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: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, also known as Doña Inés de Asbaje y Ramirez de Santillana, a Hieronymite nun who lived in colonial Mexico in the 17th century. She was a writer, philosopher, composer, and poet. She predominantly self-educated and would become on the acclaimed masters of the Spanish Golden Age, gaining the nicknames “The Tenth Muse” and “The Phoenix of America.” As a nun she focused on issues of love and feminism, which would lead to her condemnation by the Bishop of Puebla.