Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Audre Lorde
Audre Geraldine Lorde was an American writer, feminist, and civil rights activist. She used her creative spirit to address the injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and disability. Given her personal identities her poems and prose also dealt largely with the exploration of black female identity. Lorde became a powerful force in the academic world with her essay “The Master’s Tools Will Not Dismantle the Master’s House.” She is also remembered for her speech at the 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin was a central figure in the civil rights movement in United States the 1950s and 1960s. He was well versed in non-violent protest and helped to shape the movement as an advisor and collaborator. Due to his homosexuality, however, he remained in the background sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity.