Southern-fried poetic masterpiece.
November 9, 2020
Highly recommend listening to the audiobook while reading this. It’s available for free on Spotify and it’s impeccably produced.
September 29, 2026
4.5 ⭐️
This is a collection of stories, more like poetry than traditional narrative. They are told through the eyes of a friend of bull-jean. We learn of her loves and heartbreaks as a lesbian in a small Black community.
While much of this is about her romantic life, there is love of many kinds celebrated from the connection with her aunt that starts the collection, through the loving gossip of the friend's perspective, and more.
I loved seeing these characters and this little journey that we see bull-jean go through. She wears her passionate heart on her sleeve, dedicated to Lovve.
I really liked the narration, like you really were hearing gossip from the neighbor who had really seen it all first hand. And it is written how they would speak, in a southern Black town circa 1920.
But overall, I really enjoyed this. I am glad that I looked up a performance from the author as I read this. Going in knowing that it was meant to be performed changed how I imagined it and elevated the experience.
It seems like they have recently republished this with another piece added, as well as a new opening and closing, so I will have to look into that!
This is a collection of stories, more like poetry than traditional narrative. They are told through the eyes of a friend of bull-jean. We learn of her loves and heartbreaks as a lesbian in a small Black community.
While much of this is about her romantic life, there is love of many kinds celebrated from the connection with her aunt that starts the collection, through the loving gossip of the friend's perspective, and more.
I loved seeing these characters and this little journey that we see bull-jean go through. She wears her passionate heart on her sleeve, dedicated to Lovve.
I really liked the narration, like you really were hearing gossip from the neighbor who had really seen it all first hand. And it is written how they would speak, in a southern Black town circa 1920.
But overall, I really enjoyed this. I am glad that I looked up a performance from the author as I read this. Going in knowing that it was meant to be performed changed how I imagined it and elevated the experience.
It seems like they have recently republished this with another piece added, as well as a new opening and closing, so I will have to look into that!
February 9, 2023
Beautiful. The language of this is so poetic and hypnotic. The stories are fun and heartwarming and bittersweet and beautiful. Unforgettable
December 12, 2011
I saw Sharon Bridgforth read a few of these stories out loud once, which was just about perfect - they're performance pieces really, which means they're at least twice as good if you can imagine them being talked while you're reading.
September 4, 2022
reading this while listening to the audiobook makes its 100x more dynamic and enjoyable
if you’re not southern/don’t know the accents/dialect it really helps you imagine how this writing style sounds when spoken
beautiful
if you’re not southern/don’t know the accents/dialect it really helps you imagine how this writing style sounds when spoken
beautiful
February 16, 2026
she holds me in her smile/i fit between the moist on her lips/i fit between her ears/i fit in the middle of her intent/i fit at the end of her fingers/i fit in the pressure of her voice/her heat as it lifts me up/at the tip of her thoughts as they extend themselves/wid the extent of her desire/i fit
November 22, 2009
I really enjoyed reading this book for our book group. Especially when we read from it aloud.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews