Not Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis

272 Pages·2016·5.02 MB·English

by  Kevin J. Mumford

Not Straight, Not White
The John Hope Franklin Series in
African American History and Culture
Waldo E. Mar tin Jr. and Patricia Sullivan, editors
Not Straight, Not White
Black Gay Men from the March
on Washington to the AIDS Crisis
Kevin J. Mumfor d
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
© 2016 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Set in Utopia by codeMantra
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book
Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the
Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Cover illustration: © iStockphoto.com/curtoicurto
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mumford, Kevin J., author.
Not straight, not white : black gay men from the march on Washington
to the AIDS crisis / Kevin J. Mumford.
pages cm — (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American
History and Culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-4696-2684-0 (cloth : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-1-4696-2685-7 (ebook)
1. African American gay men. 2. Gay men, Black—United States.
I. Title. II. Series: John Hope Franklin series in African American
history and culture.
hq76.27.a37m86 2016
306.76’6208996073—dc23
2015031954
In memory of a lost generation, and in hope for the next
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Contents
Introduction. Corrections 1
One. Losing the March 11
Two. Untangling Black Pathology 39
Three. Payne and Pulp 59
Four. The Limits of Liberation 79
Five. The Disavowal of Brother Grant-Michael Fitzgerald 99
Six. In the Life of Joseph Beam 125
Seven. The Last Crises of James Tinney 147
Eight. Mobilizations and Memorials 171
Epilogue. Carrying On 187
Notes 201
Bibliography 231
Acknowledgments 249
Index 251
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Illustrations
1. Lorraine Hansberry 15
2. James Baldwin 24
3. Bayard Rustin 33
4. Jet magazine 45
5. Daniel Patrick Moynihan 54
6. Ebony magazine 57
7. Jason Holliday 61
8. Shirley Clarke 66
9. Dark Brothers 75
10. Black & Gay 76
11. Eldridge Cleaver 84
12. Fag Rag 93
13. Grant-Michael Fitzgerald 103
14. Joseph Beam 130
15. In the Life 146
16. James Tinney 150
17. Bayard Rustin and BWMT members 176
18. Joseph Beam at BWMT 180