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Without Apology: Old Lesbian Life Stories
We issued our first book, titled A Gift of Age: Old Lesbian Life Stories in 2009. The second book, Without Apology: Old Lesbian Life Stories became available in February 2012. Both books share the stories of the lives of women who have been interviewed by the OLOHP. The retelling of the stories in the books rely heavily on direct quotes from interviews.
Without Apology shares the stories of 24 ordinary, yet remarkable, women. Among them are:
• Saundra, who volunteered in rural Mississippi during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
• Ellie, who at age 92, continues to work part-time as a substance abuse counselor.
• Joann, who raised 17 children, five her own, five adopted, and seven fostered, many of whom were mentally and physically disabled, and now, with her partner, runs a group home.
• Gloria, whose entertainment career began when she was seven and earned $5 a night dancing at clubs, went on to spend years as a “nightclub girl,” singing, dancing and doing comedy.
• Bessie, who was an incredible left-handed pitcher in the women’s fastpitch softball leagues in Texas.
• Edie, who traveled on the Peace Train from Finland to Beijing, China, to attend the Fourth International Conference on Women.
• Shaba, who journeyed through Judaism, Islam, and Kabbalah as a black-skinned woman raised in the midst of racial segregation and Jim Crow laws.
• Arden, who lived a closeted life for almost 40 years before the death of her long-term partner motivated her to begin a life of activism.
• Helen, who entered the convent when she finished high school in hopes of sublimating her love for women.
• Kittu, who was born in India and raised high in the Himalayas, became fascinated by the concept of nourishment and later went on to be an integral part of developing the Recommended Daily Allowance rating system as well as WIC, a nutrition program for women, infants and children.
• Louise and Ruth, who after falling in love in college, were forcibly separated by school authorities. They found each other again after more than 30 years, and remain together decades later.
Without Apology shares the stories of 24 ordinary, yet remarkable, women. Among them are:
• Saundra, who volunteered in rural Mississippi during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
• Ellie, who at age 92, continues to work part-time as a substance abuse counselor.
• Joann, who raised 17 children, five her own, five adopted, and seven fostered, many of whom were mentally and physically disabled, and now, with her partner, runs a group home.
• Gloria, whose entertainment career began when she was seven and earned $5 a night dancing at clubs, went on to spend years as a “nightclub girl,” singing, dancing and doing comedy.
• Bessie, who was an incredible left-handed pitcher in the women’s fastpitch softball leagues in Texas.
• Edie, who traveled on the Peace Train from Finland to Beijing, China, to attend the Fourth International Conference on Women.
• Shaba, who journeyed through Judaism, Islam, and Kabbalah as a black-skinned woman raised in the midst of racial segregation and Jim Crow laws.
• Arden, who lived a closeted life for almost 40 years before the death of her long-term partner motivated her to begin a life of activism.
• Helen, who entered the convent when she finished high school in hopes of sublimating her love for women.
• Kittu, who was born in India and raised high in the Himalayas, became fascinated by the concept of nourishment and later went on to be an integral part of developing the Recommended Daily Allowance rating system as well as WIC, a nutrition program for women, infants and children.
• Louise and Ruth, who after falling in love in college, were forcibly separated by school authorities. They found each other again after more than 30 years, and remain together decades later.
- GenresLGBTNonfiction
Paperback
First published February 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 24, 2020
I'm including some journal prompts in this review, as I think other lesbians might find themselves with things to think over as they read this book. Those will be further down.
I picked this up on sale at a used book store, so before this, I hadn't been familiar with the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project. From that viewpoint, I don’t think you need to know much about the project to pick up this book and enjoy it.
I do wish the women interviewed were more racially diverse, as the editors admit in their introduction that at the time this book was published, no Asian lesbians had been interviewed. I believe about 87% of the interviewees in this book were white, with the other 13% being Black. I appreciate the vision of this project, and I hope they preserve more stories from lesbians of color soon.
Reading this book made me grateful to have grown up knowing that lesbians existed. So many of these women didn't know relationships with other women were real or possible for several decades. Several say they thought they were the only one. This lack of knowledge drove their decisions and altered the course of their lives. Seeing just how much it affected them, this book made me better understand the necessity of lesbian visibility.
This book is also part of that visibility. It was comforting to me to see so many women say their happiest, most politically active time of their life had been as seniors. Not only do we need to know that being a lesbian is possible, we need stories like theirs to show us that being an old lesbian is possible.
With that in mind, here are some journaling prompts I thought other lesbians might enjoy:
1. When did you first find out what lesbians were? Or that being attracted to the same sex was possible? Can you imagine how your life might be different if you had found out earlier or later?
2. When you're older, what stories would you like to be able to tell about your life?
I picked this up on sale at a used book store, so before this, I hadn't been familiar with the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project. From that viewpoint, I don’t think you need to know much about the project to pick up this book and enjoy it.
I do wish the women interviewed were more racially diverse, as the editors admit in their introduction that at the time this book was published, no Asian lesbians had been interviewed. I believe about 87% of the interviewees in this book were white, with the other 13% being Black. I appreciate the vision of this project, and I hope they preserve more stories from lesbians of color soon.
Reading this book made me grateful to have grown up knowing that lesbians existed. So many of these women didn't know relationships with other women were real or possible for several decades. Several say they thought they were the only one. This lack of knowledge drove their decisions and altered the course of their lives. Seeing just how much it affected them, this book made me better understand the necessity of lesbian visibility.
This book is also part of that visibility. It was comforting to me to see so many women say their happiest, most politically active time of their life had been as seniors. Not only do we need to know that being a lesbian is possible, we need stories like theirs to show us that being an old lesbian is possible.
With that in mind, here are some journaling prompts I thought other lesbians might enjoy:
1. When did you first find out what lesbians were? Or that being attracted to the same sex was possible? Can you imagine how your life might be different if you had found out earlier or later?
2. When you're older, what stories would you like to be able to tell about your life?
Displaying 1 of 1 review