Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.
This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO related to African American LGBTQ+ communities.
It highlights holdings in the following areas:
- Selected Library Material at AAMLO
- Selected Archival Collections at AAMLO
Other collections may contain relevant materials. Please contact AAMLO (aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org) with any questions or to schedule an appointment to view materials in person.
Selected Library Materials
Black Queer Studies: a Critical Anthology edited by E. Patrick Johnson and Mae G. Henderson
San Francisco Bay Area Gay and Lesbian Serials: a Guide to the Microfilm Collection [Berkeley, Calif. : University of California, 1991]
Lavender and Red: Liberation and Solidarity in the Gay and Lesbian Left by Emily K. Hobson
A Whosoever Church: Welcoming Lesbians and Gay Men Into African American Congregations edited by Gary David Comstock
Dangerous Liaisons: Blacks, Gays, and the Struggle for Equality by Eric Brandt
Different Daughters: a History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement by Marcia M. Gallo
Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex by Eric A. Stanley
Time on Two Crosses: the Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin by Bayard Rustin
The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction: 1948-1985 by James Baldwin
Black Like Us: a Century of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual African American Fiction edited by Devon W. Carbado
Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, and Johanna Burton
Black Men/white Men: Afro-American Gay Life and Culture edited by Michael J. Smith
Out at Home: the True Story of Glenn Burke, Baseball's First Openly Gay Player by Glenn Burke
The Fabulous Sylvester: the Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco by Joshua Gamson
I Was Born This Way: a Gay Preacher's Journey Through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ by Carl Bean
Movement in Black: the Collected Poetry of Pat Parker by Pat Parker
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom by Barbara Smith
Black & Lavender: the Collected Poems by Margaret Sloan-Hunter
Unapologetic: a Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Our Movement by Charlene A Carruthers
Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought edited by Briona Simone Jones
T'ain't Nobody's Bizness: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s [Video]
Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria [Video]
Tongues Untied [Video]
Black Lesbians: An Annotated Bibliography
Selected Archival Collections
East Bay Negro Historical Society Records. In 1988, the Northern California Center for Afro-American History and Life contracted filmmaker Marlon Riggs to shoot a series of interviews with prominent African Americans in Oakland for the Vision Toward Tomorrow exhibit and to shoot footage of the exhibit's premiere at the Oakland Museum. The East Bay Negro Historical Society Records include the Vision Toward Tomorrow premiere footage as well as Riggs' master tapes of an oral history interview with educator Ida L. Jackson (1902-1996). Available to watch online.
Ronald V. Dellums Congressional Papers. As chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Congressmember Ronald V. Dellums (1935-2018) was noted for his early support of lesbian, gay and bisexual service members and advocacy for HIV research, prevention and services. The Dellums Congressional Papers include subject files related to general LGBTQ+ issues, The UC San Francisco AIDS Program of San Francisco General Hospital, Alameda County resources for HIV/AIDS, Dellums' voting record testimonies related to HIV/AIDS, sexual orientation and gender identity in the military, and congressional working files related to
- H.R.8269 - 95th Congress (1977-1978): Civil Rights Amendments Act
- H.R.1454 - 97th Congress (1981-1982): Civil Rights Amendments Act of 1981
- H.R. 276 - 100th Congress (1987-1988): Medicare eligibility for individuals with HIV/AIDS
- H.R.709 - 100th Congress (1987-1988): Civil Rights Amendments Act of 1987
- H.R.2401 - 103rd Congress (1993-1994): National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994
- H.R.4148 - 103rd Congress (1993-1994): Gay and Lesbian Youth Suicide Prevention Act
Justitia Davis Papers. The Justitia Davis papers include scrapbooks, photographs, music and theatrical programs, newspaper clippings, artifacts, and certificates that document the life and career of actor and music teacher Justitia Davis. Included are photographs of fellow performer Everett Boucré (1902–1984). Boucré appeared alongside Davis in productions of “Run Little Chillun’” and “Swing Mikado." Two scrapbooks compiled by Everett Boucré are available at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco.
Oakland Post Photograph Collection. Includes portraits of Dr. Robert C. Scott (1944-2009), co-founder of the AIDS Project of the East Bay (est. in 1983). Dr. Scott was instrumental in establishing the Allen Temple Baptist Church AIDS Ministry, one of the earliest AIDS Ministries at a Black Church, which helped to set the tone for faith-based ministries in the San Francisco Bay area. Also included is a history of the Love Center Ministries church and a biographical sketch of Reverend Walter Hawkins.
Friends of Negro Spirituals Oral History Collection. Includes an interview with performing artist and musician Linda Tillery. Tillery is recognized as a pioneer in Women's music, with her second solo album Linda Tillery released on Olivia Records in 1977. Also in 1977, Tillery contributed the track "Don't Pray for Me" to Olivia's Lesbian Concentrate compilation album of songs and poetry in response to Anita Bryant’s ‘Save Our Children’ campaign.
Rhonda White-Warner Papers. Publisher and media consultant Rhonda White-Warner (1951-2014) helped to establish the East Bay Faith Collective, a group of HIV/AIDS advocates that worked to educate local African American ministers on HIV/AIDS issues. The White--Warner papers include administrative files documenting her public relations work on African American HIV/AIDS support services and assorted printed material documenting the African American performing arts community in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s and 1980s.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection. The African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection consists of programs, flyers, correspondence, posters, pamphlets, and ephemera collected by the African American Museum & Library at Oakland. The vertical files are arranged alphabetically by subject, organization, or last name, and include correspondence, programs, flyers, and pamphlets mostly about African American organizations and cultural institutions in the Oakland and the East Bay during the mid-20th century (1940s-1970s). Select ephemera include
- Correspondence from Bayard Rustin to the War Resisters League, 1963
- Flyers and brochures of the AIDS Project of the East Bay, circa 1990s
- Memorandum from J. Alfred Smith Jr. to J. Alfred Smith Sr. re: Status report of Allen Temple AIDS ministry activities, 1992
- CAL- PEP and Allen Temple Baptist Church partnership press release, 1993
- CAL- PEP brochures, circa 1994
- Program flyers for performing arts and theater productions, including "Straight Black folks guide to gay Black folks" presented at the Alice Arts Theater
Additional Information
Search the library using the catalog.
Consult AAMLO's finding aids in the Online Archive of California.
We are working to create new resource guides. Have an idea for a new guide? Contact us at aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org.
