The Famous Lady Lovers: Black Women and Queer Desire Before Stonewall

by Cookie Woolner

Black queer women have shaped American culture since long before the era of gay liberation. Decades prior to the Stonewall Uprising, in the 1920s and 1930s, Black "lady lovers"—as women who loved women were then called—crafted a queer world. In the cabarets, rent parties, speakeasies, literary salons, and universities of the Jazz Age and Great Depression, communities of Black lady lovers grew, and queer flirtations flourished. Cookie Woolner here uncovers the intimate lives of performers, writers, and educators such as Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Gladys Bentley, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and Lucy Diggs Slowe, along with the many everyday women she encountered in the archives.

Examining blues songs, Black newspapers, vice reports, memoirs, sexology case studies, and more, Woolner illuminates the unconventional lives Black lady lovers formed to suit their desires. In the urban North, as the Great Migration gave rise to increasingly racially mixed cities, Black lady lovers fashioned and participated in emerging sexual subcultures. During this time, Black queer women came to represent anxieties about the deterioration of the heteronormative family. Negotiating shifting notions of sexuality and respectability, Black lady lovers strategically established queer networks, built careers, created families, and were vital cultural contributors to the US interwar era.

Genres: Queer, Nonfiction, History, Lesbian, LGBT, Race, Education

210 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 2023

Reviews

[Daphne · Rating 5 out of 5]

superbly accessible history of Black Queer Women in the 1920s and 30s Urban North. my only complaint is that I wish it was less metronormative and offered more engagement with the South. If you’re looking for an easy-to-understand while still really important Queer History book then this is for you

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know that this was meant to be read outside of niche historian circles, but I learned things. Got repetitive at times.

[AJ]

Darlene Clark Hine argues that this historical legacy greatly contributed to this notion of “dissemblance,” under which “the behaviors and attitudes of Black women . . . created the appearance of openness and disclosure but actually shielded the truth of their inner lives and selves from their oppressors.” !!!! A concept I have lived despite just learning about it in this book.

This was an informative read! I am endlessly grateful for historians, archivists, -ologists of all types, and anyone else who dives into archives to capture Black queerness in the U.S. I enjoyed reading Woolner's descriptions about the ways Black "lady-lovers" moved in the Northeast, which hit different now that I'm in the Northeast myself. I was particularly appreciative of her contextualizing history in efforts to go "against the grain" and use the limited sources we have to provide a comprehensive view of their lives.

A 3.5 read overall but I'm torn between rounding up or down. I want to round up because of the subject and the fact that it informed me about people, places, and events I did not know before. On the other hand, I echo others' comments that it was repetitive at times and somewhat less accessible than I hoped.

[Laney · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars rounded up.

This book is my latest in a quest to read everything written about Gladys Bentley, one of the most fascinating women I’ve ever heard of in history.

I truly don’t know what I was supposed to get from this. I’m not sure if this book is meant for the layperson or academics, and I’m not sure it matters. The writing is so repetitive it is difficult for the layperson to digest any of it, and as a result of the repetition so little ground is covered that I’m not sure this book is useful for academics either. I found myself saying “I get it. Move on” every couple pages, every single chapter.

This book feels like someone asked an expert to write an overview piece on these women and this era of history, and no one thought to do even a cursory edit. The research is there and well done, but the inference and ground covered is subpar.

[Waffle]

The subject of this book is very very interesting, and that’s what kept me reading. The presentation of the information (the writing, and how the book was structured) was at times confusing and repetitive. I definitely want to learn more about these women.

[senna]

not the kind of book i would rate but very interesting and informative composition that makes me want to take a deeper look into other works written during and about this time

[Beau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good accessible brief history on queer black women in America learned a lot like about Ma Rainey and Madame Cj Walkers daughter and how lesbian sex was even more villainized with black women